BRADBURY THOMPSON

'Bradbury Thompson' (1911–1995) was an influential American graphic designer and art director of the twentieth century.

Contents

Life and work

Books by Bradbury Thompson

See also

External links

Life and work

''Communication Arts'' opened an article on Bradbury Thompson, in its March/April 1999 issue, like this: "When it came to the blending of photography, typography and color, nobody did it better than Bradbury Thompson... In his own quiet way, he expanded the boundaries of the printed page and influenced the design of a generation of art directors." [1]
Thompson was born in Topeka, Kansas. He attended Washburn College and graduated in 1934. [2] A facility called the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center now stands at Washburn University. In 1937, Thompson designed the college's mascot, "The Ichabod." [3]
Thompson was art director of ''Mademoiselle'' magazine for fifteen years beginning in 1945.
One signature typographic design of Thompson was the develpment of his "monoalphabet," an alphabet consisted of just one case (instead of using separate uppercase and lowercase letterforms as typefaces typically do). His monoalphabet was a modern serif (comparable to Bodoni) with lowercase a, e, m and n mixed with uppercase B, D, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, P, Q, R, T, U and Y. Note that the forms of C/c, O/o, S/s, V/v, W/w, X/x and Z/z are the same in uppercase and lowercase. Thompson first published the alphabet in a ''Westvaco Inspirations for Printers''. [4] (See also: Alphabet 26.)
Another signature design from Thompson was his Washburn College Bible. This book was one of the first to use the Sabon typeface designed by Jan Tschichold and released in 1967.
Thompson served on the faculty of Yale University. He received the AIGA Gold Medal in 1975. [5] He received the Type Director's Club Medal in 1986. He died on November 1, 1995.

Books by Bradbury Thompson

★ ''The Art of Graphic Design'', Yale University Press, 1980. (ISBN 978-0300043013)

See also

★ List of AIGA medalists

External links

★ Memorial events for Thompson at Yale University

★ Timeline of Thompson's life