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.

i don’t keep things. i enjoy tossing things i don’t need. cleaning out the house, cleaning out my mind. my swiss training I suppose. —barbara stauffacher solomon

Sea Ranch building with ram's head logo

Oceanic Properties: Sea Ranch, logo by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. Image from Joseph Esherick Collection. © Regents of the University of California, held by the Environmental Design Archives.

later work

From the 1980’s onwards, Barbara was mostly involved in landscape architecture. She published the book Green Architecture: Notes on the Common Ground in 1982, and a couple years later oversaw identity development for Ulrich Franzen’s Hunter College expansion in New York, including its signature skywalks. She also created the Ribbon of Light installation at the Embarcadero Promenade in San Francisco in 1991.

Land(e)scape installation by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: wooden staircase with supergraphics
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