# Michael Manwaring

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Manwaring
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Manwaring.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Manwaring
> Source revision: 1326963872
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Michael Manwaring** (born March 21, 1942)[1][2] is an American designer, artist, and former principal of design firm **The Office of Michael Manwaring**.[3] He was one of the founders of the [San Francisco Bay Area](/source/San_Francisco_Bay_Area) [postmodern](/source/Postmodern) movement in [graphic design](/source/Graphic_design), that later became known as the "Pacific Wave".

Manwaring lived in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) for more than 40 years, before moving to [Portland](/source/Portland,_Oregon), [Oregon](/source/Oregon), in 2006.

## Biography

Manwaring was born March 21, 1942, in Palo Alto, California.[4][5] He also grew up in Palo Alto, near [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University), where his father taught.[4][5]

Manwaring attended [San Francisco Art Institute](/source/San_Francisco_Art_Institute) (SFAI) and studied design with Jim Robertson of the Robertson Montgomery design firm, as well as with [Gordon Ashby](/source/Gordon_Ashby), [Barbara Stauffacher Solomon](/source/Barbara_Stauffacher_Solomon), and [Jack Stauffacher](/source/Jack_Stauffacher).[5][6][2] In his early career, he was inspired by the Swiss designer [Josef Muller-Brockmann](/source/Josef_M%C3%BCller-Brockmann) and his 'Beethoven poster'.[4] While in college he started freelance work designing film posters for the San Francisco Surf Theater on Irving Street and 48th Street.[5] He also worked on the [IBM](/source/IBM)-sponsored Astronomia exhibition (1964) at the [Hayden Planetarium](/source/Rose_Center_for_Earth_and_Space) in New York with designer Gordon Ashby.[1][5]

Manwarning designed public signage for a number of cities in the Bay Area during the 1970s through 1990s, often integrating large-scale [supergraphics](/source/Supergraphics).[7] In the 1970s, Manwaring designed an iconic public art sign in the [Bayview](/source/Bayview%E2%80%93Hunters_Point,_San_Francisco) neighborhood that reads, "India Basin Industrial Park" in concrete letters set in [Helvetica](/source/Helvetica) font.[4] In 1996, he designed the Embarcadero [interpretive signage](/source/Interpretive_signage) alongside historian Nancy Leigh Olmstead, a 2.5 mile-long walk along San Francisco's [Embarcadero](/source/Embarcadero_(San_Francisco)) neighborhood with 22 signs sharing historical relevance of the location.[8]

In the 1980s, a few San Francisco–based designers were nicknamed “The Michaels” because they all had the same name (Manwaring, alongside [Mabry](/source/Michael_Mabry), [Cronan](/source/Michael_Patrick_Cronan), [Vanderbyl](/source/Michael_Vanderbyl), [Schwab](/source/Michael_Schwab_(designer))), and later they became known as the "Pacific Wave" according to the design historian [Steven Heller](/source/Steven_Heller_(design_writer))[9][10][11][12] and described by exhibit curator and author Giorgio Camuffo in *Pacific Wave: California Graphic Design*.[13] Manwaring was known for his projects that incorporated [environmental graphics](/source/Environmental_Graphic_Design) in addition to traditional [graphic design](/source/Graphic_design).[12]

In 2006, he moved to Portland, Oregon.[5]

Manwaring's work is a part of several public museum collections, including [San Francisco Museum of Modern Art](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art) (SFMoMA)[14] and [Los Angeles County Museum of Art](/source/Los_Angeles_County_Museum_of_Art) (LACMA).[15]

## Publications

- Tropp, Barbara (1996). *The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques and Recipes*. William Morrow Cookbooks. ISBN 9780688146115.

## References

1. Carter, Rob (1989). [*American Typography Today*](https://books.google.com/books?id=vCFUAAAAMAAJ). Van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-442-22106-5.

1. Morgan, Ann Lee & Naylor, Colin (1984). [*Contemporary Designers*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Tb1QAAAAMAAJ). Gale Research Company. p. 338. ISBN 978-0-8103-2036-9. Born in Palo Alto, California, 21 March 1942. Studied under James Robertson, Gordon Ashby, and Barbara and Jack Stauffacher

1. Kyōkai, Nihon Kurieitāzu (1988). [*West Meets East*](https://books.google.com/books?id=6tY2AQAAIAAJ). Vol. 1. JCA Press. p. 137.

1. Karlin, Sean (2020-12-17). ["Iconic Bayview sign comes down for vital community center: Here's its surprising history"](https://48hills.org/2020/12/iconic-bayview-sign-removed-for-vital-community-center-heres-its-surprising-history/). *48 hills*. Retrieved 2020-12-31.

1. Meckel, David (2015-12-07). ["Fellow Awards 2013 Interview: Michael Manwaring"](http://aigasf.org/fellow-awards-2013-interview-michael-manwaring/). *AIGA San Francisco*. Retrieved 2020-12-31.

1. Camuffo, Giorgio (1987). [*Pacific Wave: California Graphic Design*](https://books.google.com/books?id=z3zsAAAAMAAJ&q=Michael+Manwaring) (in Italian). Magnus. ISBN 978-88-7057-070-0.

1. [*Communication Arts*](https://books.google.com/books?id=F9kxAQAAIAAJ). Vol. 36, no. 1. Coyne & Blanchard. 1994. p. 107.

1. ["Embarcadero Interpretive Signage and Walkway"](https://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/embarcadero-interpretive-signage-and-walkway.html). *San Francisco Art and Architecture*. 2000-01-28. Retrieved 2021-01-01.

1. ["2014 AIGA Medalist: Michael Cronan"](https://www.aiga.org/medalist-michael-cronan). *American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)*. Retrieved 2020-12-31.

1. Camuffo, Giorgio (1987). [*Pacific Wave: California Graphic Design*](https://books.google.com/books?id=z3zsAAAAMAAJ). Magnus. ISBN 9788870570700.

1. Bierut, Michael (2019-03-12). [*Now You See It and Other Essays on Design*](https://books.google.com/books?id=bPSKDwAAQBAJ). Chronicle Books. p. 184. ISBN 978-1-61689-676-8.

1. ["Michael: They Have Come To Symbolize San Francisco Design"](http://www.newspapers.com/image/461357152/?terms=%22Michael%20Mabry%22&match=1). *Newspapers.com*. The San Francisco Examiner. 26 January 1986. pp. 23–27. Retrieved 2021-01-01.

1. Camuffo, Giorgio (1987). *Pacific Wave: California Graphic Design*. Pennsylvania State University: Magnus. p. 108. ISBN 9788870570700.

1. ["Manwaring, Michael"](https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/michael_manwaring/). *SFMOMA*. Retrieved 2020-12-31.

1. Steinberger, Staci (2019-01-09). ["Behind the Designs"](https://unframed.lacma.org/2019/01/09/behind-designs). *Unframed LACMA*. Retrieved 2020-12-31.

## Further reading

- Igarashi, Takenobu; Vignelli, Massimo; Thornton, Richard S. (1985). *Seven Graphic Designers: Michael Manwaring, Woody Pirtle, Takenobu Igarashi, April Greiman, Gerald Reis, Koichi Sato, Michael Vanderbyl*. Tokyo, Japan: Mitsumura Printing Company. ISBN 9784766103472.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Manwaring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Manwaring) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Manwaring?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.