From 1950–1975, Chicago-based Container Corporation of America ran a campaign heralded as one of the best in advertising history, Great Ideas of Western Man. The world has changed since 1975, but great ideas are timeless. Welcome to our response.
Malarie on Sandra Cisneros
Joe Klomes on Lester Beall on Horace Mann; on Herbert Bayer on Alfred North Whitehead; on Stephanie Sohn on Gloria Steinem
Deborah Stratman on Ida B. Wells
Andy Gregg on Mary Wollstonecraft
Tanner Woodford on Edith Wharton
Reina Takahashi and Grace Suh on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
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- 50k on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Aidyn on Abena Joan Brown
- Alan Chan on Mencius
- Alejandra, Grade 7 on Octavio Paz
- Alexander Skoirchet on Buddha
- Alexia, Grade 7 on Selena
- Ameer Carter on Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Andy Gregg on Mary Wollstonecraft
- Angeliki on Sandra Cisneros
- Angie on Lois Weisberg
- Ashley, Grade 6 on José María Morelos y Pavón
- Audra Hubbell on Witold Gombrowicz
- Bart Crosby on Augustine of Hippo
- Bart Crosby on Augustine of Hippo
- Bibliothèque on Alfred North Whitehead
- Bob Faust on Buckminster Fuller
- Bryan Gallardo on Sun Ra
- Carol Ross Barney on Fernand Léger
- Chad Kouri on Dr. Cornel West
- Cocu Liu on George Sand
- Cody Hudson on Mary Shelley
- Cushing on Sojourner Truth
- Daisy, Grade 7 on Frida Kahlo
- David Sieren on Andy C., Grade 8
- Deborah Stratman on Ida B. Wells
- Declan on Lois Weisberg
- Dian Holton on László Moholy-Nagy
- Douglass Scott on Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Eileen Tjan on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Emry, Grade 7 on Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
- Esperanza on Oprah Winfrey
- Gail Anderson on Marian Wright Edelman
- Geoff Adler on Carl Sandburg
- Guadalupe, Grade 7 on Rosario Castellanos
- Hal Kugeler on Alondra D.T., Grade 7
- Helencia on Jackie Taylor
- Hugh Dubberly on Paul Rand and John Dewey
- Iliana, Grade 6 on Lalo Guerrero
- Ivan Chermayeff on Oliver Wendell Holmes
- James Goggin on Margaret Anderson
- Jason Pickleman on Katharine Kuh
- Jen Wandro on Vanessa C., Grade 8
- Jennifer, Grade 7 on María Félix
- Jiaqing Mo on Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
- Jilly Simons on Gwendolyn Brooks
- Joe Klomes on Lester Beall on Horace Mann; on Herbert Bayer on Alfred North Whitehead; on Stephanie Sohn on Gloria Steinem
- Joelle on Cheryl Lynn Bruce
- Jonathan Solomon on Harriet Monroe
- Joseph Michael Essex on Guinevere S., Grade 6
- Ken Lo on Miyamoto Musashi
- Kimberly Terzis on Anne Sophie Swetchine
- LaShun Tines on Frederick Douglass
- Lucia on Margaret Burroughs
- Luis Pinto on Walter Gropius
- Malarie on Sandra Cisneros
- Marcus Norman on Lucy Larcom
- Margot Harrington on Sojourner Truth
- Martin, Grade 7 on José Vasconcelos Calderón
- Matthew Hoffman on Susan B. Anthony
- Matthew Terdich on Benjamin Franklin
- Max Temkin on Bertolt Brecht
- Mike Renaud on Victor Hugo
- Nick Adam on Henri Bergson
- Nikki Juen on Edwidge Danticat
- One Design Co. on Henri Bergson
- Paula Scher on Walter Benjamin
- Pouya Ahmadi on Rumi
- Reina Takahashi and Grace Suh on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
- Remedy on Eleanor Roosevelt
- Renata Graw on Hypatia
- Ruben, Grade 7 on Rosario Castellanos
- Russell Lord on Henry Ward Beecher
- Ryohei Oba on Starhawk
- Safwat Saleem on Kristina D., Grade 5
- Scott Gundersen on Francis Bacon
- Sebastian on Barbara Gaines
- Susan Jackson Keig on Buckminster Fuller
- Tanner Woodford on Andy A., Grade 8
- Tanner Woodford on Edith Wharton
- The Pattern Tales on Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Patternbase on Lucy Larcom
- Troy Lehman on László Moholy-Nagy
- Verena Michelitsch on Anaïs Nin
- Veronica Corzo-Duchardt on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Yaro Banduro on Wumen Huikai
What is Great Ideas of Humanity?
John Massey, former Container Corporation of America (CCA) head of design, encouraged the Design Museum of Chicago to reimagine the Great Ideas of Western Man campaign. We happily obliged. Our reprise, Great Ideas of Humanity, embraces the increasing globalization of our world and celebrates the resulting cross-pollination of ideas, philosophies, societies, and cultures.