I’ve been employed as a graphic designer, a coder, an artist, and a director. I’m not any of these things. I’m just naturally curious—and ultimately that’s what I get paid for. Currently I make things for Google Creative Lab. I learned to program computers at an early age but studied art instead, earning my BFA in Communication Design from the University of Connecticut and later my MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University.
As an artist I’ve exhibited work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Fondation Cartier in Paris, SFMOMA in San Francisco, and I’ve served as an artist in residence at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Germany. I’ve collaborated on pieces with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Robert Gerard Pietrusko, and others.
I’ve taught data visualization and JavaScript to graduate students at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program and conducted various design and code workshops in the US and Europe including the Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martins, and the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne. Visiting schools as a guest critic—meeting talented students and their mentors—is fun. Invite me to yours.
After winning a Young Guns Award agencies like Google, Wieden+Kennedy, and Landor Associates began inviting me over to lecture about my work. I discovered I like speaking in front of crowds (even though I’m sometimes shy in person). One of my favorites was speaking at the Creativity and Technology conference in London. I haven’t been asked to speak at TED (no surprise, really) but they did have me on their judging panel for their first annual Ads Worth Spreading competition.
I also have an interest in writing though I haven’t much (yet). It’s Nice That asked me to submit something for their inaugural issue so I wrote about Frank Drake’s 1974 Arecibo Message to aliens. Do you have any idea how crazy it would be to get a phone call from aliens? Is our universe really just one blip in the multiverse? Can kittens perform quantum computation? Am I really here now or am I much older and this is but a memory I’m revisiting whilst sundowning? I have trouble sleeping sometimes.
Print Magazine Unmooring: Stewart Smith’s Quiet Critiques by Justin Sullivan. October 2011
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Talk to Me exhibition in New York City. July 2011
On Digital Experience lecture by Stewart Smith on mixing art, design and code. Organized by design blog It’s Nice That. June 2011
Domus. States of Design 01: Visualization by Paola Antonelli. April 2011
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) exhibition How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now. November 2010
Code Play lecture by Stewart Smith at the Creativity and Technology conference in London. November 2010
An interview with Stewart Smith by Daniel Bogan of The Setup. August 2010
Starting Out: Stewart Smith, Designer/Artist/Programmer by Core77’s Lisa Smith. July 2010
Stewdio Apple: London Edition. Stewart Smith discusses his graphic design studio, Stewdio, at the Regent Street Apple Store in London. June 2010
Creativity Online: Face to face with the brains behind iQuit, Browser Pong and other experiments in digital fun by Jamie Kim. March 2010
Stewdio Apple. Stewart Smith discusses his graphic design studio, Stewdio, at the SoHo Apple Store in New York City. February 2010
2009 Review: Stewart Smith on It’s Nice That. December 2009
The Art Directors Club recognizes Stewart Smith among its Young Guns 7 class. October 2009