Kevin Budelmann is interested in design theory and practice in the context of business, technology, and society.

Kevin is co-founder and president of Peopledesign, a strategic design firm in Michigan. He has worked with a wide variety of businesses, education, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and consumer products, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. 


Kevin is a co-author of the book "Brand Identity Essentials," with Yang Kim. First published in 2010, the first edition has been translated into six languages. A revised and expanded version was published in 2019.

Kevin teaches classes and speaks on design, brand, and innovation. He is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University and has taught classes at IIT Institute of Design in Chicago and Aquinas College. He has given talks and facilitated workshops for various clients, business clubs, colleges, and industry groups including the University of Michigan, AIGA, PRSA, AMA, SEGD, UCDA, PDMA, ADC, and others.

Kevin is the Global Vice President of IxDA (the Interaction Design Association), and previously served as president of APDF (The Association of Professional Design Firms), and AIGA West Michigan, which he helped establish. He has served on advisory boards for various design and innovation groups.

Kevin has a Master of Design Methods from the IIT Institute of Design and attended executive education classes at the Harvard Business School. As an undergraduate, Kevin studied design at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was among the winners of an international design competition sponsored by Apple, and the School for Design in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Yang Kim changes minds. Our Creative Director, she is our top visual communicator, always able to find fresh, startling ways of seeing and showing. Her ability to understand and interpret the needs and desires of our clients saves us all time and consistently brings home our bacon, jump-starts our engines, without ever resorting to a single cliche. As a student at Carnegie Mellon University and consistently throughout her career, Kim’s work has been recognized by her peers for its clarity, distinctiveness, humanity, and charm. Her no-nonsense style, her wit, and her devotion to her work have earned her long-standing relationships with clients whose businesses have grown to rely on her influence. With a long list of design awards and publications to her name, Kim has made her mark on contemporary graphic design, now serving as lecturer and judge to the world’s most prestigious graphic arts organizations and schools. Her broad experience includes designing everything from identity systems and complex corporate product literature programs to kicky little cocktail napkins. Among her favorite and most demanding clients and projects now are son Bruno, daughters Toki and Lulu, and the home she and Kevin make for them.

Curt Wozniak is a writer with a percussionist's sense of rhythm, an animal lover's sensitivity, and a craftsperson's work ethic. He values clarity in his work, perhaps because as the parents of young twins, he and his wife find it scarce at home. They live in Michigan with their dog, Sugar, and their cat, Ben.