Member of the Month: Pragun Agarwal
Pragun Agarwal is a designer involved in all things type. As a current MFA student in the graphic design program of Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Pragun has the space and time to think more deeply about design. He has also contributed lettering to our inaugural issue of Typegeist — launching this month from the Type Directors Club.
You have so many fun projects in your portfolio — lettering experiments, videos, and illustrative systems… Are these just all opportunity to practice making letters?
Absolutely. I believe there aren’t any limits when it comes to experimenting with letterforms. They can be digital, expressive, abstract or even extremely intricate. I have always tried to explore these characteristics and not narrow down to a particular style. The diversity and expanse of this field is what really inspires me and ultimately drives my work.
How did you come to attend MICA? What did you get from that program?
After completing my undergrad, and subsequently working for roughly three years in India, I applied for a master’s program here in the United States. My decision to do the Graphic Design MFA program at MICA revolved around gaining a mature and professional knowledge of this field.
Currently, I am in my second year at MICA. My experience has been great, the college course structure allows you to develop new skill sets, think and discuss topics critically, and apply all this learning into your thesis and studio projects. I have also had a couple of stints as a teaching assistant, which has been an extremely rewarding exposure for me personally.
How has starting to teach helped your own creative process?
Teaching always reinforces your own learning and experiences. By demonstrating or giving any feedback, I was able to be more confident and assured of my own skillset and basics of graphic design.
More importantly, by seeing such diverse and varied approaches to a single assignment or brief, pushed me personally to experiment and look at different ways to approach any kind of a design solution.
As a contributor to the inaugural issue of Typegeist, what about the project enticed you to participate?
TDC as an organization has an enormous reputation all across the globe. I have always followed and read multiple magazines and books published by this organization. When I was approached and especially asked to experiment with the Devanagari script, I felt this was a wonderful opportunity to participate and exhibit my work amongst many talented and reputed designers.
Links:
Website: www.pragun-agarwal.com
Instagram: @pragunagarwal
Are you interested in being featured as a TDC Member of the Month? Email ecs@tdc.org for more details!
Read past Member of the Month features here:
July 2018: Nour Kanafani
June 2018: Roberto de Vicq and Douglas Riccardi
May 2018: Luisa Baeta
April 2018: Mark De Winne
March 2018: Synoptic Office
February 2018: Carrie Hamilton
January 2018: Liz DeLuna
December 2017: Pablo Medina
November 2017: Dave Bailey
October 2017: Naomi Abel
July 2017: Fernando Días
June 2017: Juan Villanueva
May 2017: Mark Simonson
April 2017: Mary Marnell
March 2017: David Adams
February 2017: John Clark
January 2017: Pamela Green
December 2016: Alexander Tochilovsky
November 2016: Jackson Alves
October 2016: Nina Stössinger
September 2016: Graham Weber
August 2016: Thomas Jockin
July 2016: Craig Ward
June 2016: Juan Carlos Pagan
May 2016: Wael Morcos
April 2016: Ilene Strizver
March 2016: Sascha Lobe
February 2016: Dawn Hancock
January 2016: Michael Bierut
December 2015: Yomar Augusto
November 2015: Debbie Millman
October 2015: Niral Parekh
September 2015: Marta Cerdà
August 2015: Kevin Cantrell
July 2015: Neil Patel
June 2015: Gail Anderson
May 2015: Ricardo Cordoba
April 2015: Cherise Conrick
March 2015: Paula Scher
February 2015: Ray Masaki
January 2015: Bruno Maag