Frank Olinsky | |
Background information | |
---|---|
Born | USA |
Occupation | Graphic Designer |
Associated acts | Duran Duran The Smashing Pumpkins B52s Talking Heads |
Graphic Designer |
Frank Olinsky is an American graphic designer, whose work has included designs for Duran Duran.
Biography[]
Frank was born in New York City and grew up in Huntington, New York. He studied drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, filmmaking, and animation at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. After graduating Frank worked as an editorial illustration for New York Magazine, Esquire, The New York Times, The Whole Earth Review, and Ms. Magazine, among other publications. He entered the world of graphic design starting at the bottom, with paste-up and typesetting.
When a staff job at the Arica Institute ended because the art department was dissolved, Frank and two fellow designers (Pat Gorman and Patti Rogoff) started their own studio. They rented a tiny corner in the back of The School of T'ai Chi in Greenwich Village and filled it with drafting tables, a photostat camera, and other equipment purchased from Arica. The studio was named Manhattan Design, and began with nothing but faith and innocence. Most of our their work was for the music and entertainment industry, with work that included the original 'look' of MTV.
During this time Frank began teaching illustration at Parsons School of Design and came up with the idea for What The Songs Look Like: Contemporary Artists Interpret Talking Heads Songs, a book he put together with David Byrne. Frank also became the founding art director of Tricycle: the Buddhist Review.
In the 1980s Frank designed the Power Station album cover, plus designs for Duran Duran including the covers of Notorious and La Dolce Vita.
After 12 years, Manhattan Design was dissolved and he has since worked independently. For the past nineteen years, Frank has continued to design CD packaging and worked on other projects including his second book, Buddha Book: A Meeting of Images.