Joe Miller combines found, acquired, and artist-made objects with text and images to comment on the place of the individual in our manufactured environment. In Joe’s work, typographic and symbolic voice is given to a wide range of objects. The skateboard deck, street signs, fallout shelter signs, land mine markers, and so on, are repurposed in poetic conversations between their original and newly imposed messages. Type is integrated into these objects by means of sandblasting, painting, laser etching, toner transfer, letterpress, etc. The result is a conversation of forms that brushes aside distinctions between art, design, and poetry.
Joe Miller has received national and international recognition in 64 books and publications, including AIGA annuals, American Corporate Identity annuals, The Design of Dissent, 1000 Type Treatments, 1000 Icons, Graphis books, LogoLounge books, The New Logo from California books, Typography 12, Communication Arts, Print, and How. His articles on design have been published in AIGA Journal of Graphic Design, LIMN, and Studio. He has received 126 regional and international awards for graphic design and his work has been included in exhibitions nationwide. Several examples of work are included in the AIGA Archives and in the permanent collection of the Denver Art Museum. Joe started his career as a designer at Atari and was then a senior designer at the international public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Joe has been a member of the design faculty at San José State University since 1988.
Joe is regarded as a leader in the design and art communities. He is president of the Board of Directors of Works/San José; is on the Board of Directors of AIGA SF as Programming Co-Chair, Silicon Valley; is on the Board of Poetry Center San José; and is a member of the San José City Hall Exhibition Committee.