MING Utility & Entertainment Names Brad Blondes Partner/Chief Design Officer

MING Utility And Entertainment Group, the creative company recently founded by advertising leaders Linus Karlsson, Brian DiLorenzo and Tara DeVeaux, has named Brad Blondes Partner/Chief Design Officer. In his new role, Blondes heads Design by MING, a strategic design and creative unit. Blondes reports directly to Linus Karlsson, MING Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, who announced the news today.

"Brad and I have worked together for a while now and we have a very similar idea of the function and role of design, relating to art and commerce,” Karlsson said. “Brad is not only one of those rare and talented minds but also a great leader and teacher for younger ones. I'm truly inspired to have Brad as a partner at MING."

Blondes brings deep experience as a design executive to his new post. As former SVP, Director of Design of McCann New York, he was responsible for leading all design-related content within the agency and worked with clients such as Chevrolet, American Airlines, The United States Postal Service, Jose Cuervo, Verizon, Nasdaq, General Mills, Kohl’s and McCann NY. Prior to McCann, he worked as an Art Director/Designer at BBDO NY on Starbucks, at Mother NY on Tanqueray, Target, Stella Artois and Dell, and at Sapient Nitro on Conde Nast, Foot Locker and Disney. His experience over the past decade also includes design positions at Landor & Associates, Brand New School, MTV Networks, Momentum Worldwide, @Radical.Media and Winterhouse Studio.

“Nothing could be more exciting for me than to team up with some of the industry’s most influential thinkers and leaders to build a company from the ground up,” commented Blondes. “One of my top priorities has always been to seek out and cultivate environments where design can flourish beyond what’s expected. The fact that MING is experimenting with design, technology and entertainment is very intriguing and I look forward to figuring out along with my colleagues what the future of communications looks like.”

In addition to leading design strategy for MING clients, Blondes teaches a branding class at Parsons The New School for Design as an adjunct professor. He holds an MFA in Design from Yale University where his thesis work focused on “undoing,” a process he incorporates in his work today to discover the truth and potential of a brand by breaking it down and building it back up again. He attended SVA for Graphic Design and earned a BA from Temple University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.