Eddie Opara was born in London, in 1972. He studied graphic design at the London College of Printing and Yale University, where he received his Master of Fine Arts in 1997. He began his career as a designer at ATG and Imaginary Forces and worked as a senior designer and art director at 2×4 before establishing his own studio, The Map Office, in 2005. He joined Pentagram’s New York office as partner in 2010. Opara is a multifaceted designer whose work encompasses strategy, design, and technology. His projects have included the design of brand identity, publications, packaging, environments, exhibitions, interactive installations, websites, user interfaces, and software, with many of his projects ranging across multiple media.
His clients have included Lululemon; Samsung; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Nike; Grace Farms; the Menil Foundation; the Studio Museum in Harlem; the Queens Museum; Santander Bank; St. Regis Hotels & Resorts; the Corcoran Group; Morgan Stanley; New York University; University of California, Los Angeles Architecture and Urban Design; SHoP Architects; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Adjaye Associates; Grimshaw Architects; Architecture Research Office; Harry N. Abrams; and Princeton Architectural Press. Opara has won numerous awards including a Gold Cube from the Art Directors Club and honors from D&AD, the Society for Experiential Graphic Design, Type Directors Club, Tokyo Type Directors Club, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and Communication Arts. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and has appeared in publications such as Wired, Fast Company, Creative Review, Archis, Surface, and Graphis.
Opara is a senior critic at the Yale University School of Art. He has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, Columbia University School of Architecture, and the University of the Arts. He is a member of the distinguished design society, Alliance Graphique Internationale. Opara recently authored a book, Color Works, published by Rockport. He was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2012 and 2014, and was featured in Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 and Adweek’s Creative 100.
Kwun, Aileen. “How to design a heritage brand for the 21st century,” Fast Company
May, Tom. “Transform your portfolio from good to great” Computer Arts
Quito, Anne. “Finally, a textbook that treats finance as an art form,” Quartz
