Jude Stewart
Chicago, IL
Nonfiction
I have written three books and am currently working on a fourth, a literary nonfiction book about my relationship to speaking German. My first book, ROY G. BIV: An Exceedingly Surprising Book About Color (Bloomsbury, 2013), is available in seven languages. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a rabbit hole of a good read”, Publishers Weekly praised ROY as “visually stimulating and surprising, reminding readers that colors are still as fascinating and fun as they were in grade school.” My second book, Patternalia: An Unconventional History of Polka Dots, Stripes, Plaid, Camouflage, & Other Graphic Patterns (Bloomsbury, 2015) is available in three languages. Quartz found Patternalia “plainly fascinating”; Publishers Weekly called it “a delightful romp…[and] a true treasure”. AIGA Eye on Design praised my “exceptional authorial ability” and found Patternalia “both cohesive and wildly exciting”. My third book, Revelations in Air: A Guidebook to Smell (Penguin Books, 2021), is available in two languages. Publishers Weekly called it “an impassioned exploration of smell…packed with vibrant energy”. LitHub noted: “Revelations in Air manages to feel both breezy and substantial, exciting and informative—like an expertly guided tour of scents.”
My work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, The Paris Review, Fast Company, The Atlantic, Slate, Quartz,The Believer, Cabinet, and Design Observer among others. I’ve also served as a contributing editor to PRINT, America’s longest-running graphic design magazine, a regular contributor to AIGA Eye on Design and Fast Company’s Co.Design and a columnist for STEP Inside Design Magazine.
I also run Stewart + Company, a creative agency specializing in content strategy and development. Current and previous clients include AARP, Battery Ventures, Bitly, Carbon Title, Clover POS, Dev Bootcamp, Gagen MacDonald, Hum Capital, Juniper Square, Leif Financial, Lending Club, Lucid Lane, Mirador Financial, Munich Re Ventures, M13, Orchard Platform, Serent Capital, TradeKing and Uphold.
I divide my time between Chicago and Berlin, Germany.