Simon Griffee · Design · Photography · Writing · Illustration

What: science

Via di San Gregorio, Rome, Italy, 2013

The Core 100 Logotype Design

Columbia University’s Centennial Celebration of its Core Curriculum has begun and you might spot a strange logo here and there around the campus. Having designed the logotype, I wanted to give a visual overview of the work involved in making it.

Notebook page with Core 100 logotype design notes.

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Remembering Leonardo da Vinci 500 Years After His Death

A deluge drawing by Leonardo made on the end of his life.
A deluge, c.1517–18, by Leonardo da Vinci. Black chalk, pen and ink, wash. 16.2 × 20.3 cm (sheet of paper). RCIN 912380. Larger version at Wikimedia.

Taking a moment from current life flux to note that Leonardo da Vinci, a great human being, died 500 years ago on 1519 May 2nd.

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Centennial Celebration Logotype for Columbia University’s Core Curriculum

The Core 100 logotype in the corner of the frame of a detail of Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People.

A glimpse of the logotype design for Columbia University’s Centennial Celebration of the Core Curriculum.

The background image in this test is a detail of Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People.

It has been a pleasure to work with Columbia College on this project.

Goodbye, Stephen Hawking

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination: we learned to talk.

It doesn’t have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.

—Keep talking

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STEM to STEAM #

Science, technology, engineering, math + art & design = STEAM. Coincidentally, Steam is also the leading computer games digital distribution platform.

The Value of Science #

Of all its many values, the greatest must be the freedom to doubt.

Galileo’s Drawings From Observation and the Enlightenment of Our Species

From The Galileo Project website’s page on Galileo’s drawings of sunspots: In 1612 during the summer months, Galileo made a series of sunspot observations which were published in Istoria e Dimostrazioni Intorno Alle Macchie Solari e Loro Accidenti Rome (History and Demonstrations Concerning Sunspots and their Properties, published 1613). Because these observations were made at appoximately the same time of day, the motion of the spots across the Sun can easily be seen.

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Professor Raimondo Betti, Columbia University, New York City, October 2015

Raimondo Betti (Professor, Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University) stands next to the Cable Corrosion Monitoring System, a major research project he led at Columbia’s Carleton Lab.

Here is the poster I designed for his talk at the Italian Academy:

A photograph of Professor Betti on top of the words Monitoring the Health of Our Bridges set to look like a suspension bridge with red dots on the letters i.