José R. Menéndez is a graphic designer and educator, with a background in marine science communication and landscape architecture. He is an Assistant Professor in Graphic Design and Architecture. José’s multi-disciplinary practice, research, and teaching are intertwined as he investigates topics on community engagement through environmental communication; designing placemaking and wayfinding narratives in public space; and highlighting Latin American graphic design through his digital and mobile poster archive Gráficalatina.com
At Northeastern José directs the Graphic Communication Lab where he collaborates with students on the development of visual communication strategies of projects such as the Slater Mill Bee Garden Project, a National Park Service site in Pawtucket, RI.
José is a principal at Buena Gráfica, an interdisciplinary design studio in Providence, RI.
Studio: https://buenagrafica.com/
Research: https://graficalatina.com/
Research/Publication Highlights
Graphic Voices of Latin America
WaterFire Arts Center, Providence, RI, 2025
Gráfica Latina featured in Reverberations: Lineages in Design History
Ford Foundation Gallery, New York, NY, 2025
Exploring Identity Through Curatorial Practices: Gráfica Latina
Design Incubation Colloquium, Boston, MA 2024
Rhode Island Commerce Main Street / Streetscape Grant
Providence, RI, 2024–2025
Blackstone River Commons
National Endowment for the Arts Grants for Arts Project
2021–2024
Call and Response: Histories of Designing Protest in Latin America
Panel discussion of exhibition Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest.
Letterform Archive, San Francisco, CA Spring 2023
Caribbean Contrast: Puerto Rican and Cuban Carteles/Posters and their Representation of Distinct Political Relationships with the United States
Incomplete Latinx Stories of Diseño Gráfico, 2021
Departments
Art + Design, Architecture
Education
- M.F.A., Graphic Design, Rhode Island School of Design
- M.S., Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island
- B.S., Landscape Architecture, Temple University
Courses Taught
- Typographic System 1 Studio
- Design Process + Practices
- Design Tactics and Operations
- Implement/Visualize Urb Env. 2
- Graphic Design Studio 2
- Color & Composition
Research Focus
- Environmental Communication
- Latin American Graphic Design Studies
- Branding
- Printmaking
- Experimental Publishing
- Exhibition Design
- Community Engagement
- Tactical Urbanism
- Wayfinding Systems
