Paula Scher began her graphic design career as a record cover art director at both Atlantic and CBS Records in the 1970s and in 1991 she joined Pentagram as a partner. She has developed identity and branding systems, promotional materials, environmental graphics, packaging and publication designs for a wide range of clients, drawing from what Tom Wolfe has called the “big closet” of art and design history, classic and pop iconography, literature, music and film to create images that speak to contemporary audiences with emotional impact and appeal.

Paula is a recipient of the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design and the AIGA Medal, she holds honorary doctorates from the Corcoran College of Art and Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art, and she is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, as well as many other institutions. Her teaching career includes over two decades at the School of Visual Arts, along with positions at the Cooper Union, Yale University and the Tyler School of Art. In 2002 Princeton Architectural Press published her career monograph Make It Bigger.