John Rieben received his initial design instruction at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After military service, he entered graduate studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, under Professor George Sadek. He spent his final year in Europe interreacting with many of the Swiss School members and completed his MFA in Graphic Design.

He joined Container Corporation of America where he became Manager of Design and, later, joined UNIMARK International where he was Director of Design, both in Johannesburg, South Africa and Denver, Colorado. 

He became Design Director and later, Director of Communications for Raychem Corporation, Menlo Park, California, and Louvain, Belgium. He returned to Chicago with Mobium/RR Donnelley, as Executive Vice-President and Creative Director.

Rieben entered private practice as a design consultant for Upjohn Pharmaceutics, Dow Chemicals, Prince Corporation, and Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

He entered academia at the Department of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and, after eighteen years, retired as Emeritus Professor.

Rieben’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Denver Art Museum, Milwaukee Museum of Art. Vignelli Center, Rochester Institute of Technology, and is included in many design periodicals, annuals and  news magazines, as well as corporate identification, typography, trademarks, and marketing publications.

2021