This monograph is the first publication devoted to the entirety of Lance Wyman’s life and career. Through a detailed examination of his commitment to the social applications of graphic design, the book positions Wyman as an unrivalled figure in graphic design history. Wyman has yet to enjoy the status afforded to comparable figures in American graphic design such as Paul Rand, who primarily produced work for elite business clients such as IBM. But by focusing on Wyman’s commitment to designing for a mass audience ‘out in the street’, the book demonstrates how his work has made an invaluable – and under recognised – contribution towards shaping the development of a social agendas in graphic design practice internationally since the 1960s.

The book grew out of an extended interview with Wyman, and an extended period of time spent in his personal archive. Much of what was found had not been previously published, including extensive private journals that Wyman used to log his creative processes.

The book begins with an examination, through text and image, of his early life in post-war America; it chronicles his studies in Industrial Design at Pratt Institute in New York, and the beginnings of his career as a graphic designer with his work for General Motors in the 1950s. The central part of the book deals with Wyman’s hugely influential work for the Mexico 68 Olympics, and offers a critical investigation into his deep and highly informed relationship with Mexican art and culture. It foregrounds his revolutionary blend of modernist design principles with pre-Hispanic folk art, and the 20th century Mexican vernacular.

The books offers a further survey of Wyman’s pioneering approaches to wayfinding, and the many urban redevelopment projects he has worked on during his long career. It also assesses his standing as a pivotal figure in the creation of icons and symbolic information systems, and shows how his work, in the second half of the 20th century, influenced the designers of mobile and online information systems, most notably Apple’s icon based interface.

By acting as both writer/editor and publisher, it has been possible, for the first time, to construct a biographical survey of Wyman, the individual, and Wyman the creative practitioner. And furthermore, to place him at the centre of the graphic design discourse, and to see him as a potent and transformative force in non-verbal communication.