JOHN MELIN｜1921–1992｜SWEDEN
John Melin was one of the leading art directors in postwar Swedish advertising and graphic design.
While working at an advertising agency in Malmö, he began collaborating with the illustrator and artist Anders Österlin. From 1955 onward, the two worked under the name M&Ö, producing advertising and graphic design for exhibition posters, catalogues, advertisements, and packaging. Melin was chiefly responsible for ideas and concepts, while Österlin developed the graphic expression.
In the 1960s, Melin worked under Pontus Hultén, then director of Moderna Museet and later the founding director of the Centre Pompidou, designing exhibition posters and catalogues for the museum. These became some of his best-known works and played an important role in shaping the museum’s visual identity. He was also involved in the catalogue design for The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age, the landmark exhibition organized by Hultén at MoMA in 1968.
After leaving the advertising agency in 1976, he continued to work from his home studio, producing posters, catalogues, and packaging for museums and galleries. In the 1980s, he also pursued more conceptual work using materials such as paper, metal, and plastic.
In 1955, he married the ceramic artist and designer Signe Persson-Melin, and also designed packaging for her tableware and other products.
In 1999, after his death, the exhibition John Melin till Exempel was held at Moderna Museet, with which he had been closely associated throughout his career.
