Mike Essl is a graphic designer, educator, and Mr. T memorabilia collector. He is an Associate Professor with tenure at The Cooper Union where he heads the Graphic Design program. As a co-founder of Nerduo, Mike’s recent projects include App For That, The Battle, and 1.21 Jiggawatts. Essl is also the ME in Studio of ME/AT, where he designs books for Abrams Comic Arts, Chronicle Books, DC Comics, and Rizzoli. As the director of the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography, Essl curated Chip Kidd: Book One, Music/Man: Niklaus Troxler, and Lubalin Now. In 2008 Essl co-authored Watching the Watchmen with Chip Kidd and Dave Gibbons. In 2003 his work while a partner at the Chopping Block was featured in Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Triennial. Essl’s work with the firm Area/Code was featured in the 2011 MoMA exhibition Talk To Me. Essl has appeared on the A&E Biography of Mr. T, Design Matters with Debbie Millman, The Howard Stern Show, and VH1’s Totally Obsessed. From 2006-2008 Essl was the Vice President of the AIGA’s New York Chapter.