MPS Branding Department Chair Debbie Millman currently has a solo exhibition on view through June 30 at the Chicago Design Museum, a 6,000-square-foot pop-up project of Lost Creature. Entitled “Look Both Ways,” the exhibition features a series of Millman’s visual essays based on her 2006 book Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design. Millman’s five large-scale visual essays, two graphic films illustrating her recent attempts at real-time movie drawing, plus a wall drawing and some collaborative experiments with ceramics relay highly personal stories through a charming mix of graphic design, fine art, and narrative.

Millman has been fascinated with visual storytelling for quite some time. She began creating visual essays in the early 1990s, expanding her painted text-based images into full narratives. Millman worked diligently to ensure that the quality of each medium would not suffer. This intention helped her consider each element of the essays with equal parts care and dedication. In the exhibition statement, she writes, “I have been exploring the art of telling a story through a unique combination of images and words all of my life. In this body of work, I have tried to investigate the ability stories have to honor the diversity and commonality of our collective human experience.”

For those who cannot attend the exhibition in person, download the Winfield & Co. designed app to see selections from the show, read the plain text narratives, or hear Millman read them herself. To read an interview with Milmman about the exhibition, visit Unbeige.