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.