Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, June 16, 2026 : Juan Carlos Pagan, an American artist, designer, typographer, and creative director (#2554)

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Artist of the Day, June 16, 2026 : Juan Carlos Pagan, an American artist, designer, typographer, and creative director (#2554)

Juan Carlos Pagan is a New York–based multi-disciplinary artist, designer, typographer, and creative director whose work examines the intersection of design, systems thinking, and cultural storytelling. His practice moves fluidly between art and design, spanning brand systems, visual identity, image-making, and experimental typography, with a particular focus on how visual language shapes contemporary culture. For Pagan, design is a process of building meaning through form, where visual systems and expression are inseparable.

His work has been commissioned by organizations including NPR, Pinterest, Cîroc, Under Armour, Nike, Google, Apple, Disney, Curry, HOKA, and YouTube, and includes original editorial artwork created for the covers of The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and Variety. Alongside his independent practice, Pagan has held creative leadership roles at DDB, Deutsch, MTV, and 72andSunny, contributing to brand-defining campaigns while advancing the role of design as a cultural and expressive medium within contemporary visual language.

Pagan’s work has been widely recognized by The Type Directors Club, The Art Directors Club, The One Show, Communication Arts, Graphis, Cannes Lions, Clios, D&AD, AICP, 4A’s, AdColor, and Print Magazine, among others. In 2013, he received the Art Directors Club Young Guns Award, was nominated for Print Magazine’s New Visual Artist “20 Under 30,” and was named #1 on Adweek’s Talent 100 list. In 2018, he was honored with the Type Directors Club Ascenders Award, recognizing designers under 35 for significant contributions to design and typography. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Type Directors Club and regularly lectures at design conferences and universities.

In 2017, Pagan co-founded Sunday Afternoon, a hybrid design studio and artist management agency. Under his leadership, the studio was named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America in 2020 and recognized by Print Magazine as Design Agency of the Year in 2022.

Pagan holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design and completed postgraduate studies in typeface design at The Cooper Union.

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