Born and raised in New York City, Gail Anderson early on exhibited a love of graphic design when, as a child, she began creating magazines featuring The Jackson Five and the cast of The Partridge Family. Encouraged by a high school art teacher, Anderson attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and in 1984 graduated with a BFA in Media Arts. In 2019, Anderson was selected by her alma mater to become the new chairperson of the BFA Design and BFA Advertising Departments.
Anderson’s career as a professional designer began with a brief stint designing covers (and the backs of book covers) for Vintage Books. She then moved into magazine publishing, as a designer for The Boston Globe Sunday magazine, and for more than fourteen years, she worked for Rolling Stone magazine, becoming senior art director and establishing her trademark whimsical style. Before starting her own small design firm, Anderson Newton Design, she created poster art for Broadway and off-Broadway productions at SpotCo, one of only two advertising agencies that focused on Broadway theater. Anderson is also creative director of Visual Arts Press, and has co-authored numerous books on typography and design—among them, New Vintage Type and Type Speaks.
Recognition for her outstanding design work includes the American Institute of Graphic Arts Medal for Lifetime Achievement (2008) and the Richard Gangel Art Director Award from the Society of Illustrators (2009). In 2018, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum honored Anderson with its National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement. She is the first African American, and only the third woman, to be selected. Anderson is the recipient of the Manship Medallion from the Art Directors Club, and her work is represented in the Library of Congress’s permanent collection, the Milton Glaser Design Archives at SVA, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Design, teaching, and writing comprise Anderson’s three loves, and her current professional endeavors attempt to combine all three. Since 1991, she has taught at her alma mater and contributed to Print magazine’s blog, Imprint, and Uppercase magazine. Gail Anderson
Anderson lives in Greenwich Village and upstate New York. Before joining the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee in 2013, Anderson designed the Emancipation Proclamation stamp (issued in 2013) for the U.S. Postal Service.
The New Art School 