Alex began exploring at a young age when he and his older sister roamed the hillsides of their rural Colorado home, taking sample of rocks & plant life while charting maps of the new territories they discovered. This instilled a sense of wonder within Alex and ever since he has been insatiably exploring different countries, trades, systems and experiences.

Some time in high school Alex overheard that graphic designers were essentially paid to draw. Concluding that this is what he wanted to do with his life, he moved to Chicago in 2007 and pursued a Graphic Design BFA at Columbia College Chicago.

During this time Alex fell in love with grids, typography and screen printing but soon realized that there was a larger world of design that he wanted to be a part of. This notion was facilitated by two experiences that coincided within a week during his junior year of undergrad. The first being a semiotics class where he was taught the phrase “Image sees, image feels, image acts.” meaning, the images we see, influence how we feel and ultimately how we act. And the second being a TED talk by Tim Brown from IDEO explaining the importance of “play” in the design process. Together these pieces of information formed a bridge between Alex’s vocational skills and his personal passions, leading him to explore the opportunities of interaction design.

For the past few years Alex has been operating his own freelance business in Chicago, silkscreening rock posters for local venues and working with clients such as Pitchfork media, Western Union, Red Bull, Altria Group, and Anheuser Busch. Currently he has been volunteering with the IxD13 conference as the committee lead for the branding team.

Alex is excited to put graphics on the shelf for now and expand his lexicon in the greater context of design. He hopes to create work in the service design sector that is useful, beautiful, playful and efficient. He feels that after this experience at SVA he will have a unique perspective to offer the world that perfectly marries the visual and the strategic.