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Faculty

Our faculty come from all over, and they have a wealth of experience to pass on. Here's a look at some of the professionals who have recently taught in the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Graphic Design program.

Jeff Berg

(BFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Courses taught:
Professional Practice Seminar

As Associate Creative Director of Design at OLSON, Jeff has the enthusiasm and passion for advertising that OLSON employees are known for. His abundant creativity helps him design award-winning work for OLSON and its clients. Jeff handles design work for numerous OLSON accounts, including Phillips, Marvin Windows and Doors, and Allina. Prior to joining OLSON, Jeff worked at FAME as a design supervisor working on many accounts, most notably the Target account. Jeff has also had the opportunity to work at Nickelodeon and Eric Baker Design Associates. Jeff began his career as an intern turned Web designer at Charles Spencer Anderson Design (CSA Design) working on Web sites for CSA Design and French Paper. Jeff is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a BFA in design. He currently resides in South Minneapolis and enjoys spending his free time with his wife and three children.

Christia (Fieber) Blomquist

(MA/University of Minnesota)
Courses taught:
Design In Context
Typography Foundation

Christia Blomquist has been a graphic designer for more than 20 years, specializing in the design and management of publications and communications for organizations such as Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota Monthly magazine, Utne magazine, the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas. Christia attended the College of Design, Art and Architecture at the University of Cincinnati and received a BS in art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MA in liberal studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. While in graduate school, she helped to design a post-baccalaureate certificate program in Innovation Studies. The course is now offered through the College of Continuing Education at the University of Minnesota, and she continues to teach in that program. Her continuing academic interest is the application of innovation concepts to the areas of visual communications and cultural studies.

Alex DeArmond

(MFA/Werkplaats Typografie)
Courses taught:
Typography Studio

Alex is an independent graphic designer and publisher based in Minneapolis. A former senior designer at the Walker Art Center and recent graduate from the master's program at Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem, the Netherlands, he co-edits Task Newsletter, an occasional publication that uses graphic design to talk about other things.

Bill Dorman

(MA/Southern Illinois University)
Courses taught:
Web Foundation

Bill is an information architect and Web strategist. He has planned and helped to build hundreds of Web sites, user interfaces, and other online experiences over the past 10 years. Bill is the founder of Semantic Circuit, where he works as a UX consultant to local agencies, businesses, and other organizations.

Paul Ferguson

(BA/University of Iowa)
Courses taught:
Web Foundation

Paul is a creative professional with 15 years of experience creating smart, engaging work for a wide range of clients. Since beginning his career at the epicenter of Web marketing in San Francisco in 1995, he has worked as a designer, art director, copywriter and creative strategist on hundreds of brand-driven interactive experiences. His work has also included identity systems, print collateral and information architecture, and he has taught courses at Brainco and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has a passion for helping clients tell their stories, and connecting people and ideas through the power of words and images. Since 2008 he has worked as Associate Creative Director at Gage Marketing in Minneapolis.

Anthony Giordano

(MA/Columbia University)
Courses taught:
Print Studio

Anthony Giordano is a Senior Designer/Art Director for Legrand US, a company headquartered in Limoges, France. From New York City, Anthony also has worked as a designer at American Express Publishing, as well as Disney Publishing. His background includes an MA in Art & Art Education from Columbia University and a BA in Design Publication and Illustration from the University at Buffalo.

Namdev Hardisty

(BFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Courses taught:
Advanced Projects Studio
Typography Studio
Print Foundation

Namdev Hardisty received his BFA in Graphic Design from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2003. Since then he has worked on print, web and signage projects for a variety of cultural and corporate clients including Intermedia Arts, MCAD Gallery, The Weisman Art Museum and Analog Clothing through his studio The Midwest Visual Agency. He recently wrote and designed the book New Skateboard Graphics to be published later this year. Hardisty's work has been recognized by AIGA Minnesota and is featured in the books Over & Over: A Catalog of Hand-drawn Patterns and the forthcoming Hand Job: A Catalogue of Type, both published by Princeton Architectural Press.

J. Zachary Keenan

(BFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Courses taught:
Print Studio
Projects Studio
Print Foundation
Professional Practice Seminar
Advanced Projects Studio

Zachary Keenan is Director of DesignWorks, the in-house design studio at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He was formerly Senior Graphic Designer with the brand design team at OLSON in Minneapolis. His work includes identity systems, branding, package design, illustration, video and photo direction. His client list includes American Public Media, Nike Bauer, Hotel Minneapolis, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis-Art.com, Minnesota Film Arts, Philips Distilling Company, ROBOTlove, Sallie Mae, Target Corporation and Walker Art Center. His work was recently featured in Hand Job: A Catalog of Type by Michael Perry.

Susanne LeBlanc

(BA/Northwestern University; Post Baccalaureate Certificate/Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Courses taught:
Print Studio
Projects Studio

Susanne LeBlanc has many years of design experience drawn from diverse inspirations. After graduating from Northwestern University with a BA in Art Theory and Practice and French, Susanne continued her studies at MCAD, earning a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Graphic Design. She has worked for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the international architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and most recently as a Senior Graphic Designer at Tilka Design. Susanne's experience encompasses expert project management and the creation of a variety of work including brand development, identity system design, catalogs, and award-winning design for Architecture Minnesota magazine. She is currently practicing as a freelance designer in Minneapolis.

Aydin Mohseni

(BFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Courses taught:
Web Foundation

Aydin Mohseni is an information architect with a background in minimalist design and interactive development. His work is focused on visualizing complex data-sets and creating compelling user experiences. He is currently working on the Antarctic Geospatial Information Center initiative with the National Science Foundation as the lead of UX design.

Bakula Nayak

(MS/Pratt Institute)
Courses taught:
Design In Context

Bakula Nayak has a MS in Communication Design and a BArch with a specialization in landscape architecture. Nayak is a practicing graphic designer with an expertise in package design. She has worked for numerous clients including L'oreal, Mikasa and Ralph Lauren. She now runs a freelance business and is in the process of setting up her own design studio. As much as she enjoys staying current with the new technologies she loves the age-old method of sketching and drawing for her concepts. She recently moved to Minneapolis after many years of studying and working in New York City.

Ryan G. Nelson

(B.F.A./Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Courses taught:
Print Foundation

Ryan currently maintains an independent graphic design studio (Making Known--Design & Typography) where he specializes in editorial projects, books, posters and other forms of printed communication material. After graduating from MCAD he worked as a designer in the Walker Art Center's year-long Design Fellowship program designing projects ranging from print materials for the museum's programs and exhibitions to designing exhibition catalogues and museum-wide promotional campaigns. During his time at the Walker he designed Peter Seitz: Designing a Life, which was published by MCAD in 2007 and was later awarded as one of the 50 best books in AIGA's "50 Books/50 Covers" competition. Ryan also spent time working as a senior graphic designer at Dwell magazine in San Francisco. His work has been recognized by AIGA, AIGA Minnesota, Eye magazine and How magazine.

Neal Peterson

(MFA/University of Minnesota)
Courses taught:
Print Studio
Typography Foundation

Neal Peterson is an award-winning artist, designer, and musician. After receiving his BA from Minnesota State University, Moorhead, he worked as a designer in Minneapolis before relocating to teach art and digital design, while earning his MFA, at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The focus of his visual research often incorporates music and/or cartography. Upon years of freelance work, he started his own design studio and record label, Urban Elixir. Peterson currently works as a graphic designer for the Minnesota Orchestra.

Maranatha Wilson

(BFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design)
Courses taught:
Motion Graphics Foundation

Maranatha Wilson is a professional designer on staff with Minneapolis television station WCCO-TV, where her talents are applied to a wide variety of assignments. Her recent projects have included new brand identity for the station, Super Bowl graphics, news graphics, graphic design for the 2008 campaign coverage, stage design for the sports program, and interior design for the station lobby. When WCCO-TV anchor Frank Vascellaro hosted a cooking class at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Wilson developed the total design concept as well as the motion graphics and directed the photography.

Nick Zdon

(BFA/College of Visual Arts)
Courses taught:
Design in Context

Since graduating from the College of Visual Arts in 2004, Nick has held senior design positions at Larsen Design and HartungKemp, where he currently works. He’s created work for Amnesty International, Best Buy, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Microsoft. His work has appeared in GDUSA, Graphis, HOW, and Print. He has recently gotten mixed up with Best Made Company by becoming a regular contributor and co-editor of their project blog, their social media ranger, and all around ambassador. He also maintains a studio for personal work in the Lowertown neighborhood of downtown Saint Paul.