Jennifer Cole Phillips is a designer, educator, and author. She is Director of the Graphic Design MFA Program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and operates a design practice specializing in visual identity, publication design, and branding. The heart of her work and teaching is a passion for design innovation and formal rigor. Her design work has received awards of excellence from Graphis Design, Graphis Poster, Print Magazine, The Art Director’s Clubs of New York and Metropolitan Washington, AIGA 50, and the Society of Typographic Arts 100 Show, among others. Professor Phillips earned her MFA and BFA in Graphic Design from RISD. She is co-author (with Ellen Lupton), of Graphic Design The New Basics (Second Edition, 2015), and contributing author, art director, and mentor for several other titles published by Princeton Architectural Press. In 2014, she won the prestigious MICA Trustees Fellowship Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2016, she was awarded a Sappi Ideas That Matter Grant for a social design project partnership with Johns Hopkins University focusing on puberty education tools for inner city girls.
Jeff served as Designer-in-Residence in the Graphic Design MFA program for three years and was subsequently appointed to the full-time faculty. He is also a MICA GDMFA alum (‘22). Jeff teaches core Design Studio classes as well as Graduate Typography and Advanced Publication. He brings years of experience from both higher education and industry. Prior to joining MICA, Jeff taught at Syracuse University, Portland State University ,and the School of Visual Arts. Jeff’s practice focuses on visual storytelling and publication design. He has held positions at The New York Times and Washingtonian Magazine.
Ellen Lupton is a designer, writer, and educator. Her books include Thinking with Type, Design Is Storytelling, Graphic Design Thinking, Health Design Thinking, and Extra Bold. She teaches in the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore (MICA), where she serves as the inaugural Betty Cooke and William O. Steinmetz Design Chair. She is Curator Emerita at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, where her exhibitions included Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus Master and The Senses: Design Beyond Vision. She is an AIGA Gold Medalist and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Her popular Type Mom persona on Instagram (@EllenLupton) shares design education with everyone.
Visiting Artists are an integral part of the GD MFA program. Throughout the year, guest artists drawn from the local and national design community come to MICA to conduct weekend workshops and to serve as critics in the classroom. Our visiting artists provide feedback on student work, discuss their own work and careers, and conduct workshops that explore the design process.
Adam Maida & Shira Inbar talk to first-year GD MFA
Accordion fold animations from Risograph workshop with Elaine Lopez & Shivani Parasnis
Elaine Lopez demonstrates Risograph printing process to first-year GD MFA
Workshop with Shira Inbar, Adam Maida, and the class of 2023
Lynn Chen & Naige Guo spectate poster making workshop series
Christina Chahyadi & Hui Zeng hang up their workshop posters