Welcome to Busytown: Or, What Ever Happened to Graphic Design? Our field has expanded from a specialized, largely invisible profession to an open-access enterprise. In the post-millennial scene of do-it-yourself publishing, designers are becoming authors, instigators, and entrepreneurs, while the general public has increasing access to design tools. Where do you fit in this rapidly changing world? Ellen Lupton’s recent exhibitions include “Graphic Design: Now in Production,” currently on national tour. Drawing on this and other recent projects, Lupton will assess the current state of graphic design.
Ellen Lupton is Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. Recent museum projects include “Graphic Design—Now in Production,” an exhibition on national tour through 2014, co-organized by Cooper-Hewitt and the Walker Art Center. Lupton also serves as director of the Graphic Design MFA Program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), where she has authored numerous books on design processes, including “Thinking with Type,” “Graphic Design Thinking,” and “Graphic Design: The New Basics.”