A native of Hirosaki, Japan, Shushi's work is often multinational, featuring projects designed in English, Japanese, and French. Her clients are small and large organizations, primarily arts and cultural non-profits. The consultancy’s projects range from logos/identity, brochures, websites, exhibitions, and trade shows. One of Shushi’s visual translation projects exploring fundamental cultural ideas, focusing on gesture, form, and type led to a series of visual compositions based on baroque liturgical music. Twenty-seven of her artworks, are in the museum’s permanent collection at The University City Art Museum of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China.
As a graphic designer and an educator practitioner of “form follows function”, Shushi has worked extensively designing online tools for financial and healthcare sectors in the late 90s. She has collaborated with teams of psychologists, sociologists, human-factors researchers and IT developers to promote usability, user experience (UX) of online banking, pharmaceutical and doctor’s portals. Shushi is currently an active member of Cell2Society research group, working on a collaborative project in aging and design with Dr. Mulhorn (CNHP).
Shushi is an avid supporter of students studying abroad. In addition to teaching in the Summer Graphic Design Program in London, she has created and led an annual 12-day cultural exchange program with Tamagawa University since 2013. This popular three-credit intensive fall break in Japan is the first Study Abroad program at Drexel to have reciprocal exchange where both schools alternate hosting the course every other year. Shushi also created a term-long exchange program for students to study in Japan.
BA, Graphic Design, Simmons College
BFA, Graphic Design, The University of the Arts
Advanced design studies at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland.
Shushi Yoshinaga has taught and lectured in London, China, and Japan, given radio and TV interviews in Japan and Argentina. She has also exhibited her works, presented papers and published in the United States, Japan, China, Italy and Argentina.
Paper Published (2023)
co-author — Examining Public Awareness of Ageist Terms on Twitter: Content Analysis (JMIR Publications)
Paper Presentation (2023)
Principles of Scale, Practices of Inclusion
Presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices New Agendas for Design
Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Featured in the Graphic Design USA (2018)
Educators to Watch
Annual publication (2013 – current)
IKI Drexel Tamagawa Exchange Program – Cultural Leadership report
Tamagawa University Press
Featured story in Herman Miller’s Discover blog (2012)
Student Designers Make Their Mark
Paper Presentation (2011)
Visual Translation: Experimental Typography through the Cross-Cultural Process
Presented at the 5th International Conference of Design Principles and Practices
Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
Paper Published (2011)
Visual Translation: Experimental Typography through the Cross-Cultural Process
Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal, Volume 5, no. 4, Common Ground Publishing
Shushi’s recent research includes design and health collaboration to bringing artists from near and from Japan. Traditional Japanese art projects always inspire and engage students, not only from design but from many different disciplines.
Re-examining Patient-Centered Care for Seniors through a Design Process (Co-PI)
Funding Source: Drexel Areas of Research Excellence (DARE)
March 2019 – Summer 2022
Kirié Pattern Design, Dye, and Kimono Structure
Funding Source: Westphal Rankin Artist-in-Residence Program
January 2019 – May 2022
IKI Tamagawa-Drexel Exchange Global Classroom
Funding Source: Drexel University Office of International Programs
December 2016 – September 2017
Art of Také
Funding Source: Westphal Rankin Artist-in-Residence Program
January 2015 – December 2015
Werner Pfeiffer: Reexamming Books
Funding Source: Westphal Rankin Scholar-in-Residence Program
January 2012 – February 2013
Kirié Paper Japonism
Funding Source: Japan Foundation Cultural Program Fund
Funding Source: Westphal Rankin Scholar-in-Residence Program
January 2010 – December 2010
Poster presentation (2019)
Aging, Technology and Japanese Culture
Studying Aging Abroad: Two Intensive Courses at Drexel University
Gerontological Society of America’s 71st Annual Scientific Meeting, TX
Commissioned work (2018)
Visual Typographical Translation of a choral texts
Christ Church of Ithan, Villanova, PA
Three-artists’ Exhibition (2013)
Expressions of Lent
Exhibition and a concert at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Wayne PA
Solo Exhibit (2011)
Souls in Mind
Saint Mark’s Church, Philadelphia, PA
Solo Exhibit (2011)
Expressive Typography in Spirit
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Solo Exhibit (2011)
Expressione dello Spirito: visualizzazioni di parole e suoni
Università di Napoli Federico II
Naples, Italy