Graphic Design Visiting Designer Lecture Series: Michael Leon

Langley Hall

ART: Michael Leon, a CalArts Alum, is an artist, a designer and a skater, and this triad works in combination for everything he does. He has exhibited extensively over the past two decades, designs for a few lines and worked as the Art Director at Nike for a few years in the second half of the last decade. He collaborated on the SB, Tech Pack, and 6.0 lines and helped with some pieces for the ’08 Olympics in Beijing.  

Before he started at Nike, Michael founded Commonwealth Stacks, a company that continues to this day. Established in 2000 and operating out of the second bedroom in his apartment on Commonwealth Ave. in Los Angeles, Stacks was Leon’s outlet to produce t-shirts that could be used as conversation pieces and as a “platform for simple, thoughtful design”. Sure enough, Leon has stayed true to his idea and his t-shirts are everything he wanted them to be: simple, interesting and thought-provoking.