Joel Lardner

Joel Lardner serves as a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at Arts University Bournemouth since 2007 while concurrently pursuing a practice-led PhD at London College of Communication (University of the Arts London) as a PGR student.

His academic credentials include:

• MA Illustration from Kingston University (1992-1995)
• BA (Hons) Graphic Design (Illustration) from Leeds Beckett University (1989-1992)
• PGCE (HE) from University for the Creative Arts (2006-2009)

Research centers on skateboard deck artwork from 1980-1990, analyzing how visual rhetoric from gothic horror, science fiction, comic books, and youth music cultures created skateboarding's distinct visual identity. His work traces appropriation processes that forged enduring motifs still influencing contemporary skate culture, positioning skateboard graphics as illustrated vernacular developed for marketing in 1980s California.

Professional practice as a freelance illustrator since 1996 directly informs his teaching methodology and research framework, bridging industry experience with academic inquiry in visual culture studies.