Paula Scher Research Paper

During the 1980’s Graphic Designer, Paula Scher helped design and define the decade of color, music, and fun. Scher began her graphic design work by creating designs for the inside of children’s books. Later on, the artist received a larger gig working for record labels such as CBS and Atlantic Records. After she began her work as an album cover artist, Scher’s artwork became known for its exaggerated use of typography and its unique style. Early in her work, Paula built her credibility with her design of the Boston album artwork from 1976. From there Scher continued to shape the decades of the late seventy’s and the early eighty’s by designing albums for Cheap Trick, The Blue Oyster Cult, The Rolling Stones and more. After some time, Paula

Growing up Paula was very shy and hid work from others. In her The Great Disconnect interview with Ryan and Tina Essmaker, Paula says, “I drew a lot when I was growing up. I had a pretty unhappy childhood, and I used drawing as a reason to go off to my room and be alone.” Paula enrolled herself in Corcoran College of Art and Design but hid it from her peers in embarrassment of her passion. It was not until she began doing work on her high school board where she finally felt okay with people knowing she liked art. After high school, Paula continued her education at Tyler School of Philadelphia. After her education was complete, Paula moved to New York City with a significant amount of talent and an insignificant amount of cash. This left the designer to live with multiple friends until she finally settled down, got married, and acquired a steady

Scher’s graphic design art was always outside of the box and at the time shook the art industry. Scher’s infamous design on the Boston album was her first project to make a significant difference in the art and music industry. Atlantic says in their article More Than An Album Cover “Yet the album has endured: The guitar-ship has been repeated on subsequent records and as backdrops on concert stages.” The cover encouraged rock artist to approach the design of their albums differently and gave a new feeling to the records consumers would buy off the shelves. After parting ways with record labels, Scher began expressing her typography through theatre posters. Using extensive, bold typography that gave her art a city-like feeling. Since Paula moved to New York young, she acquired a lot of her style and design from the city. Paula says herself in her interview with Ryan and Tina Essmaker The Great Disconnect “A lot of my work is very architectural; I use type in all caps and make it long and thin, powerful and loud.” Scher’s work is more illustrative than anything and provokes a strong, fun style that uses popular culture to draw in society’s