P. Scott Makela received a BFA from Minneapolis College of Art & Design. In Los Angeles, after time in April Greiman’s studio, he formed Commbine and taught at California Institute of the Arts and Otis College of Art & Design. He earned an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1991, studying with Katherine McCoy. At Cranbrook, Scott designed the influential font Dead History. Scott founded Words and Pictures for Business and Culture in Minneapolis and quickly became internationally known for his cutting-edge youth-market design. In 1996 Scott and Laurie succeeded Katherine McCoy at Cranbrook, as co-chairs of the 2D Design Department. Their successful Cranbrook design studio was expanding into television advertising, when Scott died suddenly from an undiagnosed respiratory virus on a soft spring night in 1999. A moving Buddhist memorial service in the Cranbrook sculpture gardens was attended by Scott’s family, Cranbrook faculty and students, and his many design colleagues.