A nationally recognized graphic artist says that design tells stories that can touch the public in emotionally fulfilling ways. Ellen Lupton, a Baltimore-based graphic designer, curator, educator and writer of numerous books on the design process, will speak this month at Linfield College. The title of her illustrated talk is “Design is Storytelling.” The talk will be held Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. in the Richard and Lucille Ice Auditorium in Melrose Hall at Linfield.
“Designers can employ ideas about narrative, behavior, perception and humor to amaze, delight and orient the eye and mind,” Lupton says. “Designers in today’s cross-disciplinary, multimedia world create objects, images and brands that activate all the senses.”
Lupton is senior curator of contemporary design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. Recent exhibitions include “Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial” (with Andreas Lipps), “How Posters Work” and “Beautiful Users.”
Lupton also serves as director of the graphic design M.F.A. program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in Baltimore. She received the AIGA Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in 2007.
Among the many books on design she has written are “Thinking with Type,” “Graphic Design Thinking,” “Graphic Design: The New Basics,” “How Posters Work” and “Type on Screen: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Developers, and Students.” Her most recent book, “Design Is Storytelling,” is being published this fall by Cooper Hewitt.
The event is free and open to the public. The talk is sponsored by Linfield art and mass communication departments and is supported by the Office of Academic Affairs and Nicholson Library. For more information, contact Brad Thompson at bthomps@linfield.edu or Brian Winkenweder at bwinken@linfield.edu.
