Brian LaRossa is an executive art director on the hardcover picture book team at Scholastic Inc. After hours, he teaches critical writing at The City College of New York and has taught typography at Pratt Institute and Fordham University. His essays have appeared in publications such as Design Observer and AIGA’s Eye on Design. He also volunteers for We Need Diverse Books, manages his own display font foundry—which developed a typeface for Google Fonts—and writes fiction. Brian’s writing is represented by Liz Nealon, founder of Great Dog Literary. His illustration and design work has received awards from the Type Directors Club, the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, PRINT magazine, and his conceptual poetry is included in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art. He lives and works in New York City.

If you’d like to get in touch, please say hello. If you’d like to host him as a speaker or critic, learn more here. If you’re an illustrator, and you’d like share your portfolio, please visit this form. If you’re looking for him on social, he’s @brianlarossa on Bluesky.

SELECT PRESS
▸ Literaticast, podcast
▸ Creative Boom, podcast
▸ Scratching the Surface, podcast
▸ SCBWI, interview
▸ Type Director’s Club, interview
▸ Type Thursday, interview
▸ Print Magazine, interview

SELECT WRITING
▸ Graphic Design is a Literary Discipline
▸ Good Color
▸ Why it Matters if Designers Read and Write
▸ Throwing Pencils
▸ Design as a Third Area of General Education
▸ Questioning Graphic Design’s Ethicality
▸ The Role of Letterforms in Reading Instruction