Michael Bierut is a partner in the New York office of the international design consultancy Pentagram. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1957, Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, and graduated in 1980. Prior to joining Pentagram in 1990, he worked for ten years at Vignelli Associates, ultimately as vice president of graphic design. In 1991, he and his partner Paula Scher chaired the AIGA national conference in Chicago. He was president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) from 1988 to 1990 and is currently a member of the AIGA's national board. He has also been director of the American Center for Design. In addition, he has designed identity and environmental graphics for a new children's museum in St. Paul, Minnesota; coordinates all promotional material for the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and serves as graphic design consultant to Mohawk Paper Mills, where he is responsible for corporate identity, packaging, and advertising and editsReThinking Design, a journal of critical perspectives. Jessica Helfand is a partner of William Drenttel/Jessica Helfand, a multimedia and print media company. She lives in Falls Village, CT.Steven Heller is a senior art director atThe New York Times, editor of theAIGA Journal of Graphic Design, and the author or editor of more than seventy books on graphic design.Rick Poynor is the founding editor ofEyemagazine and the author of six books on graphic design. He lives in Twickenham, England.
