Insights Design Lecture Series
The Walker’s Insights Design Lecture Series showcases leading design thinkers and professionals who are reshaping the field.
The annual Insights Design Lecture Series presents in-person lectures by leading design thinkers and professionals. A longtime collaboration between the Walker Art Center and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Minnesota, Insights serves as a resource for anyone interested in design. In addition to hosting four marquee lectures each year, the series also offers free workshops and an online video archive of past lectures. Since its inception in 1986, Insights has welcomed both established and emerging voices from around the world, from April Greiman, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and Irma Boom to Experimental Jetset, Martine Syms, and Bráulio Amado.
Organized by the Walker Design Studio, Insights offers a snapshot of a discipline always in flux. In addition to showcasing incredible work, the series addresses contemporary issues in design, expanded studio practice, and design’s possible futures. In partnership with Minneapolis’ own Shapco Printing, the series is accompanied each year by a free printed poster that serves as a record of the work of the studio and its ongoing dialogue with the wider field.
Watch the talks
2004
Paula Scher (Pentagram)
Michael Byzewski & Dan Ibarra (Aesthetic Apparatus)
Scott Stowell (Open)
Thomas Castro, Jeroen Barendse & Dimitri Nieuwenhuizen (LUST)
Andrew Stevens (Graphic Thought Facility)
2003
Jessica Helfand & William Drenttel (Winterhouse)
Rick Valicenti (Thirst & Thirstype)
Thomas Widdershoven (Thonik)
Charles S. Anderson & Laurie DeMartino
2002
Janet Abrams (Design Institute, UMN)
Lisa Strausfeld (Pentagram)
Jonathan Hoefler & Tobias Frere-Jones
Michael Rock (2×4)
2001
John Maeda
Wolfgang Weingart
Jennifer Sterling
Geoff McFetridge (Champion Graphics)
Denise Gonzales Crisp
2000
Mikon van Gastel (Imaginary Forces)
Cornel Windlin
Aura Oslapas (IDEO)
Gael Towey (Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia)
1999
Why Not Associates
Susan Yelavich
Elliott Peter Earls (The Apollo Program)
Marlene McCarty (Bureau)
1998
Lauralee Alben
James Victore
ReVerb
Piotr Szyhalski
1997
Alicia Johnson & Hal Wolverton
J.otto Seibold
J. Abbott Miller
Andrea Moed
1996
Tucker Viemeister
Samina Qureashi
P. Scott Makela
Duane Michaels
1995
Emily Oberman & Bonnie Siegler
Matthew Carter
Randall Rothenberg
John Plunkett & Barbara Kuhr
1994
Dana Arnett
Rick Poynor
Michael Bierut
Nancy Skolos
1993
Fo Wilson
Massimo Vignelli
Judy Corcoran
Peter Goode & Patrick McCaughey
1992
John Jay
Chip Kidd
Jilly Simmons
Kent Hunter
Steven Doyle
1991
Katherine McCoy
Joe Duffy
Rudy Vanderlans
Kit Hinrichs
Steven Heller
1990
Alexander Isley
Michael Bierut
Pat Gorman
Judy Olausen
Stormi Greener
Lynn Geesman
1989
Tibor Kalman
Philip Larsen
Paula Scher
Stephen Frykholm
1988
Lorraine Wild
Keith Goddard
Clement Mok
Dugald Stermer
1987
Muriel Cooper
Douglas Scott
Bill Stumpf
Steven Heller
1986
Paul Prejza
Christopher Pullman
Peter Seitz
Jayme Odgers