hello @ alexkostiw.com ︎

913 543 20 35
Chicago, Illinois

Designing to connect characters with audiences.

I have worked with clients in art & culture, education, events, and publishing. Together, we tell stories through art and design.

Whether for visual identities, print publications, graphic art, or website branding, my approach combines research and craft to understand the client’s message and distill it into meaningful, strategic solutions.

I’m excited most by projects that connect audiences with creative voices and that push the bounds of narrative experiences in physical spaces and formats.

My practice explores the primordial aspects of communication, where instinct, empathy, and imagination meet to form personal languages.

I use design, sparse text and image, and print formats to gesture toward human interiority and raw feeling. My work draws readers into loose narratives about connecting with others and one’s self.

My comics have been in expos internationally and are collected in the Joan Flasch Artist’s Book Collection, the Chicago Zine Collection at the University of Chicago Library, the Zine and Comics Collection at the MassArt Library, the Decker Library at MICA, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Library of Congress.

I teach courses in graphic design and storytelling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I received an MFA in Visual Communication Design. And yes, I’ve always loved books; I hold a BA in English literature from the University of Chicago.

I love talking with folks about the intersection of comics and design, and offer a workshop where we investigate design in the context of the medium and as a generative tool. ︎