Why Anthropology?

cultural anthropology – (noun) the branch of anthropology concerned with the study of human societies and cultures and their development.

People. Architects are trained to create beautiful spaces. In my opinion, architects and designers should be focused on people and their needs within buildings and not purely the form of the building itself. It was this core belief that compelled me to pursue a minor in Cultural Anthropology during design school, over 20 years ago. My area of focus was Peru, a complex country with many different climate types and ways of habitating. From this microcosm of sorts I was able to learn about many different ways in which populations and individuals establish themselves centuries before modern media, influencers, celebrities and keeping up with the Joneses. I am interested in barrier-free design that is inclusive to all races, genders, classes and cultures.

With the understanding of the core human and respect for learning from nature, my interests then progressed to studying graphic design in graduate school, learning how to better visually communicate, another deficit to typical architectural curriculum that seemed to me to be critical to effectively functioning as a good steward of my clients and the development of society in general–how can an architect create healthy spaces that the general population can understand and benefit from? First of all, wayfinding devises, or signage, in buildings is not only cryptic, but ugly, distracting from design intent and destructive to the overall artistic experience that took 30+ years (5+ years of higher education, 20+ years of experience and 2+ years in development and construction) to create. Appropriately integrated graphics, or environmental graphics, within a space guide people through the building to find where they need to go while adding to the experience rather than being disruptive. With combined passion to be inclusive and passion for cultural issues, graphic design, Interiors & Architecture, personal branding and branded spaces are my expertise. We innovate, illustrate & initiate to visualize better communication for our client’s consumers.

ipseity, LLC was established to assist entrepreneurs and professionals to develop their personal branding, corporate branding and appropriately designed workspaces. Historically, typical branding firms stem from a marketing or advertising foundation, whereas our strengths lie in four-dimensional visual communication and culturally-aware legacy design. Simply put, our branding connects with your end user, whether they realize it or not. We are a small design firm specializing in office, retail, restaurants and hospitality; helping small and growing companies define the most important aspect of their business–themselves.