Artist Profile: Coco Masuda

For almost 2 decades, Coco Masuda has been busy creating illustration for wide range of clients. Because of her background as a graphic designer, she comes up with unique solution for each and different project. Poster is her favorite medium to show her mastery in both illustration and design such as “Hawaii” poster for United Airlines, and “Come to Java” poster for Starbucks. Her conceptual side contributes to the leading publications and publishers: In 1992, her work appeared on the covers of Time, Newsweek and U.S.News &World Report in a two-week period. In 1994, Fortune magazine chose Coco to illustrate their first illustrated cover after decades of using photography. More recently, her illustration made regular appearance in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Her book cover clients includes Cronicle Books, Simon & Schuster, Random House and Penguin Group. National and international institutions trust Coco’s ability to understand current social and political climate, and capture different races: United Nations chose her to create a poster for their historical event, “The Women’s Conference in Beijing” in 1995, and again its 10th anniversary conference in New York. Since 2001, Coco has been working with U.S. Courts’ outreach division, and has created over 12 posters and counting. Yet, with her background growing up in Japan where decorative art is taken seriously, making illustrations beautiful is important for Coco. She was a part of the famous advertising campaign for Levi’s, and designer bottle series for Perrier. She created holiday shopping bags for Estèe Lauder, a series of Posters for Marchall Fields, and promotional materials for Starbucks and Target. Coco Masuda graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City. She lives and works in Tribeca, New York with her husband and a daughter.