Visiting Artists 2012–13
Abbott Miller
Abbott’s projects address the cultural role of design and the public life of the written word. At Pentagram he leads a team designing books, magazines, catalogs, identities, exhibitions, and creating editorial projects. His work and critical writing has appeared in Eye, Print, I.D. and other publications, and he is the co-author of four books, including the classic Design/Writing/Research: Writing on Graphic Design.
Adam Michaels
Adam Michaels founded Project Projects in January 2004 with Prem Krishnamurthy, focusing on print, environmental, and interactive design projects for clients in the cultural sector. In addition, the studio produces a range of independent projects, including lectures, publications, and events. Before starting his own Brooklyn-based graphic design studio, Adam Michaels was the Associate Art Director of Architecture magazine in New York and worked for design studios in Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
Astrom/Zimmer
Astrom/Zimmer is the driving force behind the Café Society: Anthon Astrom, autodidact coder, have worked as an Adobe professional trainer, conceptual arts teacher, and countryside mailman; Lukas Zimmer, eminent research fellow and graphic designer for both print and screen. Both Rietveld Academy graduates. Anthon and Lukas found in the Café Society Projects their ideal workout vessel, where they experiment with issues that would be hard to implement 1:1 in the commercial world.
Jan Wilker
Jan Wilker is from Ulm, Germany, and received his MFA in 2001 from the State Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart. In late 2000, he moved to New York to start a design studio, Karlssonwilker Inc, together with Icelandic friend, Hjalti Karlsson. They work on all sorts of projects for an eclectic mix of cultural and commercial clients, from local nonprofits to global corporations. In 2003, Princeton Architectural Press published their Tellmewhy, a book that chronicles their first 24 months in business.
Johanna Drucker
Johanna Drucker is the inaugural Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA. She is internationally known for her work in the history of graphic design, typography, experimental poetry, fine art, and digital humanities. In addition, she has a reputation as a book artist, and her limited edition works are in special collections and libraries worldwide. Recent titles include SpecLab: Digital Aesthetics and Speculative Computing (Chicago, 2009), and Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide (2012).
Karin Fong
Karin Fong is a founding member of Imaginary Forces, a production company that creates and develops content for commercial advertising, digital and interactive platforms, feature films, and more. She has worked for Target, Sears, Hillshire Farm, Herman Miller, and Honda, among others, She has also created sequences for numerous feature films and television series, including the main titles of Charlotte’s Web, The Truman Show, The Pink Panther 2, Boardwalk Empire, American Chopper, and Masterpiece.
Keetra Dean Dixon
Keetra explores the interplay between physical and digital interactions. Her work is in the permanent design collection at the SFMOMA and was featured in STEP magazine’s Emerging Talent ‘09 and tADC Young Gun ‘08. She has been featured in numerous publications, speaking engagements, and exhibitions, including Etapes Magazine, Die Gestalten, and London’s Kessel Kramer Gallery KKOutlet. Dixon developed many of her core objectives during her 2004 – 2006 masters studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Krissi Xenakis
Krissi Xenakis is an Art Director at Joe Zeff Design where she has developed and designed for apps such as National Geographic Magazine on the iPhone and Fast Company on the iPad. She previously worked in personalized online advertising and as a visual journalist and multimedia designer at The Denver Post and the Virginian-Pilot Media Companies. Krissi received her MFA from MICA’s GDMFA program in 2011.
Natasha Jen
Natasha Jen was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1976. She studied graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and received her BFA with Honors in 2002. She has worked at Base Design as a senior designer from 2003 to 2006 on fashion and brand identity projects, and at 2×4, Inc. as an art director from 2006 to 2009, leading large-scale branding, exhibition, environmental and editorial projects. In 2010, she established her own studio, NJENWORKS. She joined Pentagram as a partner in 2012.
Paul Sahre
Graphic designer, illustrator, lecturer, educator and author Paul Sahre established his New York studio in 1997. While consciously maintaining a small office, Sahre has nevertheless built a large presence in American graphic design. The balance he strikes between commercial and personal projects is evident in the physical layout of his workspace: part design studio, part silkscreen lab, part classroom.
Rick Poynor
Rick Poynor is a renowned writer, editor, and photographer who has contributed a unique voice to the design discourse. This richly illustrated talk investigates the overlooked international history of graphic design and image-making influenced by Surrealism. It shows that design can be a place to encounter the strange, the fantastical and the uncanny, and to experience the convulsive beauty and capacity for enchantment that the Surrealists called “the marvelous.”
Silas Munro
Silas is a hybrid graphic design practitioner and educator whose mission is to make and teach design that is beautiful, smart with empathy for humanity. He is Faculty Chair for the MFA Program in Graphic Design at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Munro makes award-winning graphic design and branding for varied audiences across media. His past work has been recognized by the ADC Young Guns, AIGA and a SAPPI Ideas that Matter grant.