ABOVE RIGHT: 2007 | CLIENT: THE NEW YORK TIMES

Oliver Munday is a graphic designer with a committed point of view. “I think designers can play more of a role in solving societal problems, not just client problems,” he says. “We can help in turning things around. We’re a special breed, and we think with a special part of the brain.” Rather than sitting on the sidelines, Munday has used his skills to work towards real change in Baltimore, where he attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and has his studio.

He practices design under his freelance banner, Oliver Munday//Graphic Design, but has recently joined with two of his former MICA professors, Bernard Canniffe and Mike Weikert, to form Piece (as in “design is a piece of the solution to our problems”). This new creative collective is based on the concept behind Canniffe’s “Blue Collar Design Theory” projects, where MICA students worked with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health to develop creative public-health information targeting the East Baltimore community, one of the city’s low-income high-crime neighborhoods. The Piece team is interested in doing design in a social context and having true impact on people’s lives. It is something that Munday hopes he’ll be able to do full time in the future.

Both Piece and his solo practice are evolving organically. Like many graphic designers, Munday works in a range of media. He also admits trying to cover all types of ground in any given project. “I make the type of work that I do with the intention of reaching people in some way,” he explains. “I want to have an effect on the person who interacts with the piece, in whatever form that may take. Without a response, whether negative or positive, I feel like what I do is insignificant.”

Munday’s work has a way of seducing with image, color and typography, then delivering a potent social commentary on issues like bilingualism, disposability and racism. Armin Vit, founder of the blog Speak Up, says of Munday, “Oliver is not afraid to speak his mind through graphic design. In his deliberate decision to say something beyond aesthetic statements, he creates work that is memorable and that just happens to look pretty damn terrific.”

This altruistic drive to use his talents to make the world a better place is self-reinforcing. Munday’s passion goes beyond doing the occasional one-off project for a nonprofit. It’s an integral part of his life and work. “I feel like I’m right here, right now, in Baltimore, because I can make a difference,” he says. “I’ve seen it work. I’ve seen conceptual thinking and design make things better for people. I want to do more of that.”

www.olivermunday.com | www.piecestudio.com