- Art director of the New York Times Book Review and founder and co-chair of the School of Visual Arts, New York MFA/Design Program. He is the former editor of the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design and author or editor of over 80 books on popular culture, graphic design history, and political art. His most recent books include The Graphic Design Reader, Allworth Press, The Education of a Design Designer, Allworth Press, and Counter Culture: The Allure of Mini-Mannequins, Princeton Architectural Press. His forthcoming books include: From Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Progressive Magazine Design of the 20th Century, Phaidon Press, Cuba Style: Graphics From the Golden Age of Design, Princeton Architectural Press, and Graphic Humor: The Art of Graphic Wit, Allworth Press.
Stories
Typographica Mea Culpa, Unethical Downloading
Essays by Steven HellerSteven Heller describes the guilty revelation experienced when he learned that typeface software licenses are sold for use on specific, not unlimited numbers of CPUs. He calls for the ethical treatment of type designers, i.e. respect for their copyrights.The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Reviews by Steven HellerA review of a new comic strip novel by an ‘underground comix master’, full of complex plot lines and psychologies, stories about and parodies of the underbelly of the cartoon business, all drwan exquisitely.Marshall Arisman: Facing the Audience
Reviews by Steven HellerA film review of director Tony Silver‘s documentary about the life and work of the Amercian illustrator Marshall Arisman.Edward Fella: Letters on America
Reviews by Steven HellerSteven Heller, in his affable way, reviews a book by Lewis Blackwell and Lorraine Wild which takes on Ed Fella's Polaroids of found graphics and alphabets throughout the US as well as some of his lettering. The book sounds like a lively account of American vernacular lettering and images, as well as a good platform to view Ed Fella's own work.R. Crumb: Odds and Ends
Reviews by Steven HellerA collection of Robert Crumb’s lesser known work spanning three decades gives credence to Steven Heller's claim that Crumb is the god of comics. Heller also gives a bit of background to the New York/US counterculture that Crumb fed with his racy work.Tomi Ungerer, A Childhood Under the Nazis
Reviews by Steven HellerThe autobiography of iconoclast Tomi Ungerer is a fascinating first-hand account of his childhood under Nazi occupation. It is also a rare visual collection of his dangerously rebellious drawings from the time as well as the dark ephemera he collected, making this a rare combination of cultural and political documentation and artist's history.