Frank Chimero Designing & writing

Writing Selected essays
and lectures





The Shape of Design A short book for new designers about the design mindset
Buy from Amazon Buy from Indie Read online Download
Blog 2009–?
- The Green Ray
- Hands TV
- Who cares?
- Monkey Trap
- When the Work Looks Back At You
- The Good Room
- Everything Easy is Hard Again
- New Visual Essay: Back to the Cave
- SuperHi Foreword
- Plainness and Sweetness
- Tarkovsky’s Flame
- Hi, I’d Like to Add Myself to the New Yorker
- Other Halves
- The Web’s Grain
- Rules of Engagement
- From the Porch to the Street
- Massimo and Me
- Only Openings
- Designing in the Borderlands
- What Screens Want
- The Inferno of Independence
- Portraits
- Why vs. How
- The Cloud Is Heavy and Design Isn’t Invisible
- The Humble Pencil, The Mighty Computer
- The Wall
- The Particle
- The Long, Hard, Stupid Way
- Sorting a Mass
- Reading Readiness
- Making the Bed You Sleep In
- What Advice Would You Give To A Graphic Design Student?
- There Is No Catching Up
- You Are Here
- Big Ideas
- Anti-Pre-Pro
- Whiteboard Accounting
- On Iteration
- Ten Principles
About CV and bio
Hi, I’m Frank Chimero, a designer and writer from New York.
Previously, I was Creative Director and Head of Brand at the payments platform Modern Treasury. Before that, I co-founded and led design at Abstract, a design workflow and knowledge base startup that was later aquired by Adobe.
I also spent fifteen years running a solo design studio and consultancy, designing across product and brand for technology and media companies. Clients include Facebook, Microsoft, Nike, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and many early stage startups. I helped design a few things during that time you’ve probably used, from NPR’s online audio player to Wikipedia’s article pages.
In 2012, I wrote, designed, illustrated, and published The Shape of Design, a little book for new designers about the design mindset and making things for other people. Since the book’s launch, it has become a staple text in design education and found an enthusiastic audience beyond the design community.
I have a big love for museums, beat-up pocket-edition paperbacks, ambient music, antique JRPGs, and Phil Collins. (Nobody’s perfect.)
Experience
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Sabbatical —
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Creative Director and Head of Brand Modern Treasury
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Creative Director Fictive Kin
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Self-employed Studio Frank
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Co-Founder and Head of Design Abstract (acq. Adobe)
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Self-employed Studio Frank
Select interviews
- 2019
- 2017
- 2017
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2013
- 2011
- 2009
Select press
- 2015
- 2015
- 2015
- 2015
- 2014
- 2012
- 2012
- 2008
Awards
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ADC Young Guns 8 Art Directors Club
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New Visual Artist Print Magazine
Speaking
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AIGA National ConferenceUS
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AIGA Regional EventsUS
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An Interesting DayNO
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Awwwards ConferenceDE
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Build ConferenceUK
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Creative WorksUS
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Cusp ConferenceUS
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dConstructUK
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Design SpeaksUS
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Design ThinkersCA
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Do LecturesUK
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EtsyUS
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Harvard UniversityUS
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How Design LiveUS
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Interlink ConferenceCA
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Kerning ConferenceIT
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MailchimpUS
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Mirror ConferencePT
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New AdventuresUK
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Portable SeriesAU
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School of Visual ArtsUS
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ShopifyCA
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South by SouthwestUS
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SubstansNO
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WebstockNZ
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XOXO FestivalUS