Aggie Toppins
Aggie Toppins is an associate professor and chair of undergraduate design. Toppins works at the intersections of studio practice and critical writing to explore the ways that visual communication bears on social realities. She is interested in the appraisal of history, the negotiability of meaning-making, and in using these critical orientations to decouple design from universalist narratives of capital. Her recent writing has been published by Design and Culture, Design Issues, Diseña, AIGA Eye on Design, Slanted, and Eye magazine. She has published essays in two books: Feminist Designer, edited by Alison Place, and Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History, edited by Briar Levit. She is currently working on her first book, Thinking Through Graphic Design History: Challenging the Canon, which will reach market in 2025. Aggie holds a BS in Graphic Design from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning and an MFA in Graphic Design from MICA.
Personal website
Book chapters
In Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History by Briar Levit (Princeton Architectural Press, 2021)
Articles
“Dig If You Will the Picture…: Reading Prince’s Semiotic World” in Design Issues
“Good Nostalgia/Bad Nostalgia” in Design and Culture
“We Need Graphic Design Histories That Look Beyond the Profession” for AIGA Eye on Design
“Can We Teach Graphic Design History Without Chronology?” for AIGA Eye on Design
“Can We Teach Graphic Design History Without the Cult of Hero Worship? for AIGA Eye on Design
"Beyond the Bauhaus: I AM A MAN’ for AIGA Design Educators Community
“Good Nostalgia/Bad Nostalgia” in Design and Culture
“We Need Graphic Design Histories That Look Beyond the Profession” for AIGA Eye on Design
“Can We Teach Graphic Design History Without Chronology?” for AIGA Eye on Design
“Can We Teach Graphic Design History Without the Cult of Hero Worship? for AIGA Eye on Design
"Beyond the Bauhaus: I AM A MAN’ for AIGA Design Educators Community
TL;DR Zine Archive & Exhibition
TL;DR Zine Exhibition
“Doing Things With Images: TL;DR Zine Archive” Exhibition at MICA Pinkard Gallery, Baltimore, MD, designed in collaboration with Shreyas R Krishnan, 2022
TL;DR Zine Exhibition
“Doing Things With Images: TL;DR Zine Archive” Exhibition at MICA Pinkard Gallery, Baltimore, MD, designed in collaboration with Shreyas R Krishnan, 2022
Two Halves of an Orange, 2023
Two Halves of an Orange, title wall, Paul Mesaros Gallery, West Virginia University, 2023
Two Halves of an Orange, title wall, Paul Mesaros Gallery, West Virginia University, 2023
Women’s Group on Race Relations, 2021
Women’s Group on Race Relations, 2021
Brand Identity
Women’s Group on Race Relations, 2021
Brand Identity
Women’s Group on Race Relations, 2021
Brand Identity