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The Wordsmith on Paula Scher

Unless you're part of the clubby graphic-design fraternity, you may never have heard of Paula Scher, but it's nearly impossible not to know her work. Every time you pass a Citibank ATM or hand over one of its credit cards with the iconic red-arched 'Citi' logo, you're in her orbit. When you open a box from Tiffany, with its slender, elegant typeface, you're decoding a message she has sent you (namely, 'This had to be pricey!'). If you get subversive pleasure reading Jon Stewart's snarky faux textbook, America (The Book), or are charmed by the signs on the New York subway for the Metropolitan Opera, or look back wistfully on the loopy spaceship cover of the first Boston album, you're under the spell of this astonishingly versatile, formidably talented designer.