Gail Anderson (graphic designer)

Early life and education

In her youth, Anderson used to create Jackson 5 and Partridge Family pretend magazines. As she got older, she began to look into what was then called “commercial art” as a possible career field.

She graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a BFA in 1984, where she was taught by Paula Scher.

Career

Upon graduating, she worked as a designer at Vintage Books (Random House) and then worked at The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine from 1985 to 1987. She became the senior art director of Rolling Stone, where she worked for fifteen years from 1987 to 2002, starting out as a designer and deputy art director. In 2002, she became the creative director at SpotCo, an agency specializing in advertising for the arts and entertainment, where she stayed until 2010. Her first piece for Spotco was a subway poster for the play [Harlem Song]. Anderson was also in charge of the typeface library at SpotCo during her time there. She is currently a partner at Anderson Newton Design with Joe Newton.

Anderson is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in the Designer as Author MFA department, where she also teaches graduate, undergraduate, and pre-college courses in graphic design.

She was among AIGA’s 2008 medalists to recognize her accomplishments in Graphic Design. She serves on the advisory board for the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Anderson served as the Director-At-Large for the Type Directors Club from 2014 to 2016.

Working with Steven Heller for over twenty years, she has co-published books on graphic design including New Modernist Type, American Typeplay, The Savage Mirror, and Graphic Wit. Her philosophy for type design is that “the process has to be fun and you need to be willing to step outside your comfort zone” Anderson is a contributor to magazines like Imprint and Uppercase.

Works and Publications

Anderson has collaborated with Steven Heller on multiple books.

Awards