Tails of a graphic design wingman #4 - Massimo Vignelli

At one of the AIGA national conferences I attended Massimo received some sort of life time award (he received his medal in 1982). The night after his speech, a dinner was arranged to celebrate, which I, as John’s wingman, was also included. Around the table were some of the design elite. As I remember, it was Massimo and his wife Lella, Michael Bierut (Massimo’s former apprentice), Dana Arnet, Michael Vanderbyl, Jennifer Morla and her husband Nilus, Clement Mok, Sean Adams, John Bielenberg, myself and probably some paper rep who was paying for the meal. 

As everyone was getting seated and jockeying for their place at the table, unbeknownst to me, nobody wanted to sit next to Massimo. So there I ended up, sitting next to Massimo. As dinner progressed, the gang was having a fabulous time joking around with each other, while Massimo was much too serious for all that. It now made sense why nobody wanted to sit next to him. What was I going to say to Massimo - nice job with that, Helvetica. Fortunately, there was also a senior designer from Pentagram sitting across the table with whom I was able to make some sort of conversation. So went my dinner with design legend Massimo Vignelli.