Paula Scher (Works)

Paula Scher: Works presents the most extensive monograph of Scher’s career to date, featuring over three hundred projects from her early days in the music industry as an art director with CBS and Atlantic Records; through the launch of her first studio, Koppel & Scher; to her decades-long engagement with Pentagram.

Coedited by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy, the book organizes Scher’s work chronologically into several thematic sections. It opens with a long interview with the designer, then moves into her record covers from the 1970s and '80s. Central chapters look at her innovative approach to identity design and environmental graphics and its impact on contemporary New York’s urban fabric—as seen in work for clients such as MoMA, Charter Schools, the High Line, and Shake Shack—as well as her logos for global corporations and cultural institutions.

A large section on authorship is devoted to the designer’s socially and politically motivated posters, New York Times Op-Ed illustrations, and campaign work. The book also provides the most up-to-date look at Scher’s idiosyncratic, hand-painted maps, a prolific artistic practice that complements her still-growing graphic legacy, as well as her longstanding collaboration with The Public Theater, which spans over twenty years.