David Gibson

2009 SEGD Fellow, 1996 Angel Award honoree, and SEGD President 1991-1992
David Gibson is Co-Founder and Principal of Two Twelve. In 2020, David Gibson celebrates forty years of Two Twelve and over fifty years as a designer.
He began his design explorations as an undergraduate at the Cornell School of Architecture, and then studied visual communications at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He also earned his MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University, where the department’s 212 York Street address sparked inspiration as he looked to name Two Twelve.

It is David’s passionate belief that, as designers, we have an obligation to help people find their way in an increasingly complex world, be it locating a doctor in a large hospital, understanding the national census questionnaire, or navigating public transit. This dedication to public information design derives in part from David’s Canadian civil rights activism in the 1970’s. It informs his work with clients who want to harness the power of design to better engage with their customers and stakeholders.

A native of Montreal, David has always been a city dweller who thrives on the diversity and energy of the urban environment. His work has helped shape the experience of cities from Dubai to Los Angeles, with many points in between. In 2009, David wrote the award-winning book, The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places, published by Princeton Architectural Press. It is a distillation of his expertise gained while creating information and wayfinding systems for cities like Downtown Brooklyn, New York and Charlotte, North Carolina; for cultural institutions like the Cleveland Symphony, the Cincinnati Museum Center, and The Studio Museum in Harlem; and for prestigious universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. He has also led the firm’s work on acclaimed wayfinding systems for many of the nation’s leading health care centers, including Massachusetts General Hospital, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

David regularly leads workshops and lectures on the discipline and value of wayfinding design at educational institutions and industry associations around the world. He is a past President and Board Member of the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD) and was named Fellow in 2009. He is also a former national board member of AIGA. David currently serves on the board of the Public Policy Lab, a design think tank that works to improve the delivery of public sector services and as President of the Board of Trustees of Art House Productions, a visual and performing arts group that is at the center of the creative community in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he currently lives.

David is an avid gardener and a dedicated baker, having studied at some of the nation’s leading cooking schools. He is famous for his fresh fruit pies. ViewDavid Gibson’s work and read more about his firm Two Twelve.