In the final weeks before his death, acclaimed graphic designer Massimo Vignelli received over 1000 letters from fans thanking him for his inspiration. Thanks to the New York Times, we can see a beautiful video of Vignelli reading a few of those letters.
Overflowing mail crates can be seen crowding the floor of Vignelli’s bright Upper East Side apartment, the evidence that his son Luca’s May 9 call to designers had reverberated throughout the community. Letters arrived from notable artists like Dale Chihuly and anonymous admirers, like the person who wrote only “Thank you for Helvetica!! Sorry for the awful handwriting.”
According to the story, Vignelli only was able to read a fraction of the letters that arrived (and hadn’t even cracked the hundreds of emails in his inbox). But he very much felt the love and appreciation.
“They talk about the quality of the work and the elegance of whatever we were doing in a project,” he said, referring to the people who had written to him from around the world, including masses of young designers.
“Let’s say if I died soon, I would die very happy,” he said. “No regrets.”
Vignelli died Tuesday morning at the age of 83. [New York Times]