Designing stories that connect.

hello @ alexkostiw.com ︎

913 543 20 35
Chicago, Illinois

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

I specialize in book design, visual identities, graphic art, and website branding, translating my client’s message into thoughtfully crafted, meaningful solutions built on research and exploration.

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.

Brute is My studio practice, exploring communication’s primordial aspects and liminal spaces, where understanding, instinct, and imagination meet.

With roots in graphic design, printmaking, and literary criticism, I use the rhythmic structures of comics, poetic and adapted writing and imagery, and conceptually driven forms to create gestural narratives about connecting with others and one’s self. My focus is on the lonely richness of human interiority, the personal nature of language, and the expression of raw feeling.

My work has been in expos internationally and is 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 that investigates design in the context of the medium and as a generative tool. ︎

Hello there.

I’m Alex—I give shape to stories as a graphic designer, artist, and educator in Chicago. Take a look around, read a bit about me, or get in touch.

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