Eddie Opara was born in London. After studying graphic design at the London College of Printing and Yale University, he began his career at ATG and Imaginary Forces. He was a senior designer-art director at 2×4 before establishing his studio, The Map Office.
He joined Pentagram’s New York office as a partner in 2010. His projects have included the design of brand identity, publications, packaging, environments, exhibitions, interactive installations, websites, user interfaces and software, with many of his projects ranging across multiple media. His past clients include Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Nike, Grace Farms, the Corcoran Group, Morgan Stanley, New York University, SHoP Architects, buroOS, David Adjaye Associates and Princeton Architectural Press.
His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and has appeared in publications such as Wired, Fast Company, Creative Review, Archis, Surface and Graphis. Opara is also a senior critic at the Yale University School of Art and has recently authored a book, Color Works, published by Rockport. He was named one of Adweek Creative 100 in 2018, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2012 and 2014, and was featured in Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 list.