PARTNERS
ENTRO, NEW YORK NY OFFICE
Jonathan and Anna have thrived on the business and creative relationship they formed over 20 years ago when they met at the office of Poulin + Morris. Their careers have been focused in experiential graphic design services, developing comprehensive branding, wayfinding, and placemaking design solutions for a diverse client base both in the US and around the world, extending from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) Metro, Smithsonian’s National Museum for the American Indian, Changi Airport’s Terminal 5, NYU Langone Health, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Anna and Jonathan are partners at Entro, an interdisciplinary design firm that brings together expertise in fields spanning art and design to neuroscience, with offices in New York, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Sydney. Since joining Entro in 2019, they have grown the New York office from 5 to 19 staff members. Together Anna and Jonathan have maintained their commitment to draw on their collective experience and focus it to foster the next generation of design professionals, in a collaborative, supportive, engaging and challenging environment.
Looking forward to 2023, are you optimistic about the role and impact of Graphic Design and Visual Communication in Business? Culture? Causes? Have the events and disruptions of the past few years changed the role or trajectory of Graphic Design?
We are incredibly optimistic! As experiential designers, we thrive on our ability to impact how people experience places and environments. We seek connection and meaning, and now more than ever we need to provide viewpoints through which we can find a sense of belonging.
These past three years have changed our perspectives as communication designers — experience paradigms have shifted and challenged how we make sense of our purpose and the spaces we inhabit. We’re inspired by the increased focus on ensuring spaces are equitable and accessible to all, and how impactful experiential design can be to achieving these goals. Our work communicates directly to people, through messaging, branding, graphics, art and technology, and so the focus on community engagement in all our work is paramount to ensure we remain sensitized and responsive.
It’s critical to our team that our work remains tangible and immediate and connects with people on a personal level, making them feel safe, welcome and cared for. We put research, open dialogue with community members, and collaboration at the forefront of our design process to ensure spaces are meaningful and relevant to the people they serve.
Favorite or most influential design project or campaign in any medium for the past 60 years?
The most influential design projects opened our eyes to how language and design can alter our perception. They represent an idea that shifts the paradigm and challenges the norm. Take Volkswagen’s 1959 “Think Small” or Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” campaign. They challenged us to rethink how we think — and ultimately pushed us to reconsider the possibilities of design.
