Paul Mijksenaar
Illustration — Paul Mijksenaar • Illustration — Wayfinding signs at Schiphol, designed by Mijksenaar Paul Mijksenaar (born 1944) is a Dutch designer of visual information, and a founder and director of the international design firm Bureau Mijksenaar based in Amsterdam and New York City. He is known for designing wayfinding signage systems for railway stations and airports, including Schiphol Airport. In 1965, he graduated from the Institute for Applied Arts Education Amsterdam (IvKNO, later the Gerrit Rietveld Academie) with a degree in product design.
Also recorded as Paul Myksenaar
Paul Mijksenaar
jeanbaptisteparis · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Born
- 1944 · Holland.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of the Netherlands
- Occupation
- designer · muralist · writer · university teacher · opinion journalist
- Fields
- graphic design
- Honours
- Oeuvre Awards BKVB · BNO Piet Zwart Prijs · Fonds BKVB Oeuvreprijs Vormgeving
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Illustration — Paul Mijksenaar • Illustration — Wayfinding signs at Schiphol, designed by Mijksenaar Paul Mijksenaar (born 1944) is a Dutch designer of visual information, and a founder and director of the international design firm Bureau Mijksenaar based in Amsterdam and New York City. He is known for designing wayfinding signage systems for railway stations and airports, including Schiphol Airport. In 1965, he graduated from the Institute for Applied Arts Education Amsterdam (IvKNO, later the Gerrit Rietveld Academie) with a degree in product design.
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wikidata · Q994980 · wikipedia · Paul Mijksenaar
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Identity
Identity
Paul Mijksenaar is recorded as having received Oeuvre Awards BKVB, BNO Piet Zwart Prijs and Fonds BKVB Oeuvreprijs Vormgeving.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1944
Paul Mijksenaar born at Holland.
Publications
He started his career as a freelance product designer in 1966, later becoming a senior designer and team leader for the Associatie voor Total Design NV, also known as Total Design, in 1978, before establishing Bureau Mijksenaar in 1986. Mijksenaar is a specialist in creating visual information systems, such as wayfinding signage for railway stations and airports including New York's JFK and LaGuardia, New Jersey's Newark, and Amsterdam's Schiphol. His work for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was echoed in the set design for Steven Spielberg's film The Terminal. Besides his practice he is also a professor in Visual Information Design at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He also writes a monthly article in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad about everyday problems and solving them using information design.
The field of work recorded is graphic design. Places of work recorded in the authority are Amsterdam. Work by Paul Mijksenaar is recorded in the collections of Nationaal Archief and Het Scheepvaartmuseum. Distinctions recorded are Oeuvre Awards BKVB, BNO Piet Zwart Prijs and Fonds BKVB Oeuvreprijs Vormgeving.
* * • Paul Mijksenaar (2008). Wayfinding at Schiphol. Publisher: Graphic Design Museum., 9789072637277.
Awards and honors
Mijksenaar has been recognized globally for his pioneering contributions to wayfinding and information design: • 1999: Oeuvre Prize, Beroepsorganisatie Nederlandse Ontwerper (BNO) • 2014: Piet Zwart Prize, awarded by the Association of Dutch Designers (BNO) for lifelong achievement in visual information design • 2015: Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD) Fellow Award, recognizing his impact on global airport and transit wayfinding systems
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Paul Mijksenaar worked in graphic design. He was employed by Total Design, Delft University of Technology and Mijksenaar BV. He belonged to Association of Dutch Designers and Alliance Graphique Internationale. He worked at Amsterdam. Mijksenaar received Oeuvre Awards BKVB, BNO Piet Zwart Prijs and Fonds BKVB Oeuvreprijs Vormgeving.
Career and activity
Recognition and collections
Work by Paul Mijksenaar is
Nationaal Archief, Het Scheepvaartmuseum and Museum Enschedé
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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