Aspire

Renee Walker

Teaches in &

Renee graduated from California College of the Arts with an interdisciplinary MFA in Design. Walker has experience working in all aspects of communication design from traditional print, to environmental, to interactive, and information. She is a partner of the two women design studio, Gold Collective, based in San Francisco and Philadelphia. In her eight years of studio practice, Walker has won several prestigious design awards including the Communication Arts Award for Excellence in Typography and has been invited as the keynote speaker at a national design conference. Her work in information design has garnered international attention including that of the New York Times, GOOD, and Print. Currently, Walker’s teaching and research interests revolve around methods that involve a human-centered research process, experimental use of tools and technology, and a human approach to the communication of information and data visualization.

Degrees

  • M.F.A., California College of the Art
  • B.A., Northeastern University

Positions

  • Associate Professor, Visual Communication Design

Articles

Projects

Visualizing the Health of Philadelphia

In Spring 2018, the graphic design communication elective, Issues in Information Design, led by Renee Walker, collaborated with the Jefferson Center for Urban Health. Students were asked to redesign Jefferson’s annual Community Health Needs Assessment Report, a dense document which presents data to identifies barriers to Philadelphian’s health and well-being as well as goals and action plans to achieve those goals. Design students were challenged to make the important content more relatable and accessible to Philadelphia residents and communities.

The report covered a variety of topics from language and literacy to substance abuse and heart disease. Each student selected a unique topic and then worked collaboratively as a class to determine a cohesive design system (style of language, grids, fonts, colors, etc.) for a newspaper-style publication that could be distributed to communities.

 

Students: Matt Zepp, Rebecca Lutterschmidt, Gianna DeWitt, Charlotte Rymar, Liza Marino, Katie Witmer, Amy Bachhuber, Zack Faust, Paige Graff, Matt Maisano, Laina Healy, Devon Strine, Liz Wissman, Anna Mucci

Recognition:
Received a judge’s choice award in the Philadelphia AIGA’s 2019 biennial Philadelphia Design Awards (PDA) competition.

Selected as a Semifinalist in the 2018 Adobe Design Achievement Awards.