Charles S. Anderson - Most influential designers

This is the fourth part of a ten-part blog series, if you missed the first part, read it here. As part of their 50th-anniversary survey GDUSA published a top ten list of the most influential graphic designers working today (amongst other creative professions).

I’m going to work, in reverse order, through these top ten designers and establish just what it is that makes them so damn great and more importantly display some of their best works.

Who is Charles S. Anderson?

When Anderson describes his design philosophy, he talks about modernism and how it can be interpreted in an over-minimalistic way, resulting in sterile, uninteresting works. Instead, Charles S. Anderson Design Co. pride itself on humanized work, character and researched conceptual ideas. Not anti-modernist, nor post-modernist, simply a logical and justified interpretation of modernism.

“We believe that truly great design is about making something that adds richness to people’s lives; something inspiring, memorable, funny, abrasive, ironic, elegant, ugly, human – anything but uninteresting.”
Charles S. Anderson

These values, ideals and aesthetics shine through in their work. There’s almost always a humorous or human element present, an element that doesn’t distract from the purity of the message but adds to it, this balance, which they consistently achieve, is what elevates their work from great to inspiring.