What’s the secret? Frykholm has found, that “it’s the breaks that allow my mind to refresh and regenerate. If I have a design problem that I haven’t quite solved, something just snaps and I might have an ah-ha.” That snap could come while he’s taking care of his horses, enjoying the ballet, or while simply gazing at the stars from his Michigan farm.

Frykholm is the first to admit the creative process isn’t easy and that not all ideas are winners, but when they are—as his iconic picnic posters illustrate—the results can make the world a nicer place to be.

Check out Steve Frykholm’s contribution to Why Design, a new video series featuring stories from Herman Miller’s creative network. There are eight videos in total, with a new one debuting every Monday. Next week is design team Sam Hecht and Kim Colin.

Could you tell us about the poster you designed for REACH in Hong Kong.

I really wanted the poster to have a strong connection between China and Herman Miller. The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman is a strong symbol for Herman Miller, and a panda is a strong image for China. After doing my sketch of a panda relaxing in a lounge chair I knew it would be a strong poster. I hope people enjoy it as much as I enjoyed designing it.

The George Nelson led graphic design campaigns must have been a hard act to follow. How have those who’ve come before you influenced your work?

Charles and Ray Eames and the designers who worked for them and George Nelson gave me a wonderful legacy of exceptional work. I believe their work established an atmosphere at Herman Miller to do original and creative work. That’s the kind of work I enjoy doing, so it wasn’t a hard act to follow. Rather than being intimidating, I was energized.

What role does a designer play in Herman Miller ?

Early in our history Gilbert Rhode, the Eameses, George Nelson, Alexander Girard, and Bob Propst taught Herman Miller leaders about design, and its problem-solving ability. Their work gave Herman Miller a very good reputation. Our leaders encourage and support designers to do what we do best – design. Today we’d say brand awareness is enhanced by doing good design in products, environments, and graphics. Today’s designers are teachers too, and we continue to learn from them. There is an openness and trust between our designers and the company allowing good work to happen.

You’ve been recognized with a number awards, including the AIGA Gold Medal. What stands out as your most satisfying achievement?

It is the AIGA Medal, but other recognition is very satisfying as well. I’ve received the Carl F. Frost Award in 1986, Herman Miller’s highest recognition for an employee. I’ve been recognized as an annual report legend in Graphis and an American Design icon in the 50th Anniversary Issue of Communication Arts. Having several of my posters in the design collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art is also rewarding.

This post first ran on our Asia Pacific blog. If you happen to be in the region REACH is being held in Hong Kong on the 16-17 September 2011, visit the REACH website for full details and to book tickets to hear Steve Frykholm speak.

We’re passionate about design. Whether it’s ergonomic seating, graphic design, or something for our employees. We think about it; we design it–it’s part of who we are.

We’re also pretty passionate about cycling. So, in 1999, when a group of avid cyclists, including our current CEO Brian Walker, began discussing the idea of creating a special Herman Miller bike jersey, design quickly entered the discussion.

Since then, nine Herman Miller jerseys have been created. And much like our picnic posters, each designer had their own theme. Inspiration came from bike components and accessories, Herman Miller products, diabetes awareness, and even beet juice. Each one was designed to be eye-catching, because when you’re on the road, the last thing you want to do is blend in.

Designing the jerseys were always a fun project, but clothing was a new experience. “The tricky thing is to create one design that looks as good on a [size] small as it does on a XXL,” said graphic designer Martin Burch, who designed the first several jerseys.

The jerseys have become a part of the Herman Miller spirit. Our creative director, Steve Frykholm, put it best, “It’s fun to see someone wearing one on the road. It’s like seeing one of our trucks, it gets you kind of excited.”

If you’re in the West Michigan area, come join us for the Herman Miller Grand Cycle Classic. You’re guaranteed to see a few of our jerseys on the course.

Steve Frykholm poses with his students in Aba, Nigeria, 1966.

“Do what I did and join the Peace Corps,” was Steve Frykholm’s answer when asked what advice he had for students. “It was a great experience,” he continued, “I have been working for 41 years. What was two years out of my life? I learned a lot. It helped my self-esteem. It helped my confidence. It also taught me screen-printing. If I hadn’t been in the Peace Corps would I have done [the picnic] posters?”

Wow, Steve Frykholm, whose work is highly regarded and on display in MOMA, may have never learned the skill that made him famous if he had not lived in Africa. What is two years? For Steve, it focused his interest and started his career.

I had a similar experience, having spent a long time living in Japan, and would agree with Steve. The experience I gained was invaluable and really helped me to better understand who I am–I am a much better person for that.

Steve’s advice was great. Really, what is two years in the whole scheme of things? I wish more students would challenge themselves to experience something different. Sometimes you have to leave everything you know to discover who you are.

Photo: Sean Bolan

The AIGA also honored Tiffany & Co. and Method for corporate achievement. Two other Gold Medals went to John Maeda and Jennifer Morla. Steve was in good company and good form. He and his wife, Nancy Phillips, beamed the entire evening.

AIGA executive director Richard Grefé said, “AIGA is proud to recognize the 2010 Medalists for their exceptional contributions to the field of design. Each has contributed to the way design can intrigue the spirit, engage curiosity, enhance business, explore creative use of visual technique, and communicate value that is respected by business, society and our popular culture.”

Steve has directed Herman Miller’s graphic identity for 40 years. His iconic work has been widely published and exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and the Danish Museum of Decorative Art.

As Cheryl Heller, chair of the AIGA awards committee, noted, “Each Medalist this year is completely unique, yet all three are stellar examples of how to be a true leader and live a life in design.”

Unique? That’s what we love about Steve. Stellar? Definitely. At Herman Miller, Steve Frykholm is as iconic as his picnic posters. We’re honored to have him here.

In 1966, Steve Frykholm arrived in Aba, Nigeria, to teach commercial art at a government-run trade school for girls. How can I give them the chance to learn something they can apply, he thought, a useful trade? Silk screening was the answer, he told a group interested in good design stories from Herman Miller at the Muskegon Museum of Art last Thursday.

The tools were basic: paper stencils and dry pigments mixed with cassava starch. Frykholm even tried his hand. The results for everyone were crude at first, but improved quickly. And then the girls saw a chance to use what they’d learned.

On May 26, 1967, the government of Nigeria’s Eastern Region voted to secede and form the Republic of Biafra. Four days later it voted Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu head of Biafra. The girls started making and selling “I BACK OJUKWU” t-shirts and scarves. Sales were brisk, especially given the tension of the times. But tension turned to open fighting; Frykholm, along with all other Americans in eastern Nigeria, were evacuated by summer.

Back in the U.S., after six weeks of exploring Europe, Frykholm undertook an exhaustive study of silk screening, reading every book he could find on the subject and recording every “drill” he tried in a three-ring binder. He carried that binder with him through his MFA studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and to a job as a graphic designer at Herman Miller.

That was 1970. Less than two weeks into the job, Frykholm found a use for his screen print studies. “We have this picnic every year,” an executive told him, “and we’d like you to do a poster for it.” Looking for inspiration, Frykholm put an ear of corn in his mouth and asked a colleague to make a quick sketch. From that, Frykholm made the stencils and prepared the screens. He and his colleague printed 50 posters by hand after hours.

It turned out well, so well, in fact, that Frykholm entered it into an American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) competition. It wasn’t until after he submitted the poster that he read the fine print: All entries had to have been produced in a quantity of 500 or more.

The company agreed to pay for producing another 450 posters. “Corn” won the AIGA award, and Frykholm’s ethics remained high, a fact that was not lost on the selection committee when it chose him to be an AIGA Fellow in 2005, the first from Michigan.

More picnics, more posters, 20 in all. Along the way, a delightful letter arrived from the Museum of Modern Art in 1980: news that the museum had added seven of Frykholm’s picnic posters to its permanent collection. Beyond delighting the eye, Frykholm’s posters are trade raised to art. One wonders if the girls of Aba, Nigeria, are still screen printing.

Earlier this year, Herman Miller’s Creative Director and VP Steve Frykholm was honored with the West Michigan advertising community’s Silver Medal Award, a career-achievement honor for those who have made outstanding contributions to the advertising and marketing industry.

The term “legendary” is not taken lightly in the Midwest, but that’s how the president of the Ad Club of West Michigan referred to Steve Frykholm when she announced in February that he’d won their prestigious Silver Medal award for his “outstanding contributions” to the advertising and marketing industry.

Frykholm is largely responsible for creating Herman Miller’s image and graphic identity over the past 40 years, producing some of its most memorable promotional and marketing pieces.

“Steve’s perspectives are so fresh and so honest,” says Beth Taylor with the Holland ad agency Fairly Painless. “Within every design solution lies a new way of thinking.”

When he joined Herman Miller in 1970, he had no intention of sticking around. But he liked the company and he liked the work. “I believe in the products we make and design,” he states, adding, “When you promote stuff, it’s nice to promote stuff you believe in.”

His design approach, he says, is rooted in solving problems: “Did it solve a problem in a creative, imaginative authentic, original way? And is it memorable?”

Perhaps most memorable are the now-iconic “picnic” posters he did for the company in the 70s and 80s; they’re currently fetching up to $500 on eBay.

That same artistic sensibility can be found in all things corporate, including his annual reports. Still, even he was amazed recently when a faculty member at a university where he was speaking asked him to autograph one such report—from 1994.

Frykholm’s work has been published and exhibited around the world; his posters are in the collections ranging from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design to the Library of Congress. He’s won graphic design and communications awards from the AIGA, the New York Art Directors Club, American Center for Design, Communication Arts, Graphis, and Print.

In 2006, he became the first Michigan graphic designer to receive the American Institute for Graphics Arts Fellow Award.

Looking back on his career he says he’s never regretted his decision to stay. “Herman Miller trusted designers; that’s why I’ve been able to do what I’ve done.”

His advice to up and coming legends: “Stay true to yourself and do the work you like to do.”

The AAF West Michigan has 143 members, and serves more than 1,000 West Michigan industry professionals who buy, sell, create or produce services or products related to advertising.

By Keasha Palmer

Links:
Profile of Steve Frykholm on Silver Medal page of Ad Club’s website

Graphic designer credits ‘great legacy’ at Herman Miller Mark Sanchez, Business Review Western Michigan, Thursday February 19, 2009

Marketing is a picnic for Herman Miller creative director Shandra Martinez, The Grand Rapids Press, Tuesday, February 24, 2009