Mike Tully explores the ways in which graphic design can serve different communities

It was after studying undergraduate graphic design at Parsons in New York and working in small studios that designer Mike Tully found his “place” in editorial environments, like The New York Times and The Brooklyn Rail. In these spaces, Mike tells us that he learnt the “ways in which design, research, writing and dialogue can work together on larger scales in service of different communities". It’s this thinking that now forms the basis of Mike’s design approach.

Attending Yale’s MFA in graphic design was also a formative experience for Mike, and he explains that the course “reinforced that, while I love conceptual projects that reconsider what can be thought of as design, I’m still deeply invested in typography, structure and an instinctive process”. At Yale, Mike utilised the resources around him and explored the intersection of ephemerality and artefacts. As such, his designs incorporated screenings of Arthur Jafa films, maintaining a bootleg web radio server and sound recording projects. Showing a design practice so full of innovation and cultural experimentation, Mike clearly has an illustrious career ahead.