Debbie Millman

In 2004, Millman founded a design podcast named Design Matters. The show started out at VoiceAmerica Business Radio, an internet radio network, where Millman paid them for airtime. Bill Drenttel of Design Observer asked her in 2009 to bring the show over and introduced her to Curtis Fox, who has remained the producer every since. Design Matters guests have included Massimo Vignelli, Steven Heller, Marian Bantjes, Tina Roth Eisenberg, and Stefan Sagmeister, Milton Glaser, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel H. Pink, Barbara Kruger, and Seth Godin, among others. • Illustration — Millman at AIGA Wisconsin, 2009 In 2009, Millman and Steven Heller founded a graduate program in branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She serves as chair of the program. In 2014, Millman became the president emeritus of American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). She is a former board member and treasurer of the New York Chapter. She designed campaign buttons for Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign, wrapping paper and beach towels for One Kings Lane, greeting cards for Mohawk Paper and MOO Paper, as well as playing cards for DeckStarter and various others. In September 2017, Millman curated a show for the Museum of Design in Atlanta titled Text Me: How We Live In Language, featuring artists and designers including Ed Ruscha, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Shepard Fairey, Neil Gaiman, Deborah Kass, and Lesley Dill. Arts Atlanta called the show a bold first curation. Millman co-curated conferences, such as HOW DESIGN LIVE, the 2017 AIGA National Conference. Since 2013, she has curated 30 Covers, 30 Days for National November Writing Month. • Illustration — Chasten Buttigieg and Debbie Millman talk during their keynote session at the Lesbians Who Tech & Allies Summit, October 20, 2023 In 2022, Millman appeared on Storybound reading from her new book, Design Matters. During her career, Millman has written articles for publications such as The New York Times, New York Magazine, Print Magazine, Design Observer and Fast Company.

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Millman's artwork has been exhibited at the Boston Biennale, Chicago Design Museum, Anderson University, School of Visual Arts, Long Island University, The Wolfsonion Museum and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art. In the past, she was an artist-in-residence at Cranbrook University, Old Dominion University and Notre Dame University, and has also conducted visual storytelling workshops at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the University of Utah, Anderson University, Albuquerque Academy, the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan and the Type Directors Club in New York City. In 2014, she received the Type Directors Club Certificate of Typographic Excellence for her entry in TDC61, 'Austin Initiative for Graphic Awesomeness' poster. Her book Self-Portrait As Your Traitor was awarded a Gold Mobius, a Print Typography Award, and a medal from the Art Directors Club. Her podcast, Design Matters has received a number of awards, including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and the People's Design Award. In 2015, iTunes named it one of the best podcasts of the year. It was recognized as a Webby Honoree in 2018. In 2021, she was named to Fast Company's Queer 50 list. Millman's 2019 TED talk, "How symbols and brands shape our humanity", received over 2.4 million views in its first six years. The talk described how symbols and brands spread in both a top-down manner from corporations, and in a bottom-up manner from the people.