From large-scale billboards down to the logo and stationery, the theater's image is expressed in a rhythmic mix of letterforms. Sans serif type runs in various directions in contrasting scales, fitted together like the pieces of a puzzle. Scher's approach recalls vernacular theater posters and tickets that carve the available space into zones and then fill them to the brim. Simon Johnston's 1992 work for LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) takes the idea of mixed identity in another direction by printing stationery on the backs of billboard sheets and showcards. Each piece, cut from a different source, is unique. [back] © Copyright 1996 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

The Diva is Dismissed Poster, 1994, silkscreen Designer: Paula Scher (b. 1948) Firm: Pentagram Publisher: The Public Theater, New York Collection Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Gift of the designer LACE Envelope, 1992, mixed media Designer: Simon Johnston (b. 1959) Firm: Praxis Client: LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) Collection Cooper­Hewitt, National Design Museum, Gift of the designer