Leslie Becker is a design practitioner, educator, and writer. Her research area is design and ethics, specifically methods of ethics, with a particular emphasis on the workings of graphic images in popular culture and their influence on the construction of values. Her practice includes identity, print graphics, large-scale signage systems, custom furniture, and pro bono work for nonprofits.

Leslie has presented papers at conferences for AIGA and the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, and given papers at Saint Louis University, University College Dublin, and Harvard University. She also has lectured at Tsinghua University in Beijing. She is a former editor of AIGA's San Francisco newsletter and has published essays in periodicals such as PRINT, Graphis New Talent Design Annual, and Design Book Review. She has contributed to several books, including The Education of a Graphic Designer, The Education of a Typographer, and Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility. Her writing on design pedagogy will appear in a text published in mainland China (in Chinese, for the time being). She will lecture on design pedagogy to design professors in Beijing (summer 2010) as a guest of the Chinese ministry of education.

Leslie holds a PhD in architecture (theory and methods) from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a fellow of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).

Director of CCA's Design division

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Professor, Visual Studies

BFA, The Cooper Union; MA, University of California, Berkeley

Contact: lbecker@cca.edu