visual designer & researcher


My name is Ludovica Polo and I am a visual designer and researcher based in Venice.
I’m interested in editorial design, branding, and type & my research focuses on graphic and typographic history, especially where design, art, and technology intersect.

Conferences & Talks


14 June 2025
Revisiting Design History: Global Cross-Cultural Interactions and Narratives
Typographic promotion as a cross-cultural mediation channel: the case study of Nebiolo type foundry
@Design History Society

4-5 December 2024
Design Research / Swiss Design Network Symposium
Shaping the Future of Type Design: Speculating on the role of AI through the Analysis of Historical Patterns in Technological Revolutions
with Valentina Nitti, Giulio Galli and Alice Savoie
@ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne

4-5 July 2024
Conferenza Nazionale SID 2024 / Design e ricerca: Fonti e Risorse
Error 404: page not found. Nuove prospettive per la ricerca storica nell’era delle fonti digitali, fra obsolescenza e accessibilità [paper awarded with the SID Research Award 2024]
@Università Iuav di Venezia

24-25 November 2023
VI Convegno AIS/Design 2023 / Alle radici del design espanso. Quali futuri per la storia del design? Contaminazioni verbo-visive: l’esoeditoria come incontro fra arte, progetto e società 
@Politecnico di Milano



Working experience


2018 – ongoing
Freelance visual designer

August 2021 – October 2023
Midweight visual & communication designer
Teatro Franco Parenti and Bagni Misteriosi
Milan

July – October 2021
Junior graphic designer 
Landor and Fitch
Hamburg

January – March 2021
Junior graphic designer
Firm.gs studio
Milan

October 2020 – March 2021
Digital graphic designer
Politecnico di Milano

March – June 2019
Graphic designer intern 
Sebastiano Girardi Studio 
Venice

Academic


October 2024 – February 2025
Teaching assistant of prof. Maddalena Dalla Mura
Storia del visual design
Product and Visual design / Università IUAV di Venezia

February 2024 – July 2024
Teaching assistant of prof. Giorgio Cedolin
Laboratorio di fondamenti di visual design / Tipografia e stampa
Product and Visual design / Università IUAV di Venezia

February – July 2023
Teaching assistant of prof. Alberto Attilio Bassi
History of design and techniques
Product design / Politecnico di Milano

February – July 2023
Teaching assistant of prof. Alessandra Spagnoli,
Visual culture for design
Fashion design / Politecnico di Milano

February – July 2023
Teaching assistant of prof. Sabrina Bresciani,
Visual culture for design
Fashion design / Politecnico di Milano

June 2022
Teaching assistant of prof. Sabrina Bresciani,
Graphic design workshop
Communication design / Politecnico di Milano

April – Dicember 2021
Technological support to teachers and students from Milan high schools
Politecnico di Milano and Moncler

Education


2023 – ongoing
PhD programme in Design sciences
Università IUAV di Venezia

march – may 2025
Visiting PhD candidate
Bauer-Neufville Archive / Universitat de Barcelona

2019 – 2022
Master degree in Communication Design
Politecnico di Milano

2019 – 2022
Master degree in Systemic Design (double degree with Alta Scuola Politecnica)
Politecnico di Torino

2016 – 2019
Bachelor in Industrial design and Multimedia
IUAV University of Venice

2011 – 2016
Scientific High School Diploma
“Primo Levi” high school of  Montebelluna