Christa May

Christa is the Summer 2024 Graduate Fellow for the Public Design Commission. The fundamental principles that drive her two-decade-long design practice is the mission to put design into conversations earlier and make objects and information more accessible, in order to create more socially just and ecologically sound systems. She holds undergraduate degrees from The University of Oklahoma in Visual Communications and Art History, a graduate degree from Pratt Institute in Arts and Cultural Management, and is currently attending the School of Visual Arts for a graduate degree in Design Research, Writing and Criticism.

Christa recently finished a 5-year tenure working on visual design and design education projects for Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and a concurrent 1.5 years on the founding team of the nascent Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. Fellowships include 'Design Justice as Practice' at the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) in 2022-2023, NPR’s ‘How I Built This’ Summit' fellowship in 2018, and the NYC Public Design Commission in 2024. She currently helps manage and write about design for the People’s Graphic Design Archive. Christa also paints and one of her paintings may be viewed at the Smithsonian Staff Show at the Ripley Center on the National Mall until March 21, 2025.