John Maeda

John Maeda is Japanese-American graphic designer, currently the president of the Rhode Island School of Design. Origianlly a software student in Massachusetts, he became intrigued by the work of Paul Rand and Muriel Cooper, particularly Cooper’s MIT Visual language workshop. After completing his master’s degree, he went from there to Japan to attain his PHD in Design.

His early work made use of electronic media in showing expression with computer imagery, combined with traditional artist techniques. In 2001, he received the National Design Award for Communication Design in the United States and Japan's Mainichi Design Prize. Published the Laws of Simplicity in 2006 to help inspire and overcome complexity.