Tibor Kalman was a vital, iconoclastic voice of the design community who challenged and often provoked our cultural attitudes across a range of issues. Trained as a journalist, irrevocably shaped by the politics of '68, Kalman was a live wire in a profession not often prone to painful self-reflection. "I'm not against beauty," Kalman said in Tibor: Perverse Optimist, a book about his work published in 1998. "It just sounds boring to me." For the Hungarian-born Kalman, graphic design too often was less about effective communication than expedient distortion.

After founding M&Co in 1979, Kalman balanced work for corporate clients such as IBM and The Limited. His genius asserted itself across design disciplines. He created memorable record covers for the Talking Heads and Laurie Anderson; he also designed clocks and other products meant to surprise and invite thought on the part of consumers. His interests in journalism were maintained by his involvement as creative director at Interview and art director at Artforum.

In 1993 Kalman closed his studio and moved to Rome to edit Benetton's Colors magazine. With its provocative covers and unconventional format, Colors merged Kalman's strong social conscience and unorthodox design philosophies.

In 1997, having learned he was terminally ill, Kalman returned to New York and re-formed M&Co to pursue "non-commercial projects." These projects ranged from the design of the Keith Haring show at the Whitney Museum of American Art to the book Chairman Rolf Fehlbaum, for the German Design Council, and public art for the 42nd Street Redevelopment Project. In 1999, the same year as his death, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presented "Tiborocity," a retrospective of his work that traveled throughout the U.S and Europe.

"I'm not sure," was his leadoff line in Tibor: Perverse Optimist, typically Kalman-esque in its honesty and directness, but of his impact on design and the strength of his legacy there is no doubt.