Mike Monteiro est le co-fondateur et directeur design de Mule Design, une petite agence de design interactif dont le travail a été qualifié de « délicieusement hostile » par le New Yorker. Il préfère des sites élégants et simples dotés d’un langage clair et dédiés à un véritable besoin. Il préfère les designers avec une solide colonne vertébrale. Ses clients récents incluent la Open Society Foundations, ProPublica, All Things D, eNotes, et Mint.com. Mike blogue fréquemment sur le design, d’un point de vue métier et business. Début 2011, il donna une session à CreativeMornings intitulée « F— You, Pay Me » qui refit décoller l’esprit d’un monde piétiné, et on l’entend chaque semaine dans le podcast Let’s Make Mistakes avec Katie Gillum. Aucun des mots qu’il a inventés n’est utilisable sur un site web orienté famille.
You are directly responsible for what you put into the world. Yet every day designers all over the world work on projects without giving any thought or consideration to the impact that work has on the world around them. This needs to change. Some say the clothes make the man. Others say it’s opinions. Co-founder of Mule, Mike likes to have a bet both ways. His 2012 book, Design is a Job, was a love letter to hard work, self-awareness, and the importance of a good tailor. Mike cultivates his reputation around being serious about design, human rights, a damn fine joke, and the Phillies. His philosophy of supportive antagonism helps Mule create great internal and external projects. He has given talks about the responsibility of designers in client relationships at conferences such as CreativeMornings, TYPO, and An Event Apart. Mike received his BA in Fine Art from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and his MFA in Graphic Design from University of Texas, Austin.