SVA Features asset
Each year the iconic SVA logo designed by George Tscherny directs thousands of new students to the doors of the College to embark on the study and practice of art and design. With the start of the new school year and SVA marking its 70th anniversary, we're looking back at the history of the College with the launch of the SVA Subway Series Hall of Fame, a new video series in which some the College's most revered designers and faculty members, past and present, reflect on the posters they have created for SVA and give some insight into their work. First up is Tscherny himself, a decorated veteran of graphic design who describes his style as “maximum meaning with minimum means.”
Tscherny designed the first SVA poster in 1956 (he’s done 14 more since) and taught the first course in graphic design at the College in the mid-1950s. He also created the famous “flower” logo in 1997 for SVA’s 50th anniversary, establishing the College’s strong visual presence throughout New York City. His work bridges fine art and commercial design, surprising the eye with simplicity and wit. As SVA’s late founder and chair Silas H. Rhodes put it, his work is “elegant but never chic, serious but never pretentious, disciplined but never dull, his posters, annual reports, etc., delight the eye and revive the spirit. They shatter once and for all the myth of the incompatibility of commercial enterprise and graphic integrity.”