Multiple 2D Design Alumni 2025 Society of Typographic Arts (STA) 100 Winners

Mike Michalski’s winning entry for the 2025 STA 100.

Recent Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni Mike Michalski (MFA 2D Design 2025), Chris Baker (MFA 2D Design 2023), and Ed Ryan (MFA 2D Design 2022) have been named winners in the Society of Typographic Arts 2025 STA 100, an international competition that recognizes typographic excellence across disciplines.

Celebrating its 45th year, the STA 100 honors the top 100 works of typographic design produced worldwide between May 2024 and May 2025.

Michalski’s winning entry—a deeply personal and formally rigorous book—emerged from his two years in the 2D Design (Graphic Design) department at the Academy. The publication serves as both archive and artifact, featuring his full master’s statement, original typographic systems, process documentation, and critical writing. Blending theory with emotion, and identity with form, the book captures the intellectual and creative evolution of a designer shaped by research, reflection, and legacy.

Baker and Ryan’s winning entry as IRIS, their collaborative practice, is the identity, brand, and website for Mouse Gallery and the second edition of Fountainswimming, Cranbrook Academy of Art’s student journal. Mouse Gallery’s branding features a ‘mouse-hole’ inspired pattern, typography-forward announcements, and a monthly rotating color system to match the gallery’s exhibition schedule.

Learn more:

Mike Michalski, As Hard As It Is For Me I Know That It’s Harder for You – STA 100

IRIS (Chris Baker, Ed Ryan), Mouse Gallery Brand System – STA 100

IRIS (Chris Baker, Ed Ryan), Fountainswimming 2, Residue – STA 100

Graphic Design at Cranbrook Academy of Art