Richard Nelson is the Creative Director at Herzog & Schindler bringing over 35 years of graphic design and brand development experience to the firm’s clients.
After completing his studies in graphic design at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, he quickly gained experience in developing corporate identity programs, brand experience, environmental graphic design and illustration while working for various firms including VSA Partners in Chicago and Kiku Obata & Company in St. Louis.
Over his career, Richard has served as graphic design lead or creative director for clients including Starbucks, PaineWebber, Southwestern Bell, AMC Theaters, Hard Rock Hotels, Universal Studios Theme Parks, The St. Louis Cardinals, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Mercy Hospitals, The St. Louis Zoo, The St. Louis Art Museum, The Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Polyplexus, and Affordablehousing.com.
These experiences allowed Richard to develop a concept-driven approach that considers the entire brand experience from identity to complete brand systems and how a brand’s unique visual sensibility touches print, packaging, environmental graphic and exhibit design, web, and social media. For The Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, he designed a complete brand system and visual language that not only included creating the institution’s web and social presence, but also all print communications and seasonal materials. He designed and illustrated each of the Festival’s first 16 posters which promoted the organization’s flagship event, the annual summer festival in Forest Park.
His work has received numerous awards and has been featured in Communication Arts magazine, How magazine, Print Regional Design Annual, AIGA, Graphis magazine and Graphis Logo, Logo Lounge, and various other graphic design annuals and publications. Thirteen of the 16 posters Richard designed for The Shakespeare Festival St. Louis can be seen in the book, “Presenting Shakespeare: 1,100 Posters From Around The World”.
Richard credits his avid interest in films and science fiction as part of his creative inspiration and often looks for ways to bring an unexpected, imaginative element to his assignments. He loves to cook (and eat) and travel along with his wife, Kim, who is also an accomplished kitchen whiz. If you asked him what his dream alternate career would be, he’d say, “composer, but my older brother got all the musical genes in the family.”
.svg)