In art school in the 1980s, graphic design was for the neat and tidy kids -- the ones who knew their way around a ruler and wouldn’t smudge the ink. Ellen Lupton was not one of those kids. A curator, educator, writer and critic, Ellen is the author of several books, one of which, "Thinking With Type," has become an invaluable and widely read industry resource. Ellen directs the graphic design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art, and in New York, she works as the curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Despite being among the elite in her industry, Ellen champions do-it-yourself culture -- she has several books on the topic -- and considers it a personal mission to open people’s eyes to the design that exists all around them. (Photo by Michelle Qureshi)