Kevin Dresser has been designing with type and image since his teens, when his first commercial work was published. Following high school, he immersed himself in New York City’s underground graffiti art scene and was accepted into Pratt Institute with a pocket full of 4" by 6" graffiti snapshots as his portfolio. He left Pratt after two years to take the position of art director at Flatiron News Magazine. This caught the attention of the Art Directors Club which featured his work in its inaugural “Young Guns” exhibition. He followed that position with a three-year digital font design apprenticeship under the tutelage of Jonathan Hoefler of Hoefler & Co. Later he was a recognized part of New York’s post-graffiti street art scene with his one-of-a-kind derelict vehicle paintings.

Dresser’s identities for Moxie Cup and Lagusta’s Luscious best exemplify his style. Sophisticated custom lettering combines and smart logomarks to give his clients a look that is not easily imitated. The ability to design custom lettering is why companies seek out his craftsmanship to make their brands stand out in the marketplace. When people see these identities, Dresser is often asked, “What font is that?,” and he must respond, “It’s not a font, it’s lettering.”

Kate Johnson’s graphic design combines conceptual thinking and precise typographic control. She holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Well-versed in the history of fine art and curatorial process, she established her career as a senior designer at the Museum of Modern Art, where she gained recognition for the design of the first large-scale exhibition installed in the newly renovated MoMA. In 1999, her first project for Dresser Johnson was the Brooklyn Industries logo, in which she incorporated the famous water tower icon that is now synonymous with Brooklyn.

Her identity for an exhibition at the Americas Society, …and it becomes something else, is a perfect example of her method. Both highly conceptual and easily understood, the logo is so subtle that it takes a moment to realize that the type starts as a Roman form and slowly progresses into italic lettering—hence, becoming something else.