Pentagram Partner’s work bridges media, discipline, and culture
SAN FRANCISCO — Pentagram partner Natasha Jen, whose graphic design work is noted for crossing the boundaries of media, discipline, and culture, will be a featured speaker at the 2013 SEGD Conference, Above the Fog, June 6-8 in San Francisco.
Jen defines her work by context, not medium. Whether she is designing pixelated type for an exhibition on augmented reality, animations for a smartphone or a Times Square skyscraper, or illustrative print graphics for a fashion designer, her work draws on references from a diverse range of cultural, historical, aesthetic, and technological sources.
One of Pentagram’s newest partners, and the only intern to ever return as a partner, Jen was born in Taipei and studied graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Before joining Pentagram, she worked as a senior designer at Base Design, focusing on fashion and brand identity work, and at 2×4 she led large-scale branding, exhibition, environmental, and editorial projects. She also was creative director for Stone Yamashita Partners before establishing her own firm, Njenworks, in 2010.
Named one of Dwell magazine’s “Women of Influence” and one of Graphic Design USA’s “People to Watch” for 2013, Jen has built a body of work that encompasses brand identities, environmental design, multi-scale exhibitions, signage systems, print, motion, and interactive graphics.
“Jen leads a new generation of designers who are comfortable crossing media, discipline, and
technology, and her work often bridges the digital and physical worlds,” says Julie Vogel, Principal of Kate Keating Associates (San Francisco) and Co-Chair of the 2013 SEGD Conference with Lonny Israel, Associate Director with Skidmore Owings & Merrill. “We look forward to her perspectives on navigating the warp-speed pace of the media landscape today.”
Jen joins a heavy-hitting roster of speakers who will participate in the 2013 SEGD Conference, including:
- Tim Kobe of Eight Inc., designers of the Apple retail concept
- John Bielenberg, founder of rapid ingenuity firm Future and design-for-good nonprofit Project M
- Vince Frost, founder and creative director of Australian design powerhouse Frost*
- Architect Chris Downey, Architecture for the Blind, and graphic designer Tim Smith, Tim Smith
- Design, who are evolving their design practices while grappling with the loss of their vision
- Ben Davis, founder of San Francisco creative agency Words Pictures Ideas and the creative mind
- behind The Bay Lights Project
Major conference tracks include Transforming Urban Spaces, Designing with Empathy, Bridging Media and Culture, and Designing for Change. The conference takes place June 6-8, headquartered at the historic Fairmont San Francisco Hotel on Nob Hill.
The annual SEGD Conference is said to be the only international design event focused on visual communications in the built environment.
For more information on the Above the Fog program, as well as an exclusive Q&A with Jen, visit the Above the Fog website, http://abovethefog.segd.org.
