Even when Rich Tu was a young child he was appreciative of good design, with an affinity for automobiles. “The first object I recognized as a beautiful piece of art was my dad’s 1977 blue C3 Corvette, a two-seater with rear window louvers,” he notes. “He later sold it and got an ‘86 Nissan 300 ZX, but I think about the Corvette often.”
Tu’s education wasn’t strictly focused on design, and included a variety of coursework. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communication, and later, a master’s degree in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he now teaches.
Rich Tu \\\ Photo: Kareem Black
It is a foundation that can be seen in all aspects of his output today, from graphics to podcast episodes. He is a partner and executive creative director at Sunday Afternoon, an agency that specializes in crafting brand identities and outside-of-the-box campaigns for a range of corporations.
Never content with the status quo, Tu deftly pivots to get ready for what’s next. He is exploring directorial opportunities that will allow him to tell longer stories like music videos, and eventually, a feature. He doesn’t want to limit himself though, and he keeps all possibilities wide open.
Tu is able to stay well grounded, even with a full slate of projects to complete at any given time, and he doesn’t have to shift from professional to routine mode. “I am the same person in work and in my personal life, so I don’t really turn it off and on like that,” he notes. “However, I find that regular exercise and setting goals for myself in the morning help create a structure around how my energy flows throughout the day.”
Today, Rich Tu joins us for Friday Five!
Photo: Rich Tu
1. Physical Media Catalogues
I have a collector’s mentality and enjoy physical media and its ability to capture a moment or a movement in a unique physical form. I love recent books like The Basement Tapes (by VS Press), or the collections of music logos and flier graphics by Masala Noir because of the way they meticulously document subcultures and moments. Also, classics like No Sleep: NYC Nightlife Flyers 1988-1999 (by DJ Stretch Armstrong and Evan Auerbach) or the RAVE FLIERS series (by Copla Press) I find myself constantly revisiting to find inspiration.
Photo: Rich Tu
2. My Reading Room
I recently moved and set up a reading room that also functions as my library. I regularly switch around the books I put on display in order to entice myself to peruse them. This is where I spend the majority of my time when I am home, and I find it very calming and centering. The typographic pieces on the wall are my own, so it all feels intentional.
Photo: Rich Tu
I visit Poster House at least twice a year to get inspired. They have great exhibits and a great staff, and their content ranges from commercial to political to artistic and everything in-between. It’s a fantastic way to spend an hour in New York City.
Photo: Rich Tu
Toy Tokyo is a legendary toy store in the East Village that is a veritable museum of interesting objects and rare collectibles. Their vintage collection serves as a return to tactile with objects that were previously loved, ignored, or under appreciated. Give me weirdness, the weirder and more obscure the better.
Whenever I’m in the neighborhood I stop in and look around to get inspired or pick up a few items. Great people watching too, it truly caters to all folks.
Photo: Rich Tu
SVA is where I got my MFA and I teach there now (which blows my mind). I’ve always found this school to be a special place where the students truly set the tone for their surroundings. The walls are always interesting, their shows feature creative legends, and their faculty is very inspirational. I only teach one night a week, but when I leave the classroom I’m energized by my students. I love seeing fresh problem solving and new creative techniques. It keeps me sharp.
Works by Rich Tu:
Photo: Kareem Black
2026 FIFA WORLD CUP POSTER (2025)
I was commissioned by FIFA and the NYNJ Host Committee to create the 2026 FIFA WORLD CUP POSTER for New York and New Jersey. The poster was inspired by iconic elements from both states including the Statue of Liberty and a patchwork soccer ball that represents the global community coming together.
The poster was rolled out on multiple locations and screens across New York and New Jersey, in addition to a launch event at the Poster House in NYC, where it was added to the permanent collection.
Photo: Alan Hindelman
HUMAN RESPONSE EXHIBIT (2023)
Human Response is an interactive solo exhibit about processing grief in the era of artificial intelligence. It consists of large-scale typographic works, augmented reality, and an animated film. All aspects of the exhibit were part of a complex custom spatial build, including a sensory deprivation viewing box as the gallery centerpiece. Human Response opened in June 2023 at the gallery in 368 in Soho, NYC and ran uninterrupted for 35 days (five weeks).
About the film: In 2022, artist Rich Tu lost his father Ricardo and began processing and documenting his grief through various conversational A.I. platforms, using his father’s obituary as the initial prompt. The film “Human Response” features a curated version of these intimate conversations where A.I. iterates on the his father’s life and is asked a series of questions that touch upon themes of loss, grief, immigration, joy, and catharsis. The otherworldly voice of A.I. was created using a voice avatar, interspersed with actual voicemails from Rich Tu’s father. The on-screen visuals consist of human-generated iconography and more than 170 unique typographic compositions (no A.I. was used in their design or animation).
Photo: Rich Tu
BREAKIN’ ON THE ONE Documentary (2024)
Last year I teamed up with directors JamsBash and ESPN Films on creative direction, title design and graphics package for the documentary Breakin’ on the One on HULU, about the iconic battle between Rocksteady Crew and Dynamic Rockers at Lincoln Center in 1981.
The design of the piece was a historical deepdive into HipHop’s proto era before the kangols and tracksuits we currently associate with the 80’s. A critical part of this project was collaborating with Cornell University’s extensive archive to find era-specific DIY flyers (between the years of 1979 and 1981) that utilized cutouts and letraset to draw design inspiration. This informed the entire look and feel of the piece, in order to give the impression that it was assembled with relics of the era.
Photo: Tim Saccanti and Sunday Afternoon for HOKA
ROCKET X 3 by HOKA (2025)
Sunday Afternoon partnered with global running brand HOKA to launch its latest carbon fiber super shoe. Inspired by ambitious runners chasing their personal best, the Rocket X 3 campaign is set in a future-forward landscape, using dynamic light to signal speed, and efficiency. This close collaboration with the brand includes the full creative direction, strategy, and production up to release. I served as the creative director on this campaign and it was a lot of fun collaborating with so many talented people.
Photo: Rich Tu
CHARIZARD Short Film (2025)
This year I started stepping more behind the camera and directing experimental shorts just for fun. “Charizard” is a visual examination of friendship in which two women have an explosive conversation with a subversive twist.
Photo: Rich Tu
Rich Tu for MINI Collaboration (2022)
Big Love is MINI’s global campaign to influence social change through art. This unique partnership includes a custom illustrated car top that drivers can purchase, with a portion of proceeds going to the American Immigration Council.
This piece is called “Hiraya,” which translates to “fruit of one’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations” in Filipino.
Photo: Rich Tu
MTV VMAs Exhibit (2020)
As a geographical companion to the 2020 VMAs, MTV created a first-of-its-kind public art installation at the Atlantic Avenue terminal at Barclays Center, dedicated to amplifying creative voices from the BIPOC and the LGBTQ communities. The exhibition covered the 500,000+ sq foot space with over 100 individual art placements ranging from turnstiles to massive wall posters.
I had the pleasure of creative directing and curating this exhibition, which featured the work of accomplished artists and friends Amika Cooper, Kervin Brisseaux, Zipeng Zhu, Bronson Farr, Eva Zar, Eugenia Mello, and Jon Key & Wael Morcos Key of MorcosKey.
