Mirko Ilić: fist to face

Mirko Ilic has a reputation as a rebel, but his iconoclasm is matched with tremendous gifts as an illustrator, a designer, and an educator. Ilic is a visionary and a leading voice of visual culture across disciplines and continents.

This visual biography of one of the most prolific and distinguished designers of the last half century traces Ilic's formative years as a precocious youth in Yugoslavia during the Communist-bloc era; his early illustrations for comic books and magazines; and his eventual move to the United States, where he quickly achieved notoriety as the art director of Time magazine's international edition and The New York Times' op-ed pages. As a designer, Ilic has constantly pushed his craft to new limits, experimenting and reinventing himself at every turn.

Throughout his illustrious career, Ilic has collaborated with design luminaries like Steven Heller and Milton Glaser. He has designed album covers for Rage Against the Machine, created film titles for You've Got Mail, and written or designed a number of books, including Genius Moves, The Design of Dissent, The Anatomy of Design, and Stop Think Go Do.

He has taught advanced design classes at Cooper Union with Milton Glaser and now teaches illustration at the School of Visual Arts. His studio, Mirko Ilic Corp., has received awards from the Society of Publication Designers, the Art Directors Club, I.D., Print, and HOW.