From Romania to Lippincott: The Art of Earning Trust
Bogdan Geana-Park (AAC: Graphic Design ’04) doesn’t talk about his career with swagger, he’s used to making others shine. There’s no conquest in his voice, no need to rattle off client lists or industry accolades. If anything, he seems quietly delighted to have ended up here at all—at the top of the branding world—with his sleeves still rolled up.
There’s a kind of magic to the way he speaks, Romanian accent softened by twenty-plus years in the U.S., his tone more grateful than boastful. What animates him isn’t success, but the people who gave him a shot. “I still remember everyone at the Art Academy admissions office,” he says, beaming. “They picked me up from the airport. Took me grocery shopping. Made sure I felt like I belonged. That shaped everything.”
That warmth—gracious, grounded, undramatically sincere—runs through everything Geana-Park shares. Now a Partner at Lippincott, one of the most respected brand consultancies in the world, he’s helped lead identity work for Starbucks, PBS, eBay, Lincoln Financial, and others. But he recounts his journey not as a climb, but a series of hard-earned opportunities, fueled by curiosity, commitment, and the quiet discipline of being ready when the door opens.
“Design, to me, is an honor,” he says. “When a company entrusts you with how they show up in the world—that’s a privilege I don’t take lightly.”
From Romania to the Roebling Bridge
Before he arrived at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Geana-Park studied monumental public art in Romania—murals, sculptures, work that spoke to the masses. A summer study program in Florence cracked things wide open: “I met students from all over the world, thinking about art in ways I had never considered,” he remembers. “That trip lit the fuse.”
With no blueprint for applying to U.S. art colleges, he taught himself. Built a website to house his portfolio. Navigated the college application process through intuition and pure willpower. “I didn’t have time to ship my portfolio overseas. I barely understood the American college system,” he laughs. “I just knew I had to be where the art world was—and that meant figuring it out.”
What stood out about the Art Academy, he says, was its humanity. “So many schools passed me from one office to another. At the Art Academy, I knew exactly who to talk to. Joe Fisher picked me up from the airport. The next day we had Thai food—my first time—and it felt like I was eating with family.”
Finding the Work That Fit
Though he started as a painting major, Geana-Park soon gravitated toward communication arts. Professors like Jane Merks and Mark Thomas encouraged his cross-disciplinary instincts, and he built a toolkit that blended graphic design, illustration, and sculpture—one that made him versatile, nimble, and distinctive.
A pivotal internship at Landor Associates in Cincinnati opened his eyes to branding. “There was something about the systems thinking, the discipline of it. Every letterform, every grid—it all mattered. That precision hooked me.”
By the time he graduated, he’d landed a full-time role at Landor’s New York office. His first assignments? LG. The NFL. Super Bowl XL.
“I remember my creative director saying, ‘You realize you’re in New York designing the Super Bowl, right?’ That moment stuck with me. I knew I had worked hard. But it still felt surreal.”
Where the Siren Leads
If you’ve ordered a latte in the last 15 years, you’ve seen Geana-Park’s work—without ever knowing it. He was a core part of the team that refined the Starbucks logo, removing the type, redrawing the siren, and giving her center stage.
“Before, she was a loose illustration,” he says. “We had to redraw her with incredible precision. She had to carry the brand.”
His fine arts foundation—drawing, painting, sculpture—made him uniquely suited to the task. And yet, for Geana-Park, the logo is just the tip of the iceberg.
“People see one symbol. But what we build is a living system—personality, behavior, design across every platform. And we stay with it, through the full rollout—retail, digital, internal teams. It’s architecture and orchestration.”
A Brand is a Feeling
Geana-Park also led the exhibition Like Me: Our Bond With Brands at the Condé Nast Gallery in New York, merging installation art with brand identity. “It was a chance to ask: what do brands make us feel? And why?”
That question still drives his work. “Everything we experience is touched by brands. They’re shaped by culture, and they shape culture in return. It’s a conversation.”
He’s also quick to say that good design doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens through clear communication, humility, and a commitment to serving others. “We’re not designing for ourselves,” he says. “We’re designing for the people they serve.”
Full Circle
Today, he’s focused on mentoring the next generation of designers at Lippincott, just as he was mentored along the way. “I hope my team would say I lead with passion and compassion,” he says. “High standards, yes—but also empathy.”
Married to a fashion designer and raising two children, Geana-Park still sketches by hand. Still looks up from his screens to the trees outside. Still remembers how it felt to land in Cincinnati with a suitcase and a scholarship and a dream.
If he could tell today’s Art Academy students anything, it would be this:
“Be curious. Be proactive. Be brave. This place gives you something rare—the freedom to explore—and you’ll be surprised by what you can do when you step into that.”
Bogdan Geana-Park is creative Director and Partner at Lippincott (NYC) If you are an Art Academy alumni share your news to marketing@artacademy.edu. We would love to hear what you are up to these days!
