Brett Yasko

Brett Yasko is an Associate Teaching Professor focused on Communications. He teaches seminar- and studio-based courses to both undergraduate and Masters students as well as “Human Experience in Design” to non-design majors. He also advises on a number of undergraduate Independent Studies. 

Brett maintains a one-person design studio working with artists, curators, writers, photographers, filmmakers and educators on publication, exhibition and identity commissions. He has designed books that are part of the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Rare Book and Manuscript Collection at Columbia University, the Special Collections at Carnegie Mellon University’s Hunt Library and the Mui Ho Fine Arts Library at Cornell University.

Brett has been recognized in design exhibitions such as the Cooper Hewitt’s Designing Peace, the Lodz Design Festival, AIGA 365 and 50 Books, 50 Covers and written about in publications and websites including Communication Arts, The New York Times, The Nation, Metropolis, Dwell, Fast Company, NPR, Azure and Design Observer as well as Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review and City Paper. His work has been featured in several books, including Designing for Participatory Culture by Helen Armstrong (Princeton Architectural Press), Designing Obama by Scott Thomas with an introduction by Steven Heller and Michael Bierut (Post Press), Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual by Timothy Samara (Rockport), Designing Peace: Building a Better Future Now by Cynthia E. Smith (Cooper Hewitt), Design and Political Dissent by Jilly Traganou (Routledge) and Art & Agenda: Political Art & Activism (Gestalten).

Brett also seeks to celebrate the uncelebrated and discover the undiscovered. This work has allowed him to present 1,900 never-seen-before photographs—never-seen even by the photographers themselves; commission 250 artists to each make a portrait of the same person; and help 7,000 people keep their New Year’s resolutions. Brett has exhibited at Mattress Factory, SPACE gallery, Artists Image Resource, the Three Rivers Arts Festival and The Center for Book Arts in New York City. 

He holds a BA in Visual Media from The American University in Washington, D.C. and has taught in the School of Design since 2005.