Rick Landers and Colleen Miller are independent designers working across user experience, brand identity, publication, and editorial design.

Colleen Miller & Rick Landers of Landers Miller Design with their mini dachshund Red Hot Chili Cheese Dog

For 25 years we have partnered and collaborated with design-led brands, individuals, and agencies to create work that we are mutually proud of. We see every project as an opportunity to harness the power of design to help our clients differentiate. Our collaborative approach has resulted in relationships and solutions that have stood the test of time.

Focus

We strive to envision engaging ideas through design that delight, inspire, and connect meaningfully with audiences. Our areas of focus include:

  • Visual Brand Identity
  • Wayfinding and Environmental Activation
  • Editorial Design and Art Direction
  • Communications Systems Design
  • Illustration & Information Design
Infographic illustration showing the cyclical balance of making and learning.
A stack of sketchbooks from 2010 to 2024
Infographic illustrating the balance of work and play.

Craft

We don’t make sh!t to throw at the wall in the hopes of boosting our egos on with social feed ‘likes,’ nor do we deliver quick solutions based directly on momentary trends—but we’re always absorbing and learning from them. Our hope is that when we look back at what we have created today, we are equally proud of it down the line. We strive to create real, tangible work that is produced and delivered at the highest level of execution by consistently placing a balanced emphasis on content, design, and production; resulting in solutions that are grounded in sound rationale  and pragmatic thinking.

What we believe in:

We’re thankful to have the opportunity to constantly learn and to be inspired by new was of thinking through the work that we do, here are a few things we’ve learned along the way and are confident in calling our truths:

  • Listen > Talk
  • There’s always more than one solution
  • Delightful does not mean childish
  • If you’re going to put it out there, make it count
  • Inch marks are not quote marks
  • Simple is hard to do
  • It’s okay to give negative feedback (just be kind)
  • Weens (AKA hotdogs, perro salchicha, weenie dogs, sausage dogs, dackel hunds) rule
Don't forget to have fun print and Yoshitomo Nara dog book ends with books
Infographic illustrating the process of exploring ideas that are both familiar and fresh.
Rick Landers and his trusty circle template

Clients & Collaborators

We are thankful to work across a broad range of sectors and industries. We strive to foster collaborative relationships that share a mutual understanding that content, design, and production should all be treated with an equal level of attention and priority. Some of our previous and ongoing alliances include:

  • Actor’s Equity
  • AIGA
  • Allworth
  • Apollo Global Management
  • Carbone Smolan Agency
  • Chronicle Books
  • Cornell University
  • Dot Dot Dash
  • FINE Design
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Happy Cog
  • Harvard
  • Jefferson University
  • Kidfresh
  • Killian Pacific
  • Pearson
  • Quarto Publishing Group
  • R/GA
  • Rizzoli
  • Rockport
  • School of Visual Arts
  • Taschen
  • Thames & Hudson
  • University of Austin
  • Sequel
  • SpotCo
  • ThinkSo

Partners

Rick Landers

Rick Landers earned his stripes working in print and packaging design studios in Philadelphia. The call of entrepreneurialism led him to earn his MFA in Design at the School of Visual Arts, when upon graduation he teamed with his logical business partner to build Landers Miller Design. Wielding simply his Leuchtturm sketchbook, trusty circle template and .7mm mechanical pencil, and a MacBook Pro, Rick can concept a book, bang out playful illustrations, and even organize a closet with great precision. In his free time Rick is an avid Flyers fan/Rangers heckler, true believer in the Phils and attempts to run a handful of miles each week. Rick revels in the 6 a.m. dog walk with a proper cup of coffee followed by the joyous rigor of morning school prep.

Colleen Miller

At the age of 8, Colleen was introduced to MacPaint on the Macintosh 128k, fell in love with combining words and pixels on happy interfaces, and it has been hard to pry her away since. From print to web to interaction and back around, Colleen has mixed her passions for design, reading, food, travel and sport into a work and study path that has led her through such adventures including a ’90s web design startup, magazine creative direction, a career-shifting MFA in Interaction Design, and a dream-turned-reality to design for the Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel. After her morning cross fit sessions, Colleen is a creative director focused on experience design with Dot Dot Dash an experience innovation agency working across accounts including Nike, AutoNation, Tillamook, and Lululemon to name a few.

Whoot!

We’re not too cool to admit that it feels pretty damn great to be recognized by our peers and for our clients and collaborators who have had the courage to differentiate through design and share in the celebration of being acknowledged and published. Our work has been featured by:

Organizations
  • AIGA
  • Azure
  • Baseline
  • Communication Arts
  • Graphis
  • Print
  • SEGD
  • Webbys
Publications & Exhibits
  • Becoming a Design Entrepreneur Rockport Publishers
  • Becoming a Graphic Designer (4th Ed.) — John Wiley & Sons
  • Design Firms Open for Business — Allworth Press
  • Designlicious — Basheer Graphic Books
  • Image of the Studio— Herb Lubalin Center & Cooper Union
  • Visual Marketing — John Wiley & Sons