Kerry William Purcell

Kerry William Purcell is an English author on graphic design and visual culture. He is a frequent contributor to Baseline, Grafik and Eye Magazine.

Born in Cleethorpes, Purcell is a writer, design critic and historian. His first book on the celebrated art director and photographer Alexey Brodovitch was published by Phaidon Press in 2002. This has been followed by his concise biography on the renowned photographer Weegee (Phaidon, London, 2004), his comprehensive study of the Swiss graphic designer Josef Müller-Brockmann (Phaidon, London, 2006) and a book on the work of Magnum photographer Steve McCurry entitled In the Shadow of the Mountains (Phaidon, London, 2007). He is also co-editor of the forthcoming Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design (2012). His writing has been published in several anthologies.

He is Lecturer in Design History at The University of Hertfordshire.