Print, interactive, linear and non-linear – the medium of the graphic designer and illustrator is as diverse as its audience. Communication is at the core of Visual Communication Design, and there is no shortcut to obtaining the skills and knowledge required of its associated fields of study. It is the communication of complex messages within an integrated whole that is the chief task of the designer and illustrator. As markets and consumers of products and information are no longer held by physical boundaries, global awareness is paramount in the study and practice of design.

AnnMarie LeBlanc is a Professor and Director at Kent State University, School of Visual Communication Design. Joining the Kent State University campus in 2007, LeBlanc has over 20 years of experience in art and design education and practice. She earned her BFA from Louisiana State University, her MA from Purdue University and her MFA from Bowling Green State University. She has taught on the campuses of Indiana University-Purdue University, University of Michigan, and University of Massachusetts in subjects as varied as Graphic Design, Digital Imaging, Web Design, Typography, and Color Theory.

Her work has been published in the journals Computer Artist, Computer Graphics and Computer Graphics World. International exhibitions and competitions which have highlighted her work include among others Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris, France; DIGITALLY 2005, Rome, Italy; Graphite, Dunedin, New Zealand; The Light, Czestochowa, Poland, and Ars...ex Machina, Athens, Greece.

LeBlanc is a member of ACM/SIGGRAPH: Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques, College Art Association, and Mid-America College Art Association. She has presented over 25 lectures and workshops across the continental United States on her own work, digital imaging methods and techniques, and archival digital print processes. She has received awards and grants from SBC/Ameritech, Indiana Arts Commission, and SIGGRAPH.