Juan Carlos Pagán is a New York–based multidisciplinary artist, designer, and creative director whose practice investigates the interplay of form, memory, and cultural permanence. Working across identity, typography, image-making, publishing, and public commissions, he explores how visual language shapes the ways meaning is created, remembered, and sustained over time.
Across more than two decades, Pagán has created work that has become part of both commercial and cultural life. His work includes the original Pinterest identity and custom logotype; editorial artwork for The New York Times, including 50 Years of Pride and How to Fix America; Canal, a self-published magazine rooted in the culture of New York’s Canal Street and conceived as a platform for experimentation across design, art, and emerging technology; and the United States Postal Service stamp commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, for which he created the design and typography.
In 2017, Pagán co-founded Sunday Afternoon, a New York–based design studio and artist management agency working across identity, typography, image-making, and culture. The studio was named PRINT Magazine’s Design Agency of the Year in 2022 and to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies in 2020. Previously, Pagán held creative leadership roles at DDB, Deutsch, MTV, and 72andSunny.
His work has been recognized by the Type Directors Club, Art Directors Club, The One Show, Communication Arts, Cannes Lions, Clios, AICP, D&AD, and PRINT, among others. He is a recipient of the Art Directors Club Young Guns Award and the Type Directors Club Ascenders Award, and was named #1 on Adweek’s Talent 100. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Type Directors Club.
Pagán regularly lectures, speaks, at universities, cultural institutions, and international design conferences. He holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design and completed postgraduate studies in typeface design at The Cooper Union’s Type@Cooper program.
Representation: Sunday Afternoon
For inquiries, contact: audrie@sundayafternoon.us
Personal email: Carlos@jcpagan.com
AIGA Design Conference, Main Stage, 2023
Dallas Society of Visual Communications, 2023
University of Oregon, Guest lecturer, 2023
School of Visual Arts, Guest lecturer, 2020
Published in: Mastering Type, The Essential Guide to Typography for Print and Web Design, 2011