Ronald Shakespear

Life

Born in Rosario,Santa Fe,1941. Married to Elena Peyron. Has three daughters, Bárbara, María and Sofía, and two sons, Lorenzo and Juan. Ronald Shakespear has been Chair Professor at the University of Buenos Aires and past president of the Association of Graphic Designers of Buenos Aires (Asociación de Diseñadores Gráficos de Buenos Aires).

A family-owned design consultancy, Diseño Shakespear is constantly transforming and evolving.

Ronald founded his studio half a century ago. Today, the multidisciplinary design company is run by Ronald and his sons Lorenzo (GD) and Juan (ID), and specializes in corporate identity programs, corporate architecture, wayfinding systems, urban furniture design, web and literature design and communications strategy.

Work

Diseño Shakespear wayfinding and branding mega projects (Buenos Aires Signage System (1971/72)(with Gonzalez Ruiz), City Hospitals (1978) (with Raúl Shakespear), the Buenos Aires "Subte" Underground Signage and branding (1995/08), Tren de la Costa (1996), and Temaikèn Zoo (1999/02) all 3 with Lorenzo and Juan Shakespear, have been published in the most important design publications as Graphis and Segd DESIGN, (Usa), Domus, Interni, Abitare, Top Symbols (Italy), Idea and Graphic Design (Japan), Novum (Germany), Graphis and Who's Who (Switzerland), Eye Magazine,Information Graphics (UK), Experimenta (Spain) Nuevo Diseño (Chile), 90+10 (Argentina) Sign Graphics (Usa), Package & Design (China) and Taschen's Latin America Design. Also exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), and Triennale di Milano, ICCID, (Italy). Mayor exhibitions were held at Centro Recoleta and National Fine Arts Museum, (Buenos Aires). Last exhibition in Buenos Aires - 45th Anniversary of Diseño Shakespear- at Centro Borges in 2005. Anthological Exhibit and workshop at Virginia Center for Architecture, AIA,(Richmond)2006, and at The Katzen Arts Center (Washington, D.C.), 2008.

Diseño Shakespear designed Identity Programs for the most important Argentine companies as Avex, Banco Galicia, Luigi Bosca, Banco Patagonia, Luigi Bosca, Boca Juniors, Duty Free Shop, Red Link, Oca, Banelco, Harrods,and hundreds more.

Awards

In 2008 The Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) has honoured Ronald Shakespear, founder and principal of Diseño Shakespear Design Consultants in Argentina, with the SEGD Fellow Award. Ronald is an internationally acclaimed designer and the "father of environmental graphic design in Argentina." Diseño Shakespear is an award-winning design firm specialising is the planning and design of signage, wayfinding, and identity programs for a wide variety of facility types, including the Buenos Aires Underground (Subte), Municipal Hospitals, Buenos Aires Signage System, Temaiken Zoo and many more. SEGD Fellows are selected for promoting the highest values in environmental graphic design, and significantly contributing to the direction and growth of the field. Past SEGD Fellows include Garry Emery, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, Lance Wyman, Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar, Deborah Sussman and Massimo Vignelli.

He also received the Silver Pencil Award in 1987, Milestone Recognition Award in 2005 and the Golden Brain in 2006.

Ronald has been International Jury for the Art Directors Club of New York ADC,1990, Segd Design Awards DAP 2008, Wolda Awards 2008, Aiga XCD 2009, and many National and International Contests. Has also given seminars, lectures and workshops in 32 cities in the world including New York, Hollywood, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Santiago, Austin, Edmonton, Toronto, Córdoba, Rosario, Vancouver, Richmond and many more.

He has been guest speaker in Icograda International Congresses at Nice, Montreal, São Paulo and Beijing.

His book Diseño Shakespear was published by Witcel Editors in 1995. Grafopuntura, home book on Hospital Pictograms in 1996.

Diseño Shakespear 2 is published in Buenos Aires, and three documents of the Urban Scenery (Underground Signage, Temaiken Zoo and Tren de la Costa) are published in 1999. His last book Señal de Diseño, Memory of a Practice, was re-published in 2009.

His photos, portraits and posters are in private collections in Canada, Switzerland and USA. Also in the Borges Foundation and MAMBA Museum in Buenos Aires.