COLLINS’ Masters Series

Our work at COLLINS is deeply informed by design and art history—by the revolutions and refinements that shaped the world we now create within.

But in design, some of the most transformative voices are often the least preserved. The COLLINS Master’s Series exists to change that. Through short documentary films, we capture the thinking of the remarkable people who redefined visual culture—not only to honor their work, but to ensure the next generation inherits their perspectives.

The Philosophy

Visual culture advances through individual breakthroughs—moments when a designer's way of seeing fundamentally shifts how others understand their medium. These insights develop through decades of disciplined practice and willingness to challenge conventional approaches. The Master's Series captures these philosophical foundations before they're lost, documenting the thinking processes that generated breakthrough work. By preserving these conversations while the masters are still available to tell their stories, COLLINS ensures that essential design wisdom remains accessible to future generations facing challenges we can't yet imagine.

The Archive

Seymour Chwast

Co-founder of Push Pin Studios and pioneering illustrator whose work challenged Swiss modernism's dominance in American visual culture. His album covers, magazine illustrations, and posters integrated historical references with contemporary sensibility, creating a distinctly American graphic design language. Chwast demonstrated that design could be both intellectually rigorous and emotionally expressive, influencing generations of designers to embrace personality over pure functionalism.

Deborah Sussman

Environmental graphic designer and protégé of Charles and Ray Eames whose work for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics transformed how the world understood large-scale visual identity. Her bold color systems and typographic treatments turned the entire city into a coherent brand experience. Sussman proved that graphic design could operate at architectural scale, establishing environmental graphics as a legitimate design discipline.

Norm Clasen

The photographer who created the iconic Marlboro Man campaigns and single-handedly invented America's romantic mythology of the cowboy and the West. Before Clasen, the frontier was seen as wild and confrontational; his images transformed it into a landscape of freedom and a singular symbol of American Romanticism. Not since Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis has anyone so dramatically reshaped America's understanding of its own identity and mythology.

Johnetta Boone

Renowned costume designer best known for her work on Yellowstone, whose research-driven approach to Western wear helped define the "westerncore" aesthetic that has influenced contemporary fashion. Her commitment to authenticity and historical accuracy has elevated costume design from mere decoration to cultural storytelling. Boone demonstrates how deep research and collaborative processes can create visual narratives that reshape popular culture's understanding of American identity.