Meet Elise Thomason ’00: SIGD Advisory Council Member

Over her career as an award-winning commercial illustrator, designer and artist based in Atlanta, she has worked for a remarkable variety of widely differing clients—from Coca-Cola and Volkswagen to the U.S. Virgin Islands and rapper Andre 3000 of Outkast.

Thomason began her career in Atlanta at the brand design firm Iconologic (now Copeland Design), where she created the look of the Games and Sport pictograms for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Two of her posters for those Games are now in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

She currently runs her own firm, EliseThomason.com, where her work has been showcased in the AIGA Design Archives, Applied Arts and Design Work Life, as well as featured on the covers of Communication Arts and Auburn Magazine.

“My career as a designer and commercial illustrator,” she said, explaining how she uses her flexible approach as inspiration, “has shaped my core belief that external forces such as client input and time constraints can be channeled and utilized—rather than resisted—to help yield beautiful and idiosyncratic work.”

More recently, Thomason has integrated more fine art endeavors into her practice. In 2021, she founded the Elise Thomason Print Studio, an online gallery of fine art featuring objects, plants and animal subjects that “helps people use art to tell their life stories.” The following year, she began to paint regularly as a way of exploring other creative outlets.

As a member of the Advisory Council, Thomason said she seeks to bring the same flexibility she has embraced throughout her career back to her alma mater.

“My hope is to facilitate new connections between the strength and talents of the members with the growth areas for the SIGD.”