what COMA is an independent, Amsterdam | New York-based design studio. With strong roots in editorial design, we work as visual storytellers for cultural and commercial clients who value the power of design. The results are books, magazines, identities, environments, and websites. Our work combines Swiss precision and Dutch directness with American pop culture. 

who Cornelia Blatter studied Fine Arts at the HDK in Zurich and at Yale University School of Art. Marcel Hermans studied Graphic Design at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. In 1996, the Swiss-Dutch-American duo set up COMA and began working as a team in Amsterdam and New York.

collaboration Our projects involve collaborations with a host of bright minds: writers, editors, publishers, photographers, artists, architects, curators, critics, entrepreneurs, distributors, programmers, printers, producers, and many more. We have worked with a vast range of institutions, organizations, companies, and individuals on monographs, exhibitions, visual identities, catalogs, stamps, magazines, and much more.

awards & collections Our designs have received multiple AIGA 50 books/50 covers in the USA and Best Dutch Book Designs awards in the Netherlands and have been nominated for both the Rotterdam and Swiss Design Prize. Some of our work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

teaching Besides running our design office, we were critics at Yale University for many years and lectured across Europe and the U.S. We also organize design intensives for international students, most recently with Boston University. Our programs of workshops, projects, lectures, and studio and museum visits introduce participants to new ways of design thinking, broadening their understanding of what design can be.

clients We have had the privilege of working with a variety of clients in the cultural and commercial fields in both Europe and the U.S. Our clients include Vitra Switzerland, Gagosian Gallery, Guggenheim Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, Gregory R. Miller & Co., Cooper Hewitt, Stedelijk Museum and Valiz publisher in Amsterdam, and artists like Peter Halley, Richard Prince, Marilyn Minter, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Amy Sillman, Bernard Tschumi, and Kara Walker.

words “Funky display mingles with structured layouts, reflecting COMA’s enjoyment of American pop culture alongside Northern Europe’s more rational design ethos … These designers think like architects and filmmakers as well as graphic designers, bringing a sense of time and a concern for program to the printed page.”
—Ellen Lupton, curator, educator, and author of numerous books and articles on design.