Erik Adigard

Who is Erik Adigard?

Erik Adigard des Gautries is a designer and media artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was born in Brazzaville, Congo where his father was stationed as a French foreign correspondent. When he was ten his family moved back to Paris. He began his university studies in English literature, semiotics, and fine arts in France before going to the United States to receive a BFA in graphic design in 1987 at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco/Oakland.

While still a student, his first designs earned him national awards for their experimental mix of iconography and offset printing techniques. Upon graduation, with Patricia McShane, he established M-A-D—also known as "madxs", a brand and communications design studio. Since creating his first digital images for Macworld magazine in 1989 he has been exploring the limits of the graphic design discipline as it continues to be redefined by shifting relationships with technology and social phenomena. His activities range from branding, print, web, video and multimedia, to consulting and exhibits—always with a concern for conceptual accuracy and creative innovation.

In 1992 he participated in the launch of Wired magazine by conceiving its first visual essay, and then continued to develop a visual vernacular specific to Wired and often labeled "Wired look". In 1996-98 he served as design director for WiredVentures where he designed new web offerings, including the Hotbot search engine, WiredNews and the ground breaking LiveWired. His short documentary, Webdreamer, a portrait of fellow web designers, was featured in international film festivals such as Resfest and the online Sundance Film Festival. In 1999 he co-authored Architecture Must Burn with Aaron Betsky.