If you’ve found it easy to get around the new Guthrie Theater or find something inexplicably appealing about a Buffalo Wild Wings menu (beyond the food itself, that is), you have long-time Minneapolis graphic designer Tim Larsen to thank.
In February, the Minnesota chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts honored Larsen with the AIGA Fellow Award. This was just the second time in eight years that the chapter has recognized a design leader for contributions to the design community.
Larsen says that he first discovered his love for lettering and design in 1962, when he began hanging letters on the marquee at his father’s theater in Bismarck, North Dakota. After college, he worked in Minneapolis for the Design Center (now based in St. Paul). In 1975, at age 27, he opened his own firm, now known simply as Larsen.
The agency differentiates its clients from their competition by creating “timeless design work that acknowledges and uses trends,” Larsen says. To that end, he urges his staff to constantly seek out new inspiration. “Our clients come to us for more than design—they come for thinking and ideas. We achieve these ideas by actively looking for trends as we travel the world, attend classic and pop culture events, read, and surf the Web.”
Larsen’s early work for Control Data, Honeywell, and 3M eventually helped him become a major force in the branding of high-tech firms; one of his agency’s largest client is California-based semiconductor giant Applied Materials. Other clients include HealthPartners, Piper Jaffray Companies, and Wausau Paper in Wisconsin.
“You work for people, not companies,” he says. “When the company breaks up, you follow the people wherever they go and work with them again.” Ten years ago, a client who was transferred to California requested local service from Larsen—soon after, the firm opened a branch in Silicon Valley. That office primarily serves clients in California and Arizona.
In the past two decades, Larsen’s company has grown from one person to 51, with 41 in Minneapolis and 10 in California. Currently, 70 percent of the firm’s workload is handled through its Minneapolis office—half Twin Cities clients, half from outstate Minnesota and other states—and the remaining 30 percent is done in the California office.
