Franco Grignani

Franco Grignani (February 4, 1908 – 20 February 1999) was an Italian architect, graphic designer and artist. He is best known for black and white graphics, particularly the Woolmark logo, which was voted 'Best Logo of all Time' by Creative Review Magazine in 2011.

Grignani was born in Pieve Porto Morone, Italy. He studied architecture in Turin between 1929 and 1933. Early on, he became absorbed in experimentations in photography, and in optic and visual phenomena. He played a part in Italy's second Futurist and Constructivist movements. Subsequently, his work was more closely associated with Kinetic Art and Op Art. Based on theories of perception, particularly on the Psychology of Form and his knowledge of architecture, he created more than 14000 experimental works. He remains a powerful influence in the world of graphic design.

In Italy, Grignani is well known as the master of optical graphic design and his firm together with Studio Boggier were the leading names in Op-Art-Graphics in the 1960s.

During the 1930s he founded Studio Grignani designing advertising for clients such as Boleti, Fiat, Domus, Dompé pharmaceuticals, Mondadori, Montecatini, and Alfieri & Lacroix for whom he designed numerous campaigns.

He experimented in the fields of photography and photomontage, investigating theories of the psychology of form. In 1952 he created a new corporate identity for Arti Grafiche Alfieri & Lacroix in Milan, to which he added designs for 150 posters. His work was exhibited in many contemporary art exhibitions, including Documenta 3 in 1964, alongside Jasper Johns, Francis Bacon, Anthony Caro and others. Grignani worked as Art Director at Bellezza d'Italia and became art director for Pubblicita in Italia annuals in 1956, where he continued for 26 years. He was a member of the juries of "Typedomus20" and the Warsaw Poster Biennale in 1970. He had more than 49 solo exhibitions from 1958 in various countries including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, the US and Venezuela. In 1959 he won the Palma d’Oro for advertising and the gold medal at the Milan Triennale. In 1965 he took part in "Vision 65", the first Congress on human communication, held at the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. In 1966 he received an award at the Warsaw Poster Biennale and another at the Venice Biennale in 1972. In 1967 he won the Typomundus 20, awarded by the International Centre for the Typographic Arts in New York to Alfieri & Lacroix. His work is displayed in international museums including MoMa in New York, the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He wrote various essays and taught both in Italy and the U.S.A.

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