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[at the sea ranch] barbara stauffacher solomon painted supergraphics on the monochrome interiors: numbers, stripes, dots, and arrows, adding a layer of pop iconography within the still-sober weathered form. the combination of timelessness and whimsy, landscape form and antic decoration, made the sea ranch highly photogenic and instantly influential. —alexandra lange, architecture and design critic

Interior of the Sea Ranch Athletic Club with supergraphics on the walls

Interior of the Sea Ranch Athletic Club, with architecture by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. Jim Alinder/Princeton Architectural Press.

returning to USA

When Barbara learned John F. Kennedy was going to run for president, she decided to return to the United States to try to improve the world with design. However, after coming back she realized the style that she’d learned from Hoffman was very different from the hippie wavelength of current art in San Francisco. Her designs were even sometimes called “Nazi Graphics,” in sharp contrast to typical San Francisco design of the 1960’s, which she characterized as “wiggles and squiggles.”

Supergraphics sketches by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon.

Some typographic elements
Some typographic elements
Some typographic elements
Some typographic elements
Some typographic elements
Some typographic elements
Some typographic elements
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solomon’s scanlan’s design was unique for counter-culture publications at the time. although swiss modernism was a common corporate design language, it was foreign in this context. —steven heller, journalist and graphic design historian

Scanlan's Monthly Magazine cover with four cover stories

Scanlan’s Monthly Magazine, volume 1, № 7, September 1970.

sea ranch and supergraphics

Barbara’s first major job as a designer was to develop the corporate style of the Sea Ranch community in Sonoma County, California. She started with the iconic ram’s head logo, moved on to brochures and pictures for magazines, and, finally, in 1966 created Supergraphics—an abstract mural blending Swiss style, wooden architecture, and bright Bay Area colors. Supergraphics was featured in Life magazine and sparked a wave of imitations. Initially just the name of the Sea Ranch mural, supergraphics later became a common noun, denoting any mural spreading beyond one wall to playfully interact with the architecture of a building.

Sea Ranch Brochure cover

Ranch Design Brochure designed by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, circa 1965.

Sea Ranch supergraphics

Life Magazine, 1966.

Sea Ranch Tennis Club supergraphics by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. Jim Alinder/Princeton Architectural Press.

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i do what the walls tell me to do. —barbara stauffacher solomon

OfD restaurant in Sweden. Supergraphics

Interior of OfD restaurant, Sweden. The elongated black C is a mural by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. Image via OfD.

Scanlan’s Monthly Magazine, volume 1, № 2, April 1970.

Scanlan’s Monthly Magazine, volume 1, № 5, July 1970.

Scanlan’s Monthly Magazine, volume 1, № 6, August 1970.

Scanlan’s Monthly Magazine, volume 1, № 8, September 1971.

scanlan’s monthly magazine

At the beginning of the 1970’s, Barbara became an art director at Scanlan’s Monthly magazine, a controversial and short-lived San Francisco counter-culture publication. It was strongly anti-Nixonian and shut down after only eight issues after being boycotted by printers and undergoing an FBI investigation for “un-American” activities. It was one of several publications to feature Hunter Thompson’s early “gonzo” journalism, most notably his famous article, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved.” Design-wise, Scanlan’s Monthly featured spacious, Swiss-influenced layouts with lots of Helvetica, shockingly different from most other left-wing publications of the day.

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