Philip Slater is not only a sociologist, professor, author, playwrite, actor, and bonafide psychonaut; he also happens to be my grandfather.

The Brief

Scope of Work

︎  Brand Design
︎  Imaging
︎  Web Design

Philip E. Slater (May 15, 1927 — June 20, 2013) was the author of the influential 1970 best-seller The Pursuit of Loneliness (Beacon 1970), as well as nine other books of sociology and social commentary.

Though his books had done well in the 70’s, his later books were more precient but less widely recognized. As a fan of his work myself, I volunteered to create a website to display his works. 

Slater believed fervently in democracy’s adaptive superiority, a theme that ran throughout his work. In a prescient 1964 Harvard Business Review article called “Democracy is Inevitable,” he and co-author Warren Bennis predicted the fall of the Soviet bloc and the rise of democracy, arguing, “Democracy… is the only system that can successfully cope with the changing demands of contemporary civilization.”

His style was both eccentric and simple. I wanted to create a visual identity that expressed his intellectual flexibility and his forward-thinking mind. His concerns were for the future—and he turned out to be quite right about them.

Phil’s non-fiction topics include global culture, American culture, gender, business, addiction, Greek mythology, the supernatural, sexual tension and more. However, his non-fiction wasn’t his only work; he also excelled writing fiction and plays.

“Philip Slater has perhaps perfected the [10 minute play] form in his crowd-pleasing ode to the comedy and agony of speculation, ‘Remotely Interested,’ in which a young cafe denizen with a remote control envisions hilarious contexts for a women he’s been eyeing—and for the older man who sits down to talk with her.”
— Santa Cruz Good Times Review

“The experience of losing everything and finding I was having a wonderful time opened me to experiences I otherwise would not have had. I would have protected myself from them if I had known.”

—Philip Slater

Read Phil’s obituary in the New York Times here, or visit his website here for more information on his life and works.

Personally, I recommend reading his non-fiction work The Chrysalis Effect.