Emily Oberman

Emily Oberman is a New York-based multidisciplinary designer and a partner at design studio Pentagram. Formerly, Oberman was a co-founder of design studio Number Seventeen and a designer at Tibor Kalman's studio M & Co..

Oberman grew up in Yonkers, New York and studied at Cooper Union. She began her career working with Tibor Kalman at his studio M & Co., where from 1987 to 1993 she collaborated with Kalman to create work for Knoll, Wieden & Kennedy, new wave group Talking Heads and the Benetton-sponsored Colors magazine.

In 1993, she founded design studio Number Seventeen with Bonnie Siegler. Number Seventeen specialized in graphics for print, film, and television media, with clients including Saturday Night Live, NBC Universal, Herman Miller, and Jane Magazine. For NBC Universal, the studio created logos for TV series 30 Rock, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Saturday Night Live. The studio also created the opening title sequence for TV series Will and Grace. Other media work included the identity, promotion and launch advertising for radio network Air America and the creation of Lucky magazine for Condé Nast. Oberman's book design work has included projects for the Type Directors Club, HBO’s Sex and the City, Glamour magazine, and the deluxe illustrated edition of Stephen Dubner’s Superfreakonomics.

In 2006, Oberman was one of the co-founders and creative directors of the website and daily bulletin Very Short List.

In 2012, Number Seventeen closed it doors and Oberman joined Pentagram’s New York office as partner in April 2012. Later that year, she worked alongside Naz Sahin to redesign the website for radio show This American Life.

In 2016, Oberman helmed the redesign of a new logo for American comics publisher DC Comics.

Oberman's work has been recognized by the AIGA, the Type Directors Club, and the Art Directors Club. In 2004, she was awarded the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Award for distinguished alumni from her alma mater Cooper Union. She has served on the national board of AIGA and as president of its New York chapter. While on the AIGA board she was responsible for two national conferences on design for television, DFTV.001 and DFTV.002.

Oberman has taught at the Cooper Union, the Yale University School of Art, and Parsons The New School for Design. Currently, she teaches at the School of Visual Arts.

Emily Oberman is married to designer Paul Sahre.