J. Abbott Miller

Who is J. Abbott Miller?

J. Abbott Miller or Abbott Miller was born in Indiana and studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York.

Miller is a graphic designer and writer. In 1989 he founded the multidisciplinary studio Design/Writing/Research where, in collaboration with Ellen Lupton, he pioneered the concept of “designer as author” undertaking projects in which content and form are developed in a symbiotic relationship. He joined the New York office of the design firm Pentagram as a partner in 1999. Miller is married to Ellen Lupton.

Miller’s projects are often concerned with the cultural role of design and the public life of the written word. At Pentagram he leads a team designing identities, exhibitions, environmental graphics, books, magazines, and web and interactive projects. He is the designer and editor of 2wice magazine.

Miller has received numerous design honors, including medals from the Society for Publication Designers, the Art Directors Club, and the AIGA. In 1994, Miller––together with Ellen Lupton––was awarded the first annual Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design. He is also the recipient of the Augustus St. Gaudens Award from Cooper Union. He is a visiting critic in the Graduate Design Program at MICA, the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. His work is represented in the collections of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Bibliotheque National de France. His work and critical writing has appeared in Eye, Print, I.D., and other publications, and he is the co-author of four books, including Design/Writing/Research: Writing on Graphic Design. A survey of his design work will be published by Princeton Architectural Press in Fall 2013.