No. 4 of our series Great Heroes: 'Bold as her designs, is she herself.'

Welcome to our ‘Great Heroes’ series. In this collection of stories, we take you into the world of the people who motivate and inspire our team every day. You will be introduced to our personal heroes.

By sharing these stories, we invite you to get to know our team on a more personal level. Discover which pioneers, artists and thinkers have shaped us, and why their work continues to inspire us in our own creative journey.

Verena's great Hero:

Paula Scher

Washington D.C.,USA, 6 oktober 1948

“Identities are the beginning of everything. They are how something is recognized and understood. What could be better than that?”

One of my all-time design heroes is Paula Scher. She’s one of the few women among the big names in the design world - and with good reason. Through her work and way of thinking, she’s been a major inspiration and influence in graphic design. Her work is bold, versatile, playful, and always intentional.

New York is her biggest source of inspiration - and you can feel it. Her style is a visual love letter to the city: eclectic, energetic, and full of typographic fire. Since the 1970s, she’s been developing her own unmistakable voice. She started out working for publishers, then moved into the music world, where she designed hundreds (!) of album covers.

In the '90s, she became the first female partner at the legendary design firm Pentagram in New York. There she continued creating visual identities for iconic brands and cultural institutions, including The Public Theater, Tiffany & Co., the High Line, Microsoft Windows (“Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?”), the Metropolitan Opera, and Citi Bank.

Paula is her work - outspoken, fearless, and truly original. And just as bold as her designs, is she herself. Now well into her seventies, she’s still going strong - and still incredibly cool. On top of designing, she also paints and teaches, continuing to inspire new generations.

Paula Scher: “You need to be able to ride past the technology by understanding what it can do, who you are, and where you want to take it. You don’t want technology to lead you; you want to lead it - but it’s very hard to do that when you’re in the middle of it.”