rachel elnar and michael stinson

Michael Stinson is a founding partner and creative director of Ramp. Stinson uses his studious attention to detail and intense x-ray vision for the overall good of design, with only a few sleepless nights here and there. Early an aerospace engineering student, his keen visual sense embodies a balance of elegance and precision. He helps Ramp maintain a high standard of creative aesthetic with a rigorous design process and critical eye.

Rachel Elnar is also a founding partner of Ramp, as well as the firm's interactive director. Elnar uses her love for technology to fuel creative initiatives for website, broadcast, business development and marketing programs. She helps Ramp collaborate with innovative client partners that understand the ability to shape information and perception with design. She has lectured on the topics of design, digital art and branding and taught motion and interactive design at Art Center College of Design and Cal Poly Pomona University.

Is graphic design a growth industry? As technology continues to permeate our day-to-day lives, there is a growing need for storytelling and differentiation to make communications successful. Creative professionals do a great job of simplifying information, making it digestible and, at times, entertaining.

Do graphic designers have a special responsibility to promote a green society? As the industry that designs most of the trash that goes into the landfill, we do feel that graphic designers have a huge responsibility to promote green thinking for their projects. In our studio, we try to educate our clients about the importance of strategizing green ways of communicating and reducing waste. A couple of our corporate clients are aware of the short lifespans of annual reports and have asked us to guide them toward designing with post-consumer recycled materials. We wouldn't say that we're green experts, but we do feel confident about designing with the planet in mind.

ONE THING I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IS
H2O -MS
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FAVORITE MOVIES

Michael
Tony Takitani
Master and Commander
2001: A Space Odyssey

Rachel
The Yes Men
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
City of God

FAVORITE BOOKS

Michael
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Rachel
Karlssonwilker Inc.'s Tellmewhy: The First 24 Months of New York Design Company by Clare Jacobson
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist by Peter Hall and Michael Bierut, eds.