Poster, Attention

This is a Poster. It was made for (as the client) Herman Miller Furniture Company. It is dated ca. 1964–80 and we acquired it in 1981. Its medium is lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Its dimensions are

89 × 58.5 cm (35 1/16 × 23 1/16 in.)

It is signed

Signed in graphite, lower right: 23/100 John Massey

It is inscribed

Printed in black, vertically, upper left: so that people are free to attend to what they care / about. Ironically, though, the freest societies invar- / iably create environments that militate against / attention. Visual pollution is harmful not just be- / cause it is ugly but because it is distractive. And / therefore destructive. Like other pollution, it de- / stroys the balance of nature—in this case, human / nature. A climate loaded with designs clamoring for / your attention is a climate in which you end up / paying attention to nothing. For example,; in white, vertically, within black square at upper left: from / Notes on Attention / by Ralph Caplan. / Herman Miller / Zeeland, Michigan; in black, horizontally, upper left, upside down: Herman Miller tries to pay attention; in black, lower left: herman miller produces office / and health care systems, furniture, / service and information

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