ZZZ's advertisement

Program

BFA 59 Advertising

Graphic designer and artist Sam Smidt elevated the brands of high-technology firms such as Hewlett-Packard and Syntex. Grounded in great typography and design with wit and humor, Smidt believed graphic design was closely aligned with all arts and, during his lifetime, he solved graphic problems by taking inspiration from his love of drawing, photography, filmmaking and music. Once a professor of art, emeritus, at San José State University, Smidt was featured in “Graphis,” a leading international design magazine, and published or exhibited by AIGA, the New York Art Directors Club and the San Jose Museum of Art. From 1994 to 2009, he designed the beautiful publications of Healing Environments, a nonprofit that comforted thousands struggling with life-threatening illness. Smidt’s work is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well The Smithsonian Institution.