Ellen Christensen

Ellen Christensen is an Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design at San Francisco State University and serves as Gallery Director of DesignSpace. She holds an M.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design (2018) and a B.A. in American Studies from UC Berkeley (2007), graduating with High Honors and Magna Cum Laude. Her work focuses on design strategies of care, community placemaking, and historical documentation through graphic design.

Research Interests:

• Exploring collaborative methods in physical and virtual community building
• Typography and visual representation of marginalized narratives
• Archival reinterpretation of historical ephemera (e.g., postcards, whaling journals)
• Advocacy design for social justice causes like net neutrality

Key Projects:

• This is Some Place: A book analyzing postcards from 1890s–1930s Boston
• Ship/Glyph: Typographic cards inspired by 1860s whaling journals
• Nin Typeface: Humanist typeface inspired by Anaïs Nin's work

Awards:

• RISD Research Grant, RISD Fellowship
• William Stout Award for architectural history paper
• Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude

Teaching: Extensive TA experience at RISD and teaching roles at Tufts University, Boston University, and Clark University, covering design studio, typography, and design history courses.

Labs/Teams: Leads DesignSpace Gallery, collaborating on exhibitions merging design and community engagement.