We are the design firm that does more than design. Our work includes conceptualization, writing, and production for identities, magazines, catalogs, sign programs, and capital campaigns; we are creating print ads, writing magazine articles, developing and marketing educational materials, and making fine art.

Firm principal Ellen Shapiro, graphic designer and writer, is a graduate of UCLA’s College of Fine Arts. She was art director for the UCLA Alumni and Development Center before coming to New York to assist design legend Herb Lubalin at Lubalin, Smith, Carnase Inc., the world’s most celebrated typo-graphics agency.

After its founding in 1978, her New York City firm, Shapiro Design Associates Inc., became one of the most respected design offices in the U.S. After more than 20 years in Manhattan, we are now Visual Language LLC, based in the picturesque ‘Rivertowns’ area of Westchester County, New York.