Kok Cheow Yeoh, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Fine Arts | Graphic Design Educator, Researcher, and Practitioner

Dr. Kok Cheow Yeoh is a graphic design educator, researcher, and practitioner whose work explores the intersections of visual communication, typography, cultural identity, and design education. His academic career spans the United States and Singapore, where he spent more than a decade teaching at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) before returning to the United States in 2015 to join Indiana University Southeast (IUS) in New Albany, Indiana.

In 2004, Yeoh was recruited as one of the founding faculty members of Visual Communication at NTU’s School of Art, Design and Media. From 2007 to 2015, he continued his academic career at NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, teaching and developing projects that connected graphic communication with broader questions of meaning, culture, and visual expression.

At Indiana University Southeast, Yeoh served as Head of Graphic Design from 2015 to 2025. His work in higher education has included curriculum development, student mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the integration of professional design practice into the classroom. He has also served as a judge for poster presentations at IUS’s annual Undergraduate Student Conference and received institutional research and creative-activity support, including funding for research, international conference participation, and design education initiatives.

Yeoh’s research investigates how visual communication shapes cultural identity and everyday experience. A significant strand of his scholarship examines the signage of Chinese restaurants and food establishments, exploring how typography, color, imagery, language, and architectural references communicate cultural associations in different geographic contexts. His publications include *The Golden Dragon Wok: A Visual Survey of the Evocative Essence of Chinese Restaurant Signage Designs in an American Chinatown* (2017) and *The Red Wok: A Visual Analysis of European Chinatown Restaurant Signage That Contributes to Their Gastronomic Identity* (2023). Together with his earlier work on Singapore’s food culture and visual communication, these studies reflect an ongoing interest in the ways design functions as both a practical communication tool and a carrier of cultural meaning.

His scholarly interests also extend to design pedagogy and the relationship between technology and creative practice. His publications include *Recommendations for Design Educators and Students Who Embrace Computer Technology* (2006), as well as collaborative research on work-life harmony among creative professionals in Singapore’s advertising industry (2016). Across these areas, his work considers how designers develop ideas, communicate meaning, and respond to changing professional and technological environments.

Alongside his academic research, Yeoh has participated in international exhibitions and design events, presenting work in a range of cultural and institutional contexts. His creative practice includes posters and visual communication projects that examine social commentary, consumer culture, and the capacity of graphic design to engage with issues beyond commercial communication. His solo exhibition, "I’ve Always Wanted to Be an Artist but Became a Graphic Designer", presented a collection of social-commentary posters at the IUS Barr Gallery in 2017. His poster 'Hegemony' was also included in the art textbook, Gateways to Art, published by Thames and Hudson.

For Yeoh, design education extends beyond the acquisition of technical skills. It involves developing curiosity, critical judgment, cultural awareness, and the ability to translate observation into meaningful visual communication. He views travel as a form of active and deep learning—not simply an opportunity to accumulate information, but a means of developing understanding through direct experience, observation, and engagement with unfamiliar places and cultures.