Jefferson Dakota Brown

J. Dakota Brown completed his BFA at North Carolina State University’s School of Design in 2000. Upon graduation, he was awarded the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ student medallion. From 2000–03, he worked at Chicago design studio and digital type "foundry" Thirst/Thirstype. From 2007–11, he constituted the Newberry Library’s one-person design department. In between, he embarked on a number of collaborations with independent arts spaces and small magazines and presses.

Dakota completed his MA in Visual and Critical Studies at SAIC in 2007. He is currently a PhD candidate in Northwestern University’s Rhetoric and Public Culture Program. His dissertation project offers a reinterpretation of graphic design in the twentieth century, which he situates in a context that embraces the mechanization of typesetting and the rise of cultural studies. Dakota teaches on the theory, practice, and history of design at SAIC and the University of Illinois at Chicago.