31. MICHAEL SCHWAB STUDIO
Chances are, if you’ve traveled anywhere near San Francisco’s National Parks, you’ve seen Michael Schwab’s work. Both prolific and stoic, and at once modern and alluding to past and present luminaries such as Rockwell Kent and Milton Glaser, Schwab’s designs create striking visuals, evoking images of an earlier period in America’s past where this country could do no wrong. “My goal is to communicate visually, and, hopefully, in a very bold, poetic way. It’s difficult to graphically speak to people today with all of the graphic noise out there. I strive to create proud images with integrity —works that people don’t mind actually living around,” says Schwab.

Indeed, Schwab’s work seems perfectly . t to advertise the majesty of California’s National Parks. After doing a series of posters for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, Schwab was approached to create a logo for a new proposed ferry service to Alcatraz. Once a notorious prison, Alcatraz has been converted into one of the GGNPC’s flagship sites.

“Because of the success of the family of dramatic graphic images I had created for the Parks in years past, the client approached me to design a logo for their proposed new ferry service that would evoke that same era and style—not to copy it, mind you, but to make them seem visually related,” says Schwab. His logo meshes illustration and design seamlessly, creating a vibrato that conjures up images of the institution Alcatraz was and the destination it has become. Starting with traditional drafting tools, Schwab draws preliminary pencil sketches and then inks them using a pen, T-square, ruler, and compass. You’ll notice there is no computer on his drawing table. Only after this is the design digitized into the computer.

“Throughout school, my heroes were illustrators and graphic designers. My work rode the fence between illustration and design. I’m still on that fence. Traditional illustrators consider me a designer and designers consider me an illustrator. I have always loved working with words and images—actors on a stage—evoking emotions. It’s theater, really,” says Schwab.
Rudolph Reitber