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Overview
Carbone Smolan Agency (CSA) began as a satellite office of Montreal-based design firm Gottschalk + Ash International in 1976. In 1977 Carbone met and became business partners with Leslie Smolan, an alumnus of Philadelphia College Art.Ken Carbone and Leslie Smolan bought out their Canadian partners and, in 1985, renamed the company Carbone Smolan Associates. Carbone is creative director; Smolan is director of creative strategy.

Since that time, the company has served many notable corporate and cultural brands in the creation of comprehensive identity and design systems including such organizations as Musée du Louvre, Christie’s, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Morgan Stanley, to Tiffany & Co, the High Museum Atlanta, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Chicago Symphony Orchestra,. In 2010, CSA named design director Paul Pierson as its third partner. In 2014, Ken Carbone and Leslie Smolan were named American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Medalists. CSA will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2016.

Agency History
Carbone attended Philadelphia College Art (now called University of the Arts (Philadelphia)), intending to become professional musician but his academic advisors steered him towards the commercial arts. After college, he traveled extensively in Europe, meeting leading European designers of the day, including Armin Hoffmann and Wolfgang Weingart Returning to the U.S., Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar hired Carbone to his first job. There, Carbone was introduced to the expanded view of "graphic design" beyond its two-dimensional applications through exposure to the range interdisciplinary communication practices such as retail design (now called "customer experience design"), as well as package design and product design. In 1977 Carbone met and became business partners with Leslie Smolan, another alumnus of Philadelphia College Art.

In December 1985, CSA was asked to present credentials for the “Signalétique de Grande Louvre,” the way-finding/signage program the Louvre's new entry-way then being led by I.M. Pei, creator of Louvre Pyramid. Louvre officials awarded the New York-based CSA the signage project October 3, 1986. Working closely with architect Pei, Carbone Smolan's way-finding identification program was launched in 1989. The design system is predicated on the Arrondissements of Paris plan and remains in place today. (See: New York Times 1993, Travel Section, Louvre).

CSA's Louvre way-fiding system is featured in "Graphic Design Since 1950" by Alliance Graphique International (edited by Ben and Elly Bos, 2009), honored in Print Casebooks (vol. 9, 1991) and recipient of the Communication Arts Award of Excellence (1990) and was featured the agency's profile in Communication Arts (magazine). (See: Communication Arts Magazine, Sep/Oct 1987, Print Edition) CSA would later work for such notable cultural institutions as AIGA, MoMA (New York), The Jewish Museum (New York), Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. (See: AIGA Design Archives, Carbone Smolan)

Awards & Recognition
• 2014 American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) Medalists, Ken Carbone and Leslie Smolan, http://www.aiga.org/medalists-kenneth-carbone-and-leslie-smolan/

• 2013 American Marketing Association Stevie Award, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Global Website

• 2013 GDUSA American Web Design Award, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Global Website

• 2012 GDUSA’s American Web Design Awards, Website design for Niles Bolton Associates, http://www.gdusa.com/contests/awda12/types/gallery.php?g=all

• 2011 Middle East Architect Awards, Public sector project of the year, Museum of the Built Environment, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,	http://www.designmena.com/thoughts/shortlist-announced-architect-awards

• 2010 Chicago Poster Biennial,  Poster Finalist: Diego Rivera by Ken Carbone, http://chicagobiennial.org/2010/finalists/

• 2008  SEGD Design Awards Merit Award,  W.L. Gore Capabilities Center,  http://www.segd.org/design-awards/2008-design-awards.html#/design-awards/2008-design-awards/w-l-gore-capabilities-center.html

• 2008 AIGA 365: 29, American Institute of Graphic Artist

• 2005 ReBrand 100 Awards: Best of Show, Assurant, http://www.rebrand.com/2005-best-assurant-inc

• 2002, American Craft Museum’s Corporate Visionaries! Award, to Ken Carbone, Leslie Smolan for arts advocacy through exceptional design and counsel over the past 25 years,

• 2001 American Corporate Identity Award, Christie's

• 2000  The Creativity Annual 30: Gold Medal Award, Corbis Red Catalog

• 1998 Communication Arts: Award of Excellence, “Passion & Line”

• 1998 Printing Industries of America’s Premier Print Awards: Best of Category, Dechert Price & Rhoads “Been There…Done That” brochure

• 1998 Graphic Design USA:  American Graphic Design Award, International Contract Furnishings Korg Invitation • 1998 Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), Ken Carbone and Leslie Smolan induction

Selected Bibliography
• “Dialog”: what makes a great design partnership by Ken Carbone and Leslie Smolan

• The Hat Book by Leslie Smolan and Rodney Smith

• Virtuoso: Face to Face with 40 Extraordinary Talents by Ken Carbone and Howard Schatz

• Logo Lounge by Anne Hellman White and Bill Gardner

• Recycling and Redesigning Logos: A Designer's Guide to Refreshing & Rethinking Design by Michael Hodgson

• GRAPHIC: Inside the Sketchbooks of the World’s Greatest Graphic Designers by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico

• I HEART DESIGN edited by Steven Heller

• "344 Questions: The Designer’s Do-It-Yourself Guide to Insight, Survival, and Creative Fulfillment" by Design Activist Handbook by Noah Scalin and Michelle Taute • The Graphic Eye: Photographs by Graphic Designers from around the Globe by Stefan G. Bucher

• The Wayfinding Handbook Information Design for Public Places by David Gibson

• Graphic Design Since 1950 edited by Ben and Elly Bos

• Promotion Design That Works: Secrets for Successful Promotion edited by Rockport Publishers

• Becoming a Graphic Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design by Steven Heller & Teresa Fernandes

• Visual Identity in New York: Best of American Corporate Identity Design by Koichiro Inagaki