As the founder and namesake of Taylor, Dan is the creative and operating force of the studio. His design expertise and even-tempered, inclusive, “somehow-someway-get-things-done” approach are central to how Taylor Design delivers award-winning communications, digital, branding and marketing solutions. Partnering with clients such as Columbia University, Terex, Mount Sinai Health, Spectrum, Northwestern University, Starwood, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dan simply loves his job. To beat traffic, he rides to the office on his Cannondale. To come up with big ideas, he hires and collaborates with outstanding talent.
On the side: Dan is a Professor of Design at the University of Connecticut and serves on the board of the BCFC’s Growth Network and AIGA Connecticut.
Before Taylor: Creative director at William Snyder Design, Inc., NYC; Designer with Pushpin, Lubalin, Peckolick, NYC; Beau Gardner Associates, NYC; and Steve Burnett, Inc., NYC. Graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology. As a high school sophomore, Dan was homecoming king—with Hollywood’s Meg Ryan as queen—in Connecticut.
Recommended digital field trips: Instagram, NY Times, Nike+, and Map My Ride
Favorite IRL field trips: Jay Peak, VT, Park City, UT, and Point Judith, RI
In 1979, the year I graduated from high school, I remember seeing posters and ads for a new movie called Alien. Why was this cracked egg floating in space with acidic green vapors leaching out? And what did the headline “In space no one can hear you scream” mean? It left me wondering, anticipating, and… Read More
I commuted into Grand Central Terminal in the late 1980s. One of my daily pleasures included walking under the gigantic backlit photos (18 feet high and 60 feet wide) of the Eastman Kodak exhibit above the east balcony. I found out recently that fellow RIT alumnus Neil Montanus shot 55 of these Coloramas, more than… Read More
Images, names, and references to America’s native people are everywhere. From the Land O’Lakes butter maiden to the Cleveland Indians’ mascot. From the Jeep Cherokee to Indian motorcycles. From the Tomahawk missile to the recent political taunts of Pocahontas. I visited Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian for the first time last weekend. It’s… Read More
As a designer works his way towards the completion of a composition, how does he decide when it is done? Is there a point at which his continuing to rework his composition reaches a law of diminishing returns, making it worse? And by agonizing over small improvements in the composition, is he preventing himself from… Read More
Humans are amazing designers. We can design a rocket that lands on the moon. We can design and implant an artificial hip joint. We can design a watch that pays for groceries. But can we design a sustainable planet? Paola Antonelli, Senior Director of Architecture & Design at The Museum of Modern Art in New… Read More
One of the first things I do when I return home after a trip, a concert, a play, or a professional ball game is tape the tickets, maps, and mementos (above) into a scrapbook. Each collected piece of ephemera has its own distinct fonts, colors, texture, and paper. Viewed altogether, I’m reminded that one’s life… Read More
On May 1st and 2nd I attended the New York Digital Summit, featuring marketing professionals from LinkedIn, Airbnb, the Wall Street Journal, and other companies. My favorite session was from Michael Barber, the chief creative officer at the B2B marketing firm Godfrey. His talk was “Bloody Hell! And Other Marketing Truths My British Mum Taught… Read More
The Public Theater, a nonprofit best known for putting on free Shakespeare performances in Central Park, began using a new graphic identity in 1994. Developed by Pentagram, the new logo (left) used wood type in a way that reflected street typography and graffiti. Over twenty years later, the logo is still in use—a sure sign… Read More
I love stories of new products that depart radically from the norm. Take toothpaste. Ever since I was young enough to hold a toothbrush, I’ve squeezed Crest or Colgate out of a tube. I never once looked at the list of ingredients, nor have I thought much about where the tubes end up when they’re… Read More