Katie Evans

My name is Katie Leigh Evans (she/they) and I am a Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at the University of Brighton. I create learning environments that support students to grow as visual communicators, critical thinkers, and conscious citizens. I bring professional experience from co-founding Open Practice and from working as a Graphic Designer at Fraser Muggeridge studio and Studio 3015. A key part of my role is connecting students with professional practice through guest lectures, studio visits, and collaborative briefs.

I see the integration of design theory and practice as a meaningful way of understanding complex contexts – encouraging students to approach reading and writing not as separate academic tasks, but as creative, reflective, and investigative tools that can inform and challenge their design work. In my own practice, writing and editing help me to formalise ideas and make connections, and I have written articles for TypeOne, Eye Magazine, and Design Observer. 

In the Level 4 module I lead, Media, Messages and Meaning in Graphic Design, students explore the role of graphic design within contemporary social and political contexts through a series of briefs. Participants create site-specific interventions, campaigns, editorial spreads, written statements, and video reels, unpacking both global and local issues – from the environmental impact of AI to campaigns such as Brighton Living Wage, Surfers Against Sewage, and Sussex Surplus.

My teaching is rooted in student-centred pedagogy and intersectional feminism, drawing on Professor Mike Neary and Gary Saunders’ Student as Producer, bell hooks’ notion of engaged pedagogy and Ramia Mazé and Sara Ahmed’s critical citation practices. In 2025, I was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice and a Fellowship of Advance HE.