Alexander Isley leads our teams of designers, writers, and planners, establishing the strategic and creative vision in our work.

Alex first gained recognition in the early 1980s as the senior designer at Tibor Kalman’s influential M&Co. He also served as the first full-time art director of the funny and fearless Spy magazine, for which he was awarded gold and sliver medals from the Society of Publication Designers. He founded our firm in 1988.

Alex received a degree in environmental design from the North Carolina State University College of Design. He also holds a BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City.

He has served as an adjunct professor at The Cooper Union and at the School of Visual Arts in New York, teaching courses in design and typography. He has been a lecturer and critic in the graduate program of the Yale School of Art since 1996.

Alex was selected as an inaugural member of “The I.D. 40,” I.D. Magazine’s survey of the country’s leading design innovators. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and SFMOMA. He is past president of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) New York, and serves on the advisory board of AIGA Connecticut. In 1998 he was elected a member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale).

Alex lives in Connecticut with his wife and their three curious children. He used to help the kids with their homework, but these days he doesn’t need to because they already know everything.