John J. Custer is a born-n-bred Texas designer, and illustrator turned principal and founder of a very Dandy creative studio. Based in New York City, he focuses on developing optimistic and blunt solutions—with a dash of wit, for people, places, and things that give a damn.

“Solve the problem. Don’t decorate.”

DJ is a sixth-generation Texan. He studied graphic

design at Texas Tech University, where he was

honored as a distinguished alumni. DJ began his

graphic design career in 1981 working for Robert

A. Wilson Associates in Dallas. In 1987 he moved

to Austin, where he was the award-winning art

director of the nationally respected and critically

acclaimed Texas Monthly magazine. In January

2000 DJ joined Pentagram as a partner in the

Austin office. At Pentagram, DJ’s wide-ranging

expertise encompasses the design and redesign

of a variety of publications including magazines,

books, and catalogs. He and his team also

specialize in identity design, branding, packaging,

exhibitions, and website design. DJ’s work has

been widely published and has won countless

design awards. In 2010 the University of Texas

Press (UT Press) published Variations on a

Rectangle, a retrospective of DJ’s over 30-year

design career.

After giving marine biology a try in college, Susan decided to fall back on a more stable and lucrative profession: illustration. With her artist/writer husband Allen Crawford, they formed Plankton Art Company in 1999 

Susan's stylized, graceful forms are largely inspired by nature and mid-century modernism. She clients include Target, Warner Bros., Hershey, Chronicle Books, Knopf, Ride Snowboards, Hasbro, National Geographic Kids Magazine, Discovery Channel and The Smithsonian National Zoo. One of her most ambitious project was a series of 400 hand-rendered identification key illustrations of fish, plants and other undersea creatures for The American Museum of Natural History's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, where these drawings are on permanent display. 

Susan's paintings, drawings and prints have been exhibited at numerous galleries, most notably Jonathan LeVine Gallery in Chelsea. She lives in a historic Quaker town in Central New Jersey, where she often goes on kayak trips in the Pine Barrens to look for tree frogs and orchids.

An art director by trade, it is easy to believe Eric once studied architecture when you look at the precision and craftsmanship of his work. As the Executive Creative Director of the Dallas office of Publicis Worldwide, North America, Eric leads a creative department that is well versed at winning new business pitches and has crafted effective, award-winning, integrated campaigns for global brands including Bridgestone of North America, BMW, PowerBar, Lake Austin Spa Resort, Chevrolet, PowerBar, CiCis Pizza, Beam Suntory (Hornitos Tequla and El Tesoro Tequila), TruGreen/Scotts Lawncare, and Nestlé Pure Life. Prior to that, Eric was Co-Founder/Co-Chief Creative Director of Rathbone Moncaleano Desir and a key creative leader at top agencies including Hal Riney & Partners, Foote, Cone and Belding and Leo Burnett. Eric pioneered one of the first campaigns to use digital and social media at the core of a multi-discipline ad launch for video game Mortal Kombat during the early days of the internet and has continued to use digital and social as a cornerstone of his creativity. He has won numerous awards for creativity and his work has been featured in several industry publications. He has also judged several award shows during his illustrious career.

“The Johnny Cash of AIGA,” English studied design

at Massachusetts College of Art. He began his career

in Boston working for a number of studios on

projects in communication design for Fortune 500

clients, broadcast design for ABC-TV’s Boston affiliate,

and creating museum exhibits for national

and international clients, before opening his own

studio in 1993.

He is the author of Designing Identity: Graphic

Design as a Business Strategy, a series of

industry-specific case studies providing insight

into the role design plays as part of a strategy for

success. English has picked up a stack of awards

that are sitting in boxes in his garage for work in

any number of given areas, and has been recognized

by the AIGA, the American

Center for Design, American Advertising

Federation, American Corporate Identity, the New

York Art Directors Club, the Broadcast Design

Association, the Society of Publication Designers,

International Typographic Design, Print,

Communication Arts, Graphis, I.D., HOW, and a

few others that have thrown him a bone.