Studio Ostendo operates in multiple creative fields including photography, design, and education.
At Studio Ostendo, we maintain that images shape culture—we make the complex clear, the old new, the formless real, and the aesthetic prevalent. Through strategic thinking, sophisticated form making, and critical engagement, our transverse approach of both physical and digital methods enables us to create successful visual and brand identities, books and editorials, environmental and wayfinding graphics, and communication programs.
Kaleb Dean designs brand identities that impact culture and build value. Kaleb's work focuses on the power of identity, through which typographic explorations, executions, and formal maneuvers elevate the entity being brought into the world. This notion is optimistic and experiential: thoughtful and thorough design can lead to rich, diverse, and meaningful life experiences.
Prior to Studio Ostendo, Kaleb taught Typography, Interaction Design, and all levels of graphic design at Trinity Christian College for six years—many of his students going on to find success in Master's, and world-renowned agencies. Earlier still, Kaleb designed briefs at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Innovation for clients like BMW and Caterpillar.
Kaleb's work has been globally recognized by the likes of The Webbys, The Society of Typographic Arts, and Typeforce, among other awarding organizations. Work designed by Kaleb has been added to the permanent collection of UIC's School of Design, Trinity Christian College, and GoodType. Kaleb holds an MDes in Graphic Design from The School of Design at UIC, and BA in Studio Art from Trinity Christian College.
Kaleb's work in design began in the grassroots of a rural neighborhood in Nampa, Idaho. Surrounded by an environment void of quality design, Kaleb observed cultural tensions in the area, graffiti-writing, and desperate cries of a town to be known. These life-experiences, among others including moving to Chicago for 11 years, all pointed Kaleb to a life in graphic design focused on building community, visual identity, and giving voice to the voiceless.