Steven Heller (design writer)


Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes in topics related to graphic design.

Biography

Steven Heller was born July 7, 1950, in New York City to Bernice and Milton Heller. He attended the Walden School, a progressive prep school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, as well as military school. In 1968, he became the art director of the New York Free Press without formal education or credentials because of his leftist leanings, later attending some New York University lectures utilizing his press pass. He met illustrator Brad Holland who convinced him page layouts and type choices mattered, of which Heller was previously unconcerned with. After the Free Press, he moved on to various publications, including porn tabloid Screw.
In 1974, Heller became the art director for The New York Times Op-Ed page, replacing Jean-Claude Suares. His interest in illustration employed on the Op-Ed page led him to publish collections on the subject. He became the art director of The New York Times Book Review in 1977.
In the 1980s, he became interested in design through friendships with Seymour Chwast and Louise Fili, who he later married, as well as becoming the editor of the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design. Under his care, the Journal became a place of critical design writing, inviting authors from a variety of professions and nurturing the careers of fledgling critics, who documented design writing. In 1984, Heller helped create the master’s program for illustration at the School of Visual Arts.'
In 2007, he began transition from his 30 year career at the New York Times. The changes created a lot of stress, and his Parkinson’s was either triggered or exacerbated.'
In 2008, Heller co-founded the MFA in design criticism program with Alice Twemlow. The program was intended to help non-designers find a place in the design field. As of 2019, His on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts as co-chair of the MFA Design Department, special assistant to the president, and co-founder of the MFA Design Criticism, MPS Branding, MFA Interaction Design, MFA Products of Design programs. Heller's pupils have included Deborah Adler.

Awards and recognition

In 1996, he was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. In 1999, Heller received an AIGA Medal for what designer Paula Scher described as "lifetime achievement that comes from a workday existing roughly between 4:30 and 8:45 A.M. before a full workday at the New York Times Book Review." The Society of Illustrators honored Heller with the Richard Gangel Art Director Award in 2005. In 2017, the AIGA named an award, the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary, in his honor, citing his three decades of contributions to cultural discourse on design. In 2011, was awarded the Design Mind Award by the National Design Museum.

Writing

Articles

Heller is author and co-author of many works on the history of illustration, typography, and many subjects related to graphic design. He has published more than eighty titles and written articles for magazines including Affiche, Baseline, Creation, Design, Design Issues, Design Observer, Eye, Graphis, How, I.D., Oxymoron, Mother Jones, The New York Times Book Review, Print, Speak, and U&lc magazine. For thirty-three years Heller was a senior art director of U&lc magazine, a publication devoted to typography.

Books (partial list)

Heller has written, co-authored, and/or edited more than 130 books about design and popular culture. He worked with Seymour Chwast to create Push Pin Editions and more than 20 books for Chronicle Books with his wife, Louise Fili.