The renowned writer, educator, and co-chair emeritus of MFA Design talks about his long relationship with the School of Visual Arts, in advance of his keynote address at the College’s 50th annual commencement exercises.
Author, educator, designer, and co-founder and co-chair emeritus of MFA Design Steven Heller, who will deliver the keynote address at SVA’s 2025 commencement exercises.
Author, educator, designer, and co-founder and co-chair emeritus of MFA Design Steven Heller, who will deliver the keynote address at SVA’s 2025 commencement exercises.
The School of Visual Arts celebrates its 50th annual commencement exercises on Thursday, May 15, 1:00pm, at Radio City Music Hall. Steven Heller, celebrated design author, educator, and co-founder of the College’s MFA Design program, will deliver the address and receive an honorary doctorate of fine arts.
Heller began his career as an illustrator and art director in the thriving underground newspaper scene of 1960s New York City, a time captured in his autobiographical Growing Up Underground: A Memoir of Counterculture New York (2022). He spent more than three decades as an art director and writer at The New York Times; has authored, co-authored, or edited more than 200 books about design, illustration, and typography; and contributed to publications like The Atlantic, Wired, and Print, where he is now a partner and editor at large. His accolades include the AIGA Medal, the Smithsonian National Design Award, SVA Masters Series Award, and honorary doctorates from institutions in Detroit and the Czech Republic.
Not long after briefly attending SVA as a student in the ’60s, Heller began teaching at the College, and he has been a regular faculty member since 1984. In 1998, he co-founded the MFA Design program with Lita Talarico (MFA 2007 Art Criticism and Writing) and he has helped launch other SVA graduate programs, including MPS Branding and MA Design Research, Writing, and Criticism. Since he and Talarico stepped down as MFA Design co-chairs in 2024, Heller has taken on the role of special assistant to SVA President David Rhodes.
Heller recently answered some questions about his own approach to teaching, his long and consequential history at SVA, and the role of being this year’s commencement speaker.
Growing Up Underground, the 2022 memoir by MFA Design Co-Founder and Co-Chair Emeritus Steven Heller, keynote speaker of SVA’s 2025 commencement exercises.
Growing Up Underground, the 2022 memoir by MFA Design Co-Founder and Co-Chair Emeritus Steven Heller, keynote speaker of SVA’s 2025 commencement exercises.
Congratulations on being named the keynote speaker of SVA’s 50th commencement ceremony. What was your reaction when you received the invitation? What does this mean to you?
Thank you. My reaction was surprise, honor, and fear, followed by many sleepless nights attempting to figure out what I could say that would be deserving of the trust bestowed upon me.
For the past three or four years, I’ve been writing faux commencement speeches, which I published in one of my essay anthologies. I always prefaced them with, “In case someone gets ill or misses their plane, I would be happy to fill in (as long as the school is in New York).” I was just being cheeky. The so-called speeches were legitimate essays, but I never honestly believed I would present them at a graduation. When David Rhodes asked if I’d give the SVA speech, I reread the ones I’d done, and none were right for SVA. This is my school, I needed to come up with something new and meaningful.
You have had a long and storied relationship with the College. What are your observations about the ways in which SVA, and arts education in general, have changed over time?
Well, my “storied relationship” began when I was in high school (a freshman, at that) and I’d take the 23rd Street crosstown bus to Seventh Avenue to catch the subway to one of my uptown private schools. (I went to McBurney and Walden—the former, I hated; the latter, I loved.) From the bus window, I’d see all the cool SVA kids in hippie gear and pea coats, and imagine myself as one of them. When it came time to select a college, I went to NYU instead of SVA. That lasted a year and a half, for reasons I state in my memoir, Growing Up Underground.
Long story short, I ended up going to SVA to basically get a draft deferment. SVA was known for its fine-arts and comics departments. Harvey Kurtzman and his Mad Magazine “gang of idiots” taught comics at SVA. I did not stay—through no fault of the school, but I had a job as art director and cartoonist for an underground paper. I came back a year after [the late] Marshall Arisman “kicked me out” for not attending classes, then I was hired to teach newspaper design, which I did for a few months before, surprisingly, getting a job as art director at The New York Times. Then Marshall hired me for his new graduate program, MFA Illustration as Visual Journalist—now known as MFA Illustration as Visual Essay.
How did the College change? For one, it became designated “a college,” and began granting degrees. For two, its primary reputation shifted from being the best painting and illustration school to being a wellspring of smartly educated graphic designers. Richard Wilde hired the “dream team” faculty. SVA’s BFA Advertising and BFA Design programs hired highly refined, extremely well-known, and amazingly astute working practitioners. It was a who’s who of the design field in New York City.
Meanwhile, design as a field was increasing in number and respect. Newspapers and magazines wrote articles about design projects and their makers, and SVA was often mentioned in those. Also concurrent with this growth, the field was becoming more intellectually grounded—more theoretical—with design history as a cornerstone. SVA did not become a hotbed of theory, but we nurtured historical research that had an impact on many other design schools. If we weren’t ahead of the pack, we were up there with the crème de la crème.
What would you say is the greatest impact you’ve had at SVA?
I helped popularize design history; in fact, among the many books I’ve published under the imprint SVA/Allworth Press is Teaching Graphic Design History. I also had a hand in determining what new graduate programs would be started and who would be chairs. I don’t really know what my overall impact has been, but I’ve been associated with the school for almost 50 years, so at least I can claim longevity.
How has your experience as a longtime educator at SVA impacted you?
I never considered myself as an educator. And to this day, my “teaching” consists of standing in front of the classroom and sharing what I know while hoping the students are interested in what I have to say. I usually get good to decent recommendations. SVA is the gift that keeps on giving me insomnia. I’m always rifling through my brain for brand new material and ways to express it to a class or groups.
As you prepare to speak at this year’s commencement, is there something you wish you had known as a former student and young art director about navigating the professional world?
No! I wish I had more skills than I do now. I wish I had more patience not to fritter away the day. I used to get into The New York Times at 6:00am and work for the first three hours on school and other stuff. I guess I wish I knew how to sleep well.
What would you say to designers and artists who want to use their work to advocate for change in 2025?
I am all for it. The operative word is “advocate,” because artists won’t change the world with type on paper or ink and paint. Do good work, and things will go well.
The 2025 SVA commencement exercises will be held on Thursday, May 15, at 1:00pm ET. The event will be live-streamed on the SVA website here, and on Facebook Live.