Massimo Vignelli was an “information architect.”
He died the other day and only the New York Times can carry an obituary to sum up the hugely rich, and enriching, life Vignelli led.
He saw complex ideas and simplified them. He touched all of us, although we may not have 
known it at the time. Many of his works from 4 decades ago are still in use, as a standard.
You have to admire a man who is quoted in his own obituary as saying:
Mr. Vignelli said he would have liked the job of developing a corporate identity for the Vatican. “I would go to the pope and say, ‘Your holiness, the logo is O.K.,’ ” he said, referring to the cross, “but everything else has to go.”
Today, I will let the life of a great designer and thinker speak for itself.
Do watch the slide show in the NYT article.
