Caspar Lam
Assistant Professor of Communication Design
Email
lamc@newschool.edu
Office Location
L - 2 West 13th Street
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Profile
Caspar Lam is an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design, where he served as Program Director from 2020–2023. He is also a partner at Synoptic Office, an award-winning design consultancy that helps institutional partners worldwide transform complex information into meaningful narratives and digital experiences. He formerly led product design and digital strategy at Artstor, a Mellon-funded nonprofit, building collections and digital asset management software for institutions including Harvard, Cornell, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
His work has been recognized by Fast Company, the Webbys, Design Week, ADC, and AIGA, and exhibited internationally at the Biennial of Design at the Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana and the 26th International Biennial of Graphic Design in Brno. Caspar speaks widely on design and technology’s role in shaping culture and is a frequent contributor to articles and books, including The Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Typography, Thinking with Type (3rd ed.), Creating Digital Exhibitions: A Practical Guide, and Wicked Arts Assignments: Practising Creativity in Contemporary Arts Education.
He holds an MFA from Yale and degrees in biology and design from the University of Texas at Austin. He has been a visiting critic at the Hong Kong Design Institute and served as an Adjunct Associate Research Scholar at Columbia’s GSAPP. A former Executive Board Member of AIGA NY, he served as Vice President of Operations and launched the Early Career Mentorship Program, named one of the ten best mentorship programs in the United States for new graduates by Time Out magazine. In 2022, Caspar was selected for Creative Review’s Creative Leaders 50 list, which celebrates global leaders advancing their field. He currently serves on the board of the Museum Computer Network.
Portfolio
Synoptic Office