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Founder Tibor Kalman was an outspoken critic of all corners of the design profession, attacking everything from corporate modernism to Duffy's and Anderson's alluring quotations of history. Kalman approached design as an outsider discourse, a medium that can barb as well as serve corporate structures. M&Co. converted the everyday dialect of quick-print wedding typography and felt-board lobby signage into urban chic. The use of icons--from anonymous phone book illustrations to tiny photographs of generic objects--was part of M&Co.'s signature style: pictures became typographic. The use of vernacular forms effaced the hubris of the profession by promoting the absence of art and the disappearance of the designer. While Kalman presented himself as an outsider, his work had a broad cultural impact, with clients including prominent corporations and developers as well as cafes, record companies, and fashion designers.
The word "vernacular" refers in its literal sense to a verbal dialect that is not a community's official language. Before the rise of the printing press, European languages were considered vernacular tongues, in contrast with the official Latin and Greek that was used by literate classes. In the visual arts, vernacular expression includes forms of building, publishing, and signage that reflect local customs and are produced outside the discourse of the state.
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Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill |