“Ian has the design skills I wish I had. His consistently creative designs come from an informed mind and relentless work ethic. I love working with him.”

“Ian is an honest, simply-brilliant, graphic designer with skills and talent in abundance with the flexibility to adapt to meet and exceed a client’s need and did so each time we worked with him. He is a pleasure to collaborate with I would recommend him to anyone with confidence.”

“As an artist, publisher, writer and designer, Ian seems to have had more than nine lives, and frankly it’s hard to keep up! He doesn’t just bring technical skills, but a depth of cultural understanding from the ground up — low, high, pop, fringe — that is invaluable to his varied clients. While other designers skim the shiny surface of current trends, Ian drills down with a solid understanding of history and meaning of the motifs, letter forms, and images he utilizes.”

“Working with Ian Lynam offers unparalleled creativity and client focus. Whether designing for a global search company or a university garden institution, Ian knows how to uncover clients’ often unstated needs, and then design something unique and compelling. Ian is a maker, an educator, and an inspiring person to work with.”

“Ian Lynam is a visionary and a thought leader in the field of design. It’s an honor to have him lead our graduate graphic design program.”

“The best kept secret in Japan. Encyclopedic in his knowledge of typography and all things beautifully considered. There are few men in Tokyo — nay, the world — that care more about design and the creative process as does Ian Lynam. Oh, and he’s the nicest guy you’ll meet.”

“Ian is an honest, simply-brilliant, graphic designer with skills and talent in abundance with the flexibility to adapt to meet and exceed a client’s need and did so each time we worked with him. He is a pleasure to collaborate with I would recommend him to anyone with confidence.”

“Lynam is a bitingly humorous writer – gifted with the intuition to give stories depth. This is no accident as he writes from experience – a reading pleasure!”

“Ian is pragmatic and effective in creating beautiful cultural products, and a pleasure to work with. He found amazing nuggets of graphic design and typography in our corporate archives, and turned them into amazing contemporary assets. He’s comfortable doing things himself, as well as at finding relevant partners, and has consistently shown a great level of initiative.”

“Ever find yourself drawn to an image or sucked into an design article based purely on the form or content, then finding out later- after you go back to read the credit line- that a friend actually busted it out? That’s Ian.”

“Ian Lynam created a unique consumer intelligence portal that doubles as our company homepage. The website has added value to Five by Fifty by enhancing our corporate identity and marketing strategy. We will continue to work with Ian because he takes time to understand our business, speaks to us about technological issues in language we understand, and adds business acumen on top of creativity to help us achieve our goals.”

“Because Ian has the craft of design really down pat, he has moved on to other things like giving the client what they really want even if they don’t know what it is they want. This can not be understated, because as a designer myself I am looking to expand my projects with other peoples great ideas, and that takes having a farsighted partner like Ian. Besides actual graphics, Ian has helped steer Joshu+Vela branding, public image and even the naming of the company – for this I am grateful to have someone looking out for my best interests as well as his. I am continuing to count on Ian to steer my projects in a successful direction with all the twists and turns that come up.”

“Ian Lynam’s fine simplicity and appreciation for white space draws the eye and the heart where it needs to go. His design work is striking because it avoids the most common trap of being gaudy or needing attention. It simply does what it sets out to do.”

“Joyfully and skillfully straddling the line between creator and critic, theorist and practitioner, formalist and rebel, American and expatriate, serious analyst and humorous deconstructor, Ian Lynam always brings a wholly original perspective to his writing on design. The insights are always fresh, and the stakes are always extremely high.”

“Eschewing the shortsighted practical nature of much graphic design-oriented writing, Lynam focuses on demythologizing contemporary graphic design – opening up a new horizon of discourse both East and West.”

“Ian Lynam’s fine simplicity and appreciation for white space draws the eye and the heart where it needs to go. His design work is striking because it avoids the most common trap of being gaudy or needing attention. It simply does what it sets out to do.”

“Eschewing the shortsighted practical nature of much graphic design-oriented writing, Lynam focuses on demythologizing contemporary graphic design – opening up a new horizon of discourse both East and West.”

“In all our collaborations, Ian has always brought a fresh perspective and boundless energy to the project. His encyclopedic knowledge of visual culture, ability to quickly work through multiple concepts, and deep Rolodex of talented friends, also give us the confidence to move beyond our first idea, towards a final product that will surprise and delight our clients.”

“Ian has the design skills I wish I had. His consistently creative designs come from an informed mind and relentless work ethic. I love working with him.”

“Ian’s a sharpshooter. We had some identity issues that needed a pro and he took to heart our long-winded descriptions of all things we were trying to evoke. He returned with a thorough identity presentation that struck an exquisite balance of all that things that swirled around in our heads. It made us look in the mirror and think, “Yeah, thats who we are!”

“Ian Lynam’s fine simplicity and appreciation for white space draws the eye and the heart where it needs to go. His design work is striking because it avoids the most common trap of being gaudy or needing attention. It simply does what it sets out to do.”

“Ian is an empire, a fanfare, a circus.

While most designers are accomplished at walking and chewing gum—the equivalent in graphic design terms of InDesign mastery while thinking conceptually—Ian does backflips of writing and publishing, walks the tightrope of research, and performs the acrobatics of teaching, all while stilt-walking an expansive terrain of graphic design practice… and all this while adeptly juggling platters of diverse knowledge that include history, theory, philosophy, humanities, and the gamut of pop culture.

But most of all Ian is accomplished at generously sharing himself and his many gifts with his whole heart. And this is why, simply, we love him.”

“Ian is pragmatic and effective in creating beautiful cultural products, and a pleasure to work with. He found amazing nuggets of graphic design and typography in our corporate archives, and turned them into amazing contemporary assets. He’s comfortable doing things himself, as well as at finding relevant partners, and has consistently shown a great level of initiative.”

“Ian Lynam likes thinking about design as much as making it. Luckily for us, he also likes writing about it that much too. The payoff: he is amazing at all three.”

“Working with Ian is a dream! He is able to take a few half-formed thoughts from our end and turn them into brilliant design that eloquently communicates the identity we aim to project. He has an amazing ability of knowing exactly what you need with only the slightest amount of information. He treats each project with the utmost attention and care and is always quick to respond to changes with an open and generous mind. We couldn’t imagine working with anyone else!”

“Ian is always the first person I go to when need design help. Besides being an aesthetic genius, he is unrelenting in his commitment to portraying the right image for my brands. Top all of that off with a heavy dose of flexibility and professionalism and you end up with not only first-class designs, but an overall experience that ends up feeling more like fun than work.”

“Ian is an empire, a fanfare, a circus.

While most designers are accomplished at walking and chewing gum—the equivalent in graphic design terms of InDesign mastery while thinking conceptually—Ian does backflips of writing and publishing, walks the tightrope of research, and performs the acrobatics of teaching, all while stilt-walking an expansive terrain of graphic design practice… and all this while adeptly juggling platters of diverse knowledge that include history, theory, philosophy, humanities, and the gamut of pop culture.

But most of all Ian is accomplished at generously sharing himself and his many gifts with his whole heart. And this is why, simply, we love him.”

“Ian is pragmatic and effective in creating beautiful cultural products, and a pleasure to work with. He found amazing nuggets of graphic design and typography in our corporate archives, and turned them into amazing contemporary assets. He’s comfortable doing things himself, as well as at finding relevant partners, and has consistently shown a great level of initiative.”

“In all our collaborations, Ian has always brought a fresh perspective and boundless energy to the project. His encyclopedic knowledge of visual culture, ability to quickly work through multiple concepts, and deep Rolodex of talented friends, also give us the confidence to move beyond our first idea, towards a final product that will surprise and delight our clients.”

“Ian is the best to work with. He went above and beyond what I needed with my project. Ian Lynam has really good eyes – the kind of eyeballs that can tell you just what you need for the right sparks to fly everywhere, including my and your clients eyeballs.”

“Lynam is a bitingly humorous writer – gifted with the intuition to give stories depth. This is no accident as he writes from experience – a reading pleasure!”

“Ian is always the first person I go to when need design help. Besides being an aesthetic genius, he is unrelenting in his commitment to portraying the right image for my brands. Top all of that off with a heavy dose of flexibility and professionalism and you end up with not only first-class designs, but an overall experience that ends up feeling more like fun than work.”

“Ian Lynam likes thinking about design as much as making it. Luckily for us, he also likes writing about it that much too. The payoff: he is amazing at all three.”

“Working with Ian is a dream! He is able to take a few half-formed thoughts from our end and turn them into brilliant design that eloquently communicates the identity we aim to project. He has an amazing ability of knowing exactly what you need with only the slightest amount of information. He treats each project with the utmost attention and care and is always quick to respond to changes with an open and generous mind. We couldn’t imagine working with anyone else!”

“Ian Lynam is a visionary designer, forcing us to challenge our assumptions about what design is, and what it can do. He constantly invites us to imagine new modes of inquiry, and makes a case for design as a fundamental way of knowing, and communicating, the world around us.”

“Ian is an empire, a fanfare, a circus.

While most designers are accomplished at walking and chewing gum—the equivalent in graphic design terms of InDesign mastery while thinking conceptually—Ian does backflips of writing and publishing, walks the tightrope of research, and performs the acrobatics of teaching, all while stilt-walking an expansive terrain of graphic design practice… and all this while adeptly juggling platters of diverse knowledge that include history, theory, philosophy, humanities, and the gamut of pop culture.

But most of all Ian is accomplished at generously sharing himself and his many gifts with his whole heart. And this is why, simply, we love him.”

“Joyfully and skillfully straddling the line between creator and critic, theorist and practitioner, formalist and rebel, American and expatriate, serious analyst and humorous deconstructor, Ian Lynam always brings a wholly original perspective to his writing on design. The insights are always fresh, and the stakes are always extremely high.”

“Ian’s a sharpshooter. We had some identity issues that needed a pro and he took to heart our long-winded descriptions of all things we were trying to evoke. He returned with a thorough identity presentation that struck an exquisite balance of all that things that swirled around in our heads. It made us look in the mirror and think, “Yeah, thats who we are!”

“Ian is pragmatic and effective in creating beautiful cultural products, and a pleasure to work with. He found amazing nuggets of graphic design and typography in our corporate archives, and turned them into amazing contemporary assets. He’s comfortable doing things himself, as well as at finding relevant partners, and has consistently shown a great level of initiative.”

“Ian Lynam likes thinking about design as much as making it. Luckily for us, he also likes writing about it that much too. The payoff: he is amazing at all three.”

“As an artist, publisher, writer and designer, Ian seems to have had more than nine lives, and frankly it’s hard to keep up! He doesn’t just bring technical skills, but a depth of cultural understanding from the ground up — low, high, pop, fringe — that is invaluable to his varied clients. While other designers skim the shiny surface of current trends, Ian drills down with a solid understanding of history and meaning of the motifs, letter forms, and images he utilizes.”

“Ian Lynam is a visionary and a thought leader in the field of design. It’s an honor to have him lead our graduate graphic design program.”

“Ian Lynam is a visionary and a thought leader in the field of design. It’s an honor to have him lead our graduate graphic design program.”