FACULTY


Eric Benson

ebenson@illinois.edu | website | CV

Teaching areas:

Design Methodologies, Sustainable Design, Design and Public Engagement, Socially Responsible Design

Research areas:

Sustainable and greener graphic design practices and education, Socially Responsible Design

Degrees:

BFA Graphic/Industrial Design, University of Michigan, 1998
MFA Design, University of Texas, 2006

Eric is a writer and award-winning designer. He has worked as a professional web and print designer for such companies as Razorfish, Whole Foods and Texas Instruments. His academic research explores how to facilitate the adoption of sustainable graphic design practices into industry and the classroom, making sustainable design what design is, not merely what it "could be." His research is available on his website www.re-nourish.com

Benson also serves on the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design Education Committee and as the Co-Director Sustainable Graphic Design Syllabi Exchange.

Selected Exhibitions

  • "Live Debris," Beirut, Lebanon. 2008

  • “The means by which we find our way. A project in two parts,” Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton, New Zealand. 2007.

  • “Earth Matters: International Art Exhibit,” The University of Texas Pan-American, Edinburg, Texas. 2007.

  • “Sublime Climate,” The Cambridge School of Weston Gallery, Weston, MA. 2007.

  • “Global Warming 2007,” Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA, 2007.

Selected Works

  • “Sustainable Design Education Rethought: The Case for Eco-Modernism.” Design Principles & Practices: An International Journal. Spring 2010.

  • “The Intersection of Identity Within Pattern & Structure: A FLYSPACE Continuing Collaboration.” Multi: The RIT Journal of Plurality and Diversity in Design. Fall 2009.

  • “Graphic Junk: Re-evaluating What We Make.” Design Philosophy Politics. April 2009.

  • “Best Practices to Design Sustainably,” in A Graphic Designers Guide to Sustainable Design. Edited by Aaris Sherin (Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers, July 2008).

  • “What is Sustainable Graphic Design?” Design Philosophy Politics, December 2007.

  • “Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy: A Class on Contemporary Design Issues,” Design Principles and Practices, An International Journal, Summer 2008

Classes

EDGE: Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy