From a review of the times during which Tibor Kalman lived, it is readily apparent that many of the influences for his graphic designs stemmed from the historical context of his era. In Tibor Kalman: Design and Undesign, Liz Farrelly provides an account of the Hungarian artist's personal statement. A dissection of this statement via three quotes from it is useful in showing how the different contexts of Kalman's life experiences might have influenced his point of view as a designer.
Kalman's early life was filled with political, military, and social unrest. Yet he maintains he was "Lucky to be born in 1949. I got to live in and remember a real live Communist country until I was seven. I got to escape in the middle of the night" (Farrelly 8). Kalman maintains he is lucky because this experience showed him dramatic and different worlds than most people experience at a young age. His youth protected him from the trauma of the reality of the situation, yet it also filled him with adventure and excitement to escape from somewhere. This sense of adventure and being exposed to different worlds might have been why Kalman came to work for companies that were known for embracing diversity through design, like the Benetton-sponsored Colors, where Kalman "communicated through bold graphic design, typography, and juxtaposition of photographs and doctored images like the Pope and Queen Elizabeth depicted as racial minorities" (Tibor 1). It is likely that his early experiences filled him with appreciation for the dilemma of oppressed peoples.
The work Kalman did for M&Co led to careers for many designers influenced by his work. Women like Stefan Sagmeister, Stephen Doyle and Emily Oberman continued in the vein of Kalman's bold and radical designs after leaving M&Co. It is possible that the radical view adopted by Kalman in his bold designs and the fact that his images work toward advancing social justice are...