The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has added the iconic MIT Press colophon to its permanent collection. The colophon, designed in 1965 by Muriel Cooper, is widely recognized as a hallmark of modernist design. The abstracted design is based on the letters “mitp” and resembles a barcode, which is stamped on the spines of MIT Press publications. The MoMA’s acquisition of the colophon is a recognition of its significance in modernist design.
MIT Press Colophon: A Symbol of Distinctive Design and Innovation
The MIT Press colophon has been an emblem of the Press’s innovative publishing program for nearly 60 years. According to Amy Brand, director and publisher of MIT Press, the colophon’s legacy has been celebrated through the years, and she is proud that it is now part of the MoMA’s permanent collection. The Morton R. Godine Library at Massachusetts College of Art and Design gifted a contemporary image of the colophon, while Cooper’s archive is kept at the MassArt Archive in Boston.
Cooper’s Pioneering Work in Design
Muriel Cooper’s contributions to graphic design are numerous. She was the first design director of the MIT Press, a co-founder of the Visible Language Workshop (VLW), and a founding faculty member of MIT’s Media Lab. Cooper’s legacy also includes designing the covers of the first edition of Learning from Las Vegas and the Bauhaus book by Hans M. Wingler. Cooper had a long-standing relationship with publications at MIT, starting in 1952 as art director and designer at the MIT Office of Publications until 1958.
MoMA’s acquisition of Cooper’s work includes Information Landscapes, a project developed with David Small, Suguru Ishizaki, Earl Rennison, Robert Silvers, Lisa Strausfeld, Jeffrey Ventrella, and Yin Yin Wong at the VLW. The project demonstrated the potentials of digital graphic design. This graphic design acquisition the museum has added to its architectural acquisitions collection, which includes works by Sean Canty, Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, James Wines, and Eileen Gray, among others.
