Carin goldberg biography sampler

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I said I wasn’t famous. She simply did beautiful, original, courageous work, day after day, year after year.

It’s a cliche, but Carin was a graphic designer’s graphic designer. For me, the importance of Carin’s work transcends a unique design sensibility and prioritizes sensitivity and passion as a means to progress in both work and life.

Thank you Carin.

CHIP KIDD

Chip is an award-winning designer, writer, author of many books and one of the foremost book jacket designers in the world.

Not long after I started working in NYC in the late ‘80s, I was at Three Lives bookstore and saw the jacket of a book called ‘Sinatra!

Thank you for changing all our lives.

MICHAEL BIERUT

Michael is an award-winning designer and partner at Pentagram and a co-founder of Design Observer.

Carin Goldberg was not a networker. She was always giving. 

I tried my best to give back in return.

And in an amazing blast from the past, Jim cued up some old videos of myself, Carin, and Gene dancing by the pool while little Julian toddled nearby. He is also author of the book Two-Dimensional Man.

Two Small Stories about Carin Goldberg

Carin Goldberg lived graphic design.

Her work as a teacher, designer, and leader will guide makers and watchers of culture for years to come.

Carin was in good form that day, a bit wobbly but still animated and full of energy. She made me feel as if I was part of her family. The Song is You, A Singer’s Art by Will Friedwald.’ I was stunned: not only was it absolutely beautiful, it was absolutely perfect.

But in her typically generous way, she said “Call anyone you want for work” and handed me her Rolodex of clients. “Pay homage to the art you are designing for, and complement it with your typography, be playful, have fun and above all, it has to have a purpose.” That skill came in handy for me seven years later when I worked at MoMA , where I put exactly that into practice: “be the stage, not the star.”  To this day, I can hear Carin whisper into my ears when I am designing. 

She not only taught me about design, she also taught me how to be a Mensch.

She loved the planning and the plotting—the DESIGNING of the how life could be for my future family. She made everything easier, and even fun. (In my experience almost everyone eventually returns to teaching after “pressing refresh”). 

No, my first thought was a selfish one. 

Carin was often the undergrad teacher who many of the MFA Design students called upon first when they were having trouble with their own typographic fluency.

Her legacy lives on in all of her students work.

If you were lucky to get into her class at SVA (and I was one of those lucky ones to have her for two consecutive years), you were safe, but you had to work hard and be open to let yourself be guided by her. Love you and miss you a lot, my type queen, Carin. 

JOHN COSTA

John is the Exhibition Designer at the National Army Museum in London.

Carin and I bonded over pubic hair.

Everyone had already presented their first project being a few weeks in to the semester, and sizing up had definitely happened, as everyone including Carin was brand new to each other. In 2008, Carin completed a two-year term as president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. She found that one thing you could focus on and relentlessly pushed.

She highlighted past and present graphic artists for us to research and learn from. How else could we have known what photographer is good or not?