CD Faculty, Jeanette Abbink is graphic designer and owner of Rational Beauty, a Brooklyn-based design studio that is guided by the ideology of Louis Kahn, who once said, “Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration and love.” She teaches Editorial Concepts at Parsons School of Design.
Book design for Bonnie Cashin: Chic is Where You Find It, monograph on the fashion designer who changed the way women dressed with her revolutionary, forward-thinking approach to life.
Book design for the extraordinary life of the talented, beautiful and mysterious Dora Marr—showcasing her Surrealist Photography, her life with Picasso and her friendships with the surrealists in 1930s Paris.
The team at Rational Beauty, which was cofounded in 2009 with designer Mike Abbink, believes that skilled craftsmanship, dialogue, and understanding are key to making powerful design. Jeanette works with clients to create editorial and identity design solutions as well as provides art direction and product development.
Book design for somethingtofoodabout by Questlove. In conversations with ten innovative chefs in America, he explores what makes their creativity tick, how they see the world through their cooking and how their cooking teaches them to see the world. The photography is by Kyoko Hamada.
Dwell, redesign of the residential architecture magazine in 2014. As the founding creative director for Dwell (2000-2004), it was great to revisit the magazine fresh after a 10-year departure. As the founding Creative Director of Dwell, my team established the publication’s look and photographic style, for which we earned an ASME award in 2004.
Some of Rational Beauty’s recent clients includes The Sill, Design Within Reach, Questlove, R & Company, Monacelli Press and Rizzoli. somethingtofoodabout by Questlove is a winner of the 2016 AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers competition.
