More and more typefaces are serving as a critical role in the way one experiences a brand or a product. This has spiked an interest in the creation of bespoke typefaces like GE’s Inspira, Nokia’s Pure and Microsofts Segoe family. Mike will be sharing a few projects that demonstrate type as identity and how it can shape so much about how we engage with our favorite brands or organizations. Together with Bold Monday Mike has developed new sans and serif additions to the GE Inspira family and most recently a typeface for the current Matisse exhibition identity and retail products at MoMA.

Mike Abbink is the Creative Director of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) where he responsible for managing and leading the internal design team at MoMA as well as creative leadership of the brand experience and visual identity of the Museum across all platforms and departments. This includes exhibitions, advertising, programs, and events, as well as retail, publications, digital, and the MoMA PS1.
Before joining MoMA Mike spent the past 18 years developing brands and designing identities, typefaces, packaging and websites. He has experience working in agencies including Wolff Olins, Saffron, Method as well as large corporate companies such as Apple.
Mike’s design career started at MetaDesign in San Francisco where he helped developed the strategy and visual concepts for Niketown Honolulu and in-store design systems for Nike stores in Melbourne and Toronto. After three years there, he went on to co-found the agency, Method, where he served as Creative Director and helped shape the company’s design vision. Mike oversaw the development of corporate identity, interactive design and web design for clients such as Adobe, Autodesk, MSN, Gucci, intuit and MoMA.
Mike gained extensive experience working as a Design Director at Apple Computer where he designed packaging (the first PowerBook G4, Power Mac G5, iSight Camera, and OSX Panther) and directed a major update to the company’s corporate identity when Apple changed their typeface from the classic Garamond to the more austere Myriad — a decision that affected every piece of the company’s collateral which was redesigned by Mike and his team.
After Apple, he moved to Wolff Olins where he worked with a range of clients including Citibank, New York City, Knoll, General Electric, Washington Mutual Bank, PwC, Product(RED) and Visa.
When Wally Olins’ new venture Saffron Consultants (London and Madrid) decided to open an office in New York Mike was brought on as creative director where he hired and mentored the creative team and led projects for international clients such as Goldman Sachs wealth management team, AkzoNobel, the City of London, TATA Beverages, Apollo Tyres and Amdocs (one of Isreal’s leading technology innovation businesses).
For all of his hard work, Mike has received numerous prestigious international awards for a range of graphic and typeface design. Some of his international awards are for his typeface designs FF Kievit (used by entities ranging from Autodesk, Gensler, New York Public Library, and Olympus to Germany’s Democratic Union) and his FF Milo family.
Mike has a BFA in Graphic Design and packaging from the Art Center College of Design. He has been an adjunct professor at The San Francisco Academy of Art, The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has been a guest critic at Yale’s Graduate design program.

Register Online