Nancy Nowacek

Nancy Nowacek is a graphic and sound designer interested in narrative, identity, and social interaction. She has worked on interactive community-based narrative installations for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and UNICEF, as well as on producing polite mischief and social discourse through The Starlings, a collaboration with Marina Zurkow.

She is presently the art director at Metropolis magazine, where she illustrates, photographs, and occasionally writes, in addition to the designing the magazine. With the belief that design is inherently a multi-modal activity, she has previously worked on and for a diverse body of studios and disciplines, including Bruce Mau design, RGA Interactive, Gap Inc, MTV, and the International Coalition of Site Museums of Conscience, to name but a few.

In addition to Metropolis, Nancy has written about design for journals, most  recently about typography and character for Visual Communication’s special  issue, “The New Typography” and for several of Steven Heller’s books. Her work has been featured in the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial, as an ADC ‘Young Gun’, and most recently, in Teal Triggs’ newest book, Experimental Typography. She is currently a visiting critic at Parsons Graduate Design Technology program.

At the Lucas Artists Programs Nowacek will be working with Katie Salen and Marina Zurkow on a project for the ISEA2006 Symposium/Zero One San José: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge, to be held in August 2006 in San Jose, CA.