Talk

Design Talks: Linda van Deursen

Based in Amsterdam, Linda van Deursen is one of the most prominent and influential graphic designers and educators of her generation.

In 1987, she founded the design studio Mevis & van Deursen with Armand Mevis. Over the course of their nearly 35-year collaboration, Mevis & van Deursen worked extensively with cultural institutions, artists, photographers, architects, and designers. They developed visual identities for major cultural institutions in the Netherlands and internationally, including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, documenta 14, and the Venice Biennale, among others. Together, they produced an extensive body of work spanning visual identities, publications, exhibition design, and books for artists, photographers, architects, and designers.

Van Deursen has also had a significant influence as an educator. She was head of the Graphic Design Department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam from 2001 to 2014, where she taught and influenced several generations of designers. A number of contemporary designers working in Oslo studied under her at the academy.

Since the end of the Mevis & van Deursen collaboration, van Deursen has continued her practice independently, producing design work and publications and lecturing internationally. She is a Senior Critic at Yale School of Art in New Haven and teaches at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK).