Omar Vulpinari

Biographical profile

Omar Vulpinari is a transdisciplinary creative director. He deals with innovation lab leadership, service experience design, digital marketing strategy, branding and cross-channel communication with a human-centred approach. He works globally for non-profit organizations, public bodies, universities and private companies.

He was director of the MDes Service Design Innovation master degree course at the University of the Arts London – London College of Communication.

He has been a consultant on studies on the future of design education for Ico-D, University of the Arts London and Ravensbourne College London.

From 1998 to 2013 he was director of the Expanded Media area and head of the Visual Communication department at Fabrica, the research center of the Benetton Group in Treviso.
Here he directed multidisciplinary groups of young artists, designers and technologists dedicated to the exploration of new forms of creativity linked to the Internet, mobile technology, augmented reality, interactive products and spaces, alternative sensorialities, retail and new media and tools expressive digital.
He has dedicated himself a lot to social communication projects for UNWHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDCP, UNICRI, The World Bank, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Witness, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, Teachers Without Borders, Japanese Ministry of Welfare, AVIS, INAIL .
He has developed commercial and cultural projects for United Colors of Benetton, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Porsche, Cult TV-Fox International, Alessi, Killer Loop, Playlife, ArteFiera Bologna, Palazzo Te Mantova, Istituto Luce, Piaggio, Vespa, Nikon, Juventus FC, Banca Sella, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Municipality of Venice, The New Yorker Magazine, D&AD, ICOGRADA, Walrus Magazine, Flash Art Magazine, Design Issues-MIT Press Journal, Edizioni San Paolo, Famiglia Cristiana, Electa, Internazionale, Corriere della Evening, The Republic.
In 2008, the UNWHO-UNICEF Global Child Injury Prevention project was awarded the Graphis Platinum G Advertising Award. From 2010 to 2012 he received three Good Design Awards for the UNWHO campaigns Climate Change Hurts, Decade of Road Safety, and Disabling Barriers.
Numerous projects have been exhibited at the Center Pompidou Paris, La Triennale Milano, Red October Moscow, Shanghai Art Museum, Shiodomeitalia Creative Center Tokyo, Ginza Graphic Gallery Tokyo, DDD Gallery Osaka, ZeroOne Design Center Seoul, MAK Vienna, MACRO Rome, Chaumont International Design Festival.

In 2007 Taschen devoted a section to his independent work in the volume Contemporary Graphic Design.

From 2007 to 2012 he was vice president of ICOGRADA (today Ico-D), founding editorial director of Iridescent (The ICOGRADA Journal of Design Research) and co-editor of The ICOGRADA Design Education Manifesto 2011, which had the objective of defining—with design educators from around the world—ICOGRADA's vision for the future of communication design education.

He is regional ambassador for Index: Design to Improve Life Awards. He was a shortlist for The Sir Misha Black Medal and Award for Innovation in Design Education.

Since 2005 he has taught Communication Design at UNIRSM Design.

From 1986 to 1997 he was art director at Fuorischema/Dolcini Associati in Pesaro, a pioneering public utility graphics studio in Italy.

He was born in the Republic of San Marino and raised in the United States. He studied Visual Communication at the Centro Albe Steiner in Ravenna and at the University of Bologna.

Main publications

Books

• Audrey G. Bennett, Omar Vulpinari, Icograda Design Education Manifesto 2011, Icograda, Montreal, 2011
• Downloadable PDF from http://www.icograda.org/news/year/2011_news/articles2246.htm
• Max Bruinsma (supervising editor), Omar Vulpinari (editorial director), Iridescent Volume 1. 2009-2011, The Icograda Journal of Design Research, Icograda, Montreal, 2011
• Downloadable PDF from http://www.icograda.org/news/year/2011_news/articles2247.htm
• Anthon Beeke, Nick Bell, Ken Cato, Shigeo Fukuda, Fernando Gutiérrez, Werner Jeker, Uwe Loesch, Stefan Sagmeister, Serge Serov, Omar Vulpinari, Area: 100 Graphic Designers, Phaidon, London, 2004
• Elisabetta Prando, Renzo di Renzo, Omar Vulpinari, Fabrica 10: From Chaos to Order and Back, Electa, Milan, 2004
• Elisabetta Prando, Renzo di Renzo, Omar Vulpinari, Fabrica Files 13-18, Electa, Milan, 2004
• Elisabetta Prando, Renzo di Renzo, Omar Vulpinari, Fabrica Files 07-12, Electa, Milan, 2003
• Elisabetta Prando, Renzo di Renzo, Omar Vulpinari, Fabrica Files 01-06, Electa, Milan, 2003

Articles

• Peter Bilak, Jessica Helfand, Richard Hollis, Emily King, Linda Kudrnovská, Colin Davies and Monika Parrinder, Omar Vulpinari, Why write about Graphic Design?, in "Graphic Project", year 10, n. 21, summer 2012, pp. 42-43
• Omar Vulpinari, There is no single way to define social communication, Omar Vulpinari (Editor) Fabrica's Social Communication, Municipality of Treviso, Treviso, 2012, pp. 2
• Reposted online http://aiapzine.aiap.it/news.php?ID=13838&draftPreview=1
• Omar Vulpinari, It's a baby, Steven Heller (Editor), I Heart Design: Remarkable Graphic Design Selected by Designers, Illustrators, and Critics, Rockport, Beverly, 2011, pp. 150-151
• Omar Vulpinari, Understanding the World in an In-Between World, Steven Devleminck, Inge Gobert, Johan Van Looveren (Editors), Shaping Voices, Oogachtend, Leuven, Belgium, 2010,

Research interests

Evolved and alternative models of design training.