Jan C. Almquist  •  Founder, Principal

Jan is recognized by leading professional organizations and publications worldwide for his contributions to both design and photography. He has participated in numerous solo and group shows and his work is in corporate and private art collections. Jan's work is also in the permanent collections of The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, the Graphic Design Collection of the National Design Archive at Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA, and the Museum of Applied Arts in Brno, Czech Republic.

Jan was an adjunct professor in the graphic design department at The University of the Arts, Philadelphia (formerly the Philadelphia College of Art) for 35 years. Many of the courses Jan taught involved the development of experimental curricula.

Jan studied at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, holds a BFA with honors in graphic design and photography from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), and an MJ in journalism and communication theory from Temple University, School of Communications and Theater.

Shannon Chong  •  Principal, Lead Designer

Shannon Chong is a designer from New Jersey. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from the University of the Arts in 2016. That same year, she received the Armin Hofmann Award for Excellence in Graphic Design, and won a citation award for her senior degree project, Can You Look At This?

Shannon’s approach to design is grounded in analyzing and developing ideas that communicate clearly. She enjoys diving deep into communication problems, which enables her to design the best solution for each project.

JP Bender  •  Principal, Lead Designer

New Jersey native JP Bender graduated from the graphic design program at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts with high honors in the spring of 2019. He was awarded a citation for distinction in the conception and execution of his senior degree project, Painting the Corners: The Art of Pitching, and received the CRW Award for Excellence in Typography. During his senior year, he worked as an intern under former UArts faculty member Joel Katz, where he helped create a five-weight, 197 character typeface. Alongside his work at AAJdesign, JP has been called upon to teach sophomores at the University of the Arts.

When JP isn’t working on design projects, he’s normally catching up on a pretty large backlog of albums and movies he’s been meaning to look into, or sitting comfortably in the second deck of various baseball stadiums.

Keith Watanabe  •  Senior Designer

Keith earned an AB with honors from The University of Chicago in 1984, majoring in Art and Design, and an MFA from the University of Iowa in 1988, studying Painting and Drawing. Keith graduated with honors in 2002 from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, with a BFA in Graphic Design. He ranked number one in his class and was the Student Speaker at Commencement. Keith was the recipient of the Presidential Scholarship, the Armin Hoffman Award for Excellence in Graphic Design, the Liberal Arts Award in Writing, and the Degree Project Citation. While pursuing his studies, he worked as an intern at Allemann Almquist & Jones and Paone Design. Prior to attending the University of the Arts, he was an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania.