Jennifer Bernstein
Associate Professor Jennifer Bernstein has been a practicing designer and educator for over twenty years. Prior to joining Rutgers, she taught extensively at all levels of undergraduate and graduate design education, including twelve years at The University of the Arts, and four years in the MFA program at Pratt Institute. In 2014 she joined the Graphic Design program at Rutgers University-Newark, where she leads the motion and interactive design curriculum. At Rutgers, Jennifer is also Co-Director of Visual Means and the Design Consortium, two resident partners at Express Newark who focus on collaborative engagement through design education.
Jennifer is also the Principal and Creative Director of her own NYC-based firm, Level Group, that specializes in branding and design across media. Since 1998, Level has worked for such clients as Deutsche Bank, The Smithsonian, P.S.1/ MoMA, and MetLife. Prior to founding the firm, Jennifer designed title sequences for feature films including Fargo, Girl 6, and The First Wives Club. Her work has been recognized with awards from Graphis, Core 77, Print Magazine, GOOD Design, Communication Arts, GD USA, Creativity International, and the University College & Designers Association, and has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. She has also been an invited speaker at the AIGA/American Institute of Graphic Arts National Design Conference, and the MODE Motion Design Summit. Jennifer is a contributing author of The Theory and Practice of Motion Design: Critical Perspectives and Professional Practice (R. Brian Stone, Leah Wahlin editors, Routledge) which includes her essay “Re-framing Design: Engaging Form, Meaning and Media” (R. Brian Stone, Leah Wahlin editors, Routledge).
Jennifer earned a B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University, and an M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the Yale School of Art.
