Courtney WIndham, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Auburn University, leads a kinetic type studio in the School of Industrial and Graphic Design that helps students push their creative limits and develop motion design skills.
Category: Blog
Zorel: Frameworks That Fuel Creativity
Rachel Zorel, founder and creative director of NJ branding agency 7 Layer Studio, explores the balance of structure + freedom in fueling creativity. She contends that an intentional framework makes space for innovation — helping ideas take root without being lost in the day-to-day demands.
2025 Designers To Watch & Students To Watch
The February 2025 edition of Graphic Design USA marks the 62nd anniversary of our ‘People To Watch’ selections — leaders and influencers — and our ‘Students To Watch’ forecast with the help of leading design schools and programs.
Justin Ahrens Returns To Rule29
Justin Ahrens has returned to lead Rule29. In early 2024, Ahrens left the design firm to establish O’N Creative, an in-house agency at O’Neil Printing. This new chapter blends O’Neil’s production expertise with Rule29’s creative vision.
Huot: 2025 Airline Design Trends
Edmond Huot is a globally renowned designer specializing in airline branding and livery design. With over two decades of experience, he has shaped the visual identities of some of the world’s most prominent airlines. He shares his thoughts on airline design trends in 2025.
Artisan: Design Trends To Focus On In 2025
2025 has arrived and Artisan brings useful design trends into focus. If you want to level up your skills for next year, here are five areas that could be fun – and worth your while – in landing a new job or a new client.
Cuenca: AI and The Graphic Designer
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming every aspect of our lives, graphic design is no exception. The rise of generative AI (genAI) is leaving many fearing for the future. But many are adapting to these new technologies and many of those using AI are already winning in the game.
Welcome To The 61st GDUSA Design Annual
We present our 61st anniversary end-of-year best-of-year awards showcase — a celebration of the value to business, culture, society that creative professionals bring to the table. The pieces showcased — and their creators — stand out from the information clutter and make a difference.
Jessie McGuire: Art Creates Ripples
Art is inherently political, according to ThoughtMatter’s Jessie McGuire. In a time where design choices shape public perception and influence social change, art can reshape how brands, institutions, and campaigns connect with audiences, making it a tool for meaningful social impact.
Brand Building In An Age of AI Agents
As AI agents increasingly take over tasks like shopping and web browsing, brands face the challenge of how to stay relevant when interacting with bots instead of humans. Jim Misener, President, 50,000feet, highlights strategies to help brands thrive in an era of bot-driven consumer interactions.
Twinpreneurs’ Journey To Creative Success
As twin sisters and co-founders of Buttercrumble, a creative studio, Abigail and Chloe Baldwin have navigated their way through the creative industry while facing the challenges of being young, working-class women. Their journey taught them resilience but also revealed systemic barriers, particularly for those from underrepresented backgrounds.
Editors Letter: A Widening Circle
Gordon Kaye and Sasha Kaye-Walsh are editors of GDUSA. This comment, connected to our annual responsible designers report and our 2024 health and wellness design awards competition and showcase, first appeared in the OCTOBER 2024 print and digital magazines.
Artisan: The Art of Followup – How and When To Do It
For creative job seekers, follow-up emails are more rare and impactful than you’d guess. So, where do you start? Artisan has some advice and direction on how to structure your follow-ups to keep you top-of-mind with decisionmakers.
How Cannabis Is Using Packaging For Brand Building
Burgopak’s Head of Design, Alexander Parker, discusses how the legalized cannabis industry is leveraging packaging as a powerful brand building tool and why it that matters.
Welcome To Our 2024 GDUSA Inhouse Awards Showcase
We present our 61st anniversary inhouse awards showcase — the original and premier celebration of inhouse excellence — and a celebration of the value that inhouse communicators bring to the table.
Misener: The ESG Branding Backlash
Jim Misener examines the backlash that ESG is experiencing as well as a principled response that companies should take. Jim’s message to clients: control the branding and control the narrative, and you’ll build a stronger, more resilient business.
Sarah Moffat: Embrace The Mess
Drawing on learnings from Turner Duckworth’s new book “I love it. What is it?” — stories and advice gathered from over 30+ years of working with the world’s biggest brands — Sarah Moffat stresses the creative benefits of going slow and embracing the messy process of iteration.
Two Things Can Be True At The Same Time
Gordon Kaye has been editor and publisher of GDUSA for more than three decades, and Sasha Kaye-Walsh is website and social media editor. This comment, connected to our 61st annual Print Design Survey and our 2024 Digital Design Awards competition and showcase, first appeared in our June 2024 print and digital magazines.
Artisan: Questions To Ask Before Saying Yes To A Freelance Gig
Just because freelance jobs are available right now doesn’t help with figuring out which ones are high in quality. How do you determine which gigs are truly right for you? Artisan breaks is down into four types of questions you should ask yourself before you say yes to that freelance gig.
Williams and Lynch Lead Beardwood&Co.
Beardwood&Co. recently celebrated two decades in business, and new co-CEOS Sarah Williams and Ryan Lynch sat down to discuss just how they did it with Chief Growth Officer (and founder) Julia Beardwood.
GDUSA Moves To Brooklyn
GDUSA moved to the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn earlier this year, after 60 years of publishing on or within a few feet of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Brooklyn is a leading producer of irony and Publisher Gordon Kaye has a few very brief thoughts along those lines.
Maugé-Lewis Book Guides Students Toward Graphic Design Careers
Professor Carole Maugé-Lewis’ new book – So! You Want To Become A Graphic Designer: A Resource and Guide — is available as an eBook and in paperback. With a foreward by GDUSA’s Gordon Kaye, the book is aimed at aspiring graphic design students, career changers, and more.
Why Heavyweight Paper Stocks Are Ideal For Marketing Collateral
A look at the kinds of print marketing pieces that are ideal for heavyweight papers, and how Accent® Opaque’s new line of premium heavyweight paper, The Heavyweights, can help brands create print marketing collateral that connects with customers in a deeper, more tactile way.
Zimmerman: The Digital Shelf
In a world increasingly dominated by e-commerce, the battle for the digital shelf is critical. Suzanne Zimmerman, Sr Director of E-Commerce at SGK, explores how brands are innovating to stand out to online shoppers without abandoning their brand voice or neglecting their base.
Taite: Why Sonic Branding Works
John Taite of Made Music Studio explains why sonic branding has emerged as a powerful way for brands to connect with consumers, becoming a valuable asset in any marketer’s toolkit.
Artisan: How To Find A More Stable Job In 2024
While most of us bought into the hype of working for super fun companies in tech, retail, hospitality, and travel, There are ways of finding stability if you turn your interest toward more consistent, in-demand industries.
Message From The Editors | People To Watch 2024
For the 61st time, GDUSA presents ‘People To Watch’. The annual edition highlights leaders in the creative community who have something important to say and back up their words with deeds — talent, achievement, leadership, service, newsworthiness.
Artisan: The State of Freelancing 2024
The number of freelancers has grown by 3 million a year since the pandemic. It’s a competitive landscape with no signs of slowing. Here is valuable advice from the Artisan creative recruitment agency for freelancers and contractors heading into 2024.
Monitor Features That Optimize Creative Workflow
To thrive, graphic designers must evolve to keep up with the changing demands. Monitors with high-resolution, accurate color reproduction and ample connectivity are not only a must but can help improve design experiences and process.
Ken Carbone’s Top Ten: Then And Now
Legendary designer Ken Carbone, a recipient of the 2012 AIGA medal, is currently a Senior Advisor to the Chicago-based strategic branding firm 50,000feet. He shares with us ten designers, then and now, who have inspired him.
Educator To Watch: Genaro Solis Rivero
Genaro Solis Rivero is an award-winning graphic designer and educator specializing in branding. He joined the Baylor University Art faculty in 2023, following five years of teaching Communication Design at Texas State.
Meri A. Page: Educator To Watch
Meri A. Page is an interdisciplinary designer originally from Maine and now based in Syracuse NY where she is an Assistant Professor of Communications Design at Syracuse University.
Kevin Hall: CT Designers Scored BIG in the ‘90s
Connecticut graphic designer Kevin Hall recounts the halcyon days of the 1990s when sports teams flocked to the state and sports loving designers like himself had a field day developing logos, branding and marketing materials.
The GDUSA Podcast #11: Michele Pistone of Neenah
Michele Pistone of Neenah discusses the power of print and premium papers in a digital age, and the need for package and print designers to be confident in their paper knowledge.
Street Level Studio Is…
Highwood IL-based Street Level Studio (SLS) is a full-service marketing and design agency that combines a “roll up your sleeves” work ethic with a creative drive and depth of experience that matches anything a Michigan Avenue agency might offer.
Designing for Good: Celebrating Creators Who Make Positive Change
Lucy Marino of global talent solutions firm Robert Half on how great design can drive positive social change. And why the firm is sponsoring a special Designing For Good category in GDUSA’s annual graphics awards program.
Denver Neighborhood Turns To Design
Wunder Werkz has created a visual language and brand systems to revive a Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood and ‘give it back to the immigrants that made it a home.’
Does Design Have An Ageism Problem?
Ageism in the graphic design industry is a perennial problem. Dan Crowder of Craft argues that mixing up ages in a firm, agency or business isn’t just about fairness, it’s about being genuinely creative.
How To Be Found On LinkedIn
Advice from Artisan on boosting your visibility for recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn: jobseekers who put in the effort will find that some of the ‘work’ they do to get noticed is actually fun.
How To Stay Positive Through Rounds of Interviews
Artisan is a boutique recruitment agency with offices in major cities across the United States. This is the second in a series of blogposts that address relevant topics for the creative community in 2023, whether you are finding work or finding talent.