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We create design that makes a difference for individuals, organizations, and society.

For more than thirty years, the design team at Allemann Almquist & Jones has been at the forefront of the East Coast design community. Now known simply as AAJdesign, through branding and strategic communications, we enable large companies, start-ups, and prominent nonprofit organizations to connect to their audiences with clarity.

services

strategy

insight
brand positioning
naming

brand identity

design
visual systems
brand guidelines
deployment

brand experience

web/mobile
print
environmental
motion

stakeholder communications

financial reporting
investor communication
annual reports
sustainability reports
capability reports

our team

The team at AAJdesign is a core of diverse talent that support our efforts to communicate the client's message unequivocally while satisfying the visual appetite. As projects present themselves, depending on scope, we collaborate with the finest strategists, writers, coders, photographers, and art makers. It affords us the opportunity to work on large multi-dimensional projects in an efficient and quality-driven manner.

Jan C. Almquist    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.

  jan@aajdesign.com

Shannon Chong    Senior 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.

  shannon@aajdesign.com

JP Bender    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.

  jp@aajdesign.com

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.

  keith@aajdesign.com

Return to team overview

our legacy

In 1984, Hans-U. Allemann, Jan C. Almquist and Dana J. Jones formed Allemann Almquist and Jones (now AAJdesign), a multidisciplinary design and strategic communications firm. Their vision was to make work that rises above the clutter, engages audiences, and accurately and effectively solves problems on behalf of their clients. Over the years, they have become one of the East Coast’s leading design firms, garnering awards from virtually every professional organization. In addition, many articles have been published on the firm, and their work is in the collections of major museums and archives.

selected books and publications (awards)

AIGA (National) Graphic Design USA
AIGA Philadelphia Chapter
AR 100
Financial World Magazine
Graphic Design Magazine
Graphic Design: America 2
Graphis
Graphis Posters
ID Magazine
Macintosh Handbooks for Designers
Novum: World of Graphic Design
NY Art Directors Club Annual
Output Magazine, Germany
Philadelphia Art Directors Club Annual
Philadelphia Design Awards
Print Casebooks
Print Magazine
Print Computer Art and Design Annual
Typographics 1, (Duncan Baird Publishers)
Typographics 2
Typographics 5: Graphic Fusion, Magazine Design
Big Type
Typos Magazine, London
Who’s Who in Graphic Design

selected articles

Graphis Branding USA 4, 2011
Graphis Designers USA 3, 2009
Graphis Designer USA 2, 2008

Hot Graphics USA
Madison Square Press,
2003

Novum: World of Graphic Design
Allemann Almquist & Jones

World of Graphic Design, 2002
Showroom: Allemann Almquist & Jones

Graphic Design: America 2
Rockport Publishers, 1997

Typographische Monatsblatter #1, 1986
“Photographic Concepts,
10 Photographic Collages," 1986

permanent collections

The Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.

Vignelli Center for Design Studies Archive
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) New York

Swiss Graphic Design Foundation
Swiss National Museum
Switzerland

Brno Museum
Brno, Czech Republic

JP Morgan
New York, NY