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Aggie Toppins



Aggie Toppins is an associate professor and chair of undergraduate design. Before joining the faculty at WashU, Aggie taught for eight years at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where she served for two years as the first female department head in art. Before her academic career, Toppins spent a decade in the industry working at agencies in Cincinnati and Chicago.

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 AIGA Eye on Design, Slanted, and in Briar Levit’s forthcoming book Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History. Aggie holds a BS in Design from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning and an MFA in Graphic Design from MICA.

Personal website

TL;DR Zine Archive & Exhibition

Exhibition view of TL;DR Zine

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
Flatlay of Doing Things With Images zine

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

Palimpsests, 2015

Gallery view of exhibition

Palimpsests and Other Work exhibition, 2019

Exhibition at Omega Gallery, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, TN.
Gallery view of exhibition

Palimpsests and Other Work exhibition, 2019

Exhibition at Omega Gallery, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, TN.
Gallery view of exhibition

Palimpsests and Other Work exhibition, 2019

Exhibition at Omega Gallery, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, TN.
Gallery view of exhibition

Palimpsests and Other Work exhibition, 2019

Exhibition at Omega Gallery, Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, TN.

Women’s Group on Race Relations

Circular multicolored logo with purple bold text Women’s Group on Race Relations

Women’s Group on Race Relations, 2021

Brand Identity
3 mobile displays of instagram posts. First design features a large HELLO in a speech bubble, second has repeated 'WALKING TOUR' text and the third a stylized MAPPING OUR POWER text

Women’s Group on Race Relations, 2021

Brand Identity
Purple, pink and yellow event poster design with the words 'Where I'm From' in speech bubbles with event details

Women’s Group on Race Relations, 2021

Brand Identity