Born in 1970, Doğan Arslan is a Turkish designer, educator, and artist with a strong academic and creative background. He graduated in 1993 from the Department of Graphic Design at the Faculty of Art and Design, Gazi University. Driven by a passion for continuous learning, he was awarded a scholarship to pursue his master’s degree at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York, USA, which he completed in 2000.

In 2001, Arslan moved to London, England, to undertake doctoral studies in Art and Design at the University of East London, where he earned his Ph.D. in 2007. Following his doctoral studies, he returned to New York and worked as an art director and designer at various design firms for a decade.

In 2013, he returned to Istanbul with the vision of establishing the Visual Communication Design Department at Istanbul Medeniyet University. He currently serves as a full-time professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University and also teaches at Işık and Yeditepe Universities.

Throughout his distinguished career, Arslan has earned significant recognition for his work. He has received 35 awards in national and international competitions, including a Graphis Platinum, two Graphis Golds, and one Graphis Silver from the Graphis Annual Poster competition. He also won third prize at the International Cow Festival in Ukraine, as well as first and third prizes at the Aydın Doğan International Cartoon Competition. Other accolades include first prize at the International Homer Davenport Days and second prize at the Nasreddin Hoca Cartoon Competition.

Beyond competitions, Arslan’s works have been selected for numerous prominent exhibitions, including Poster for Tomorrow, the International Poster Biennial in Mexico, the International Triennial of Political Posters in Mons, Mut Zur Wut, the Virtual Biennial Prague, the 4th Block IX International Eco-Poster Triennial, the Peru Design Festival, the International Cyprus Biennial, and the Sarajevo 100 Poster Project.

In his teaching and research, Arslan explores a diverse range of themes at the intersection of creativity, communication, and culture. His educational focus includes creativity in design, design and entrepreneurship, design and humor, conceptual illustration, surrealism and absurdity in design, the creative industries, cartoons in design, illusionistic imagery in poster design, black humor, representations of the female body in advertising, protest design, photomontage, visual surrealism in poster art, comics and fantasy, editorial illustration, and the semiotics of advertising. Most recently, he has begun investigating the role of artificial intelligence in shaping creativity, design entrepreneurship, and humor.

His creative interests encompass graphic design, illustration, photography, cartoons, and modern art. Arslan’s works have been published in numerous international catalogs and exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.

He currently lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey.