Neeta Verma

Robert P. Sedlack, Jr. Associate Professor
Fellow, Liu Institute for Asia & Asian Studies
Art, Art History, and Design

Research Interests

Social Design, Social Inequity, Participatory Design, Community Collaboration, City as a Living Lab

Related Courses Taught

Social Design: Initiatives, Challenges, & Social Innovation Visualization of Data: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Politics of Representation

Biography

Neeta Verma is a graphic designer who views the profession of graphic design as service. Throughout her practice she has defined her role and the role of graphic design as one that serves as a catalyst within a societal context. She believes that as designers we have both the ability and responsibility toward a practice that is not just determined by “need” but more importantly by “relevance”. She prefers to call herself a solution finder or an experience creator. This allows her to shift her clients from seeking tangible end products to focusing on analyzing and understanding what their design and communication needs truly are.

Her areas of research interest explore historical influences in graphic design and how these cultural differences have defined the profession today. Her early research focused on Sacred Texts: Image, Sound and Word in Christian, Hindu and Islamic Traditions. Growing up in India, a melting pot of religions, she has been fascinated by similarities and differences in the visual manifestations (architecture, artifacts, books, prayer and recitation) and the history of mark making within these religious traditions. Additionally, she has explored The Written Word: Kitsch or Culture. Coming from an aural culture, she has been deeply fascinated by the written word and the pivotal role it plays in the discipline of graphic design. It has become one of her primary areas of research – not just examples of sustained brilliance in formal design history but what surrounds us in popular culture.

Since 1996, she has headed a graphic design firm that works exclusively for museums, cultural organizations, not-for-profits and educational institutions. Working for national and international clients, her firm specializes in areas of practice that include branding & marketing, print & collateral, 3-dimensional design, way-faring, web design and user-experience. A partial listing of her clients includes: American Red Cross, NY; Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, NY; Liberty Science Center, NJ; Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, NM; New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, NM; The New York Botanical Garden, NY; The New York Public Library, NY; Philharmonic Orchestra of Yale University, CT; Trinity University Press, TX; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; The Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo), NY.

Deeply committed to design education, she brings her rich professional experience in the industry to influence, mold and inform the classroom experiences of her students. Her teaching focuses on Social Design, Visualization of Data, and Fundamentals of Design and the aspects she promotes within those courses are critical thinking and innovation, as she views graphic design, not only as a creative problem-solving process but also as service and collaboration.