Muriel Cooper

Muriel Cooper

Muriel Cooper (1925- 1994) was a digital designer, business woman, researcher and educator. Cooper received her B.A. from Ohio State in 1944, and a B.F.A. in design and a B.S. in education from Massachusetts College of Art in. [1] After her graduation Cooper moved to New York City with attempts to find a position in advertising. She met Paul Rand who was influential to her way of life typography.[2]

In 1952, Cooper became the first art director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology office of publication originally known as Design Services, which later became MIT Press. After teaching at MIT for six years, Cooper left in 1958 to take a Fullbright Scholarship in Milan; this allowed Muriel Cooper to lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields, or to participate in seminars. [3]

When Cooper returned in 1963, she opened her graphic studio in Boston, Massachusetts. The MIT Press was among Cooper's various clients; leading to Coopers design of its trademark logo, an abstracted set of seven vertical bars that is a high-water mark in twentieth century graphic design with a play on the vertical strokes of the initial letters. As the longtime art director of MIT Press, she promoted the Bauhaus-influenced, modernist look of their books and other publications. Cooper also recruited graphic designer and fellow MassArt alumna Jacqueline Casey to her own lengthy career at MIT, where she designed many posters and smaller publications in a modernist style. [4]

In 1967 Cooper returned to the MIT Press.[5] In addition, to being the founder of the office of publications; Cooper took on the position of being the first director of design and media. Having influenced the design of Bauhaus(published in 1969) she made a film rendition of the book. The film attempted to give a speedy version of translating interactive experiences from a computer to paper. This endeavor was her challenge of turning time into space. [6] Muriel Cooper maintained her position with the MIT Press until 1974 where she oversaw the mass production and release of a series of titles in architecture, economics, biology, computer science and sociology that formed a critical discourse around systems, feedback loops and control.[7]

At 49 years old, in 1973, Cooper was already famously known in the design industry. Cooper left MIT Press to become one of the co-founders of the MIT Media Lab. Where she taught interactive media design as the founder and head of the Visible Language Workshop[8] Cooper was recognized as a pioneer in designing and changing the landscape of electronic communication.[8]

In 1994, at the TED 5 conference in Monterey, California, Cooper presented a collection of work that had been recently done by her students in the VLW. The demos demonstrated experiments in dynamic, interactive, computer-based typography, themes Cooper had been exploring through much of her career.[9]

Along with Muriel Coopers involvement in the VLW and TED5; Cooper also attended groups such as Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machines(SIGCHI).[10]

Professor Muriel Cooper died of an apparent heart attack in 1994 at the age of 68, on May 26 at the New England Medical Center. At the time of her death, she was still serving as a professor at the MIT Media Lab. About a year later, a retrospective exhibition at the Media Lab reviewed her life and career.[citation needed]

External links

References

  1. ^ ArtDirectorsClub. 2004. http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2004/?id=5
  2. ^ http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2004/?id=5
  3. ^ http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/
  4. ^ http://www.aiga.org/medalist-murielcooper/
  5. ^ ArtDirectorsClub. 2004. http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2004/?id=5
  6. ^ http://www.aiga.org/medalist-murielcooper/
  7. ^ http://www.dextersinister.org/MEDIA/PDF/Thisstandsasasketchforthefuture.pdf
  8. ^ a b Abrams, Janet, "Muriel Cooper," AIGA, 1994, http://www.aiga.org/medalist-murielcooper/
  9. ^ video
  10. ^ http://www.aiga.org/medalist-murielcooper/

Sources


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