Wibo Bakker (1974) is a Dutch design researcher and educator specializing in design theory & history and information design. Bakker studied graphic design at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem and worked as an identity designer at international design agencies. Later he obtained an MA in Cultural History and a Ph.D. in Art History at Utrecht University. His thesis was dedicated to the development of visual identity, design agencies, and modernism in the Netherlands (1960-1975) and was awarded the Jan van Gelder Prize of the Dutch Society for Art Historians. It was published by 010 Publishers (Rotterdam) in the prestigious Prince Bernhard Fund for Culture ‘Visual Culture in the Netherlands’ series and was translated into Chinese. Before joining Sustech, Bakker worked as Associate Professor Industrial Design at the Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University. Earlier he was program manager for the national innovation program for learning analytics in higher education in the Netherlands. Also, he was affiliated with several Dutch and Belgium art colleges and universities, most notably AKV|St. Joost (Avans University of Applied Sciences) in Breda where he carried out research in pictogram history and the future of financial information design.
Selected Output
Wibo Bakker (2021). Railway rules: Image content origins of wayfinding pictograms from the 1960s and 1970s, Visible Language, 55(2), 4-27.
Wibo Bakker (2018). Laying Bare the Bones: Aicher's Sport Signs and Information Pictograms for the Munich'72 Olympics, conference paper presented at the IIID Vision Plus Conference, Mexico City, 29-31 October 2018.
Wibo Bakker (2015). Pictopolitics: Icograda and the international development of pictogram standards: 1963-1986, in: Jorge Frascara ed., Information Design as Principled Action: Making Information Accessible, Relevant, Understandable and Usable, Common Ground Publishing, Champaign, 114-145.
Wibo Bakker (2015). II faut suivre la mode typographique!: de Bifur en de Franse letter van de toekomst, in: Kristof van Gansen ed., Arts et Métiers Graphiques: Kunst en grafische cormgeving in het interbellum, Petters, Leuven, 20-29.
Wibo Bakker (2014). 设计梦与路：荷兰视觉识别的黄金时代1960-1975，人民邮电出版社，北京，中国.
Wibo Bakker (2011). Droom van Helderheid: Huisstijlen, modernisme en ontwerpbureaus in Nederland: 1960-1975, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam.
Wibo Bakker (2010). De toekomst van de documentaire bedrijfsfotografie [The future of documentary corporate photography] in: Bart Sorgedrager and Flip Bool ed., Fotografie & Industrie, Avans University of Applied Science, 1-14.
