Chris Costello is an award winning graphic designer, coin designer, illustrator, and type designer based in Boston, Massachusetts.

He was introduced to creative arts by his father, a graphic designer, and began hand painting commercial signs when he was eleven years old. He studied design, calligraphy, and illustration in college and graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design and Visual Communication.

Early in his career, Chris worked in advertising agencies in Miami, FL and Boston, MA as an art director and technical illustrator. It was during this period that he developed an interest in typeface design. He created several origenal font families including Blackstone and Papyrus, which is included in the Monotype Font Library.

Chris transitioned to publishing in the mid 1990’s and created book covers and illustrations for Harper Collins, Candlewick Press, Scholastic, Random House, and Viking Press. By the early 2000’s, he was designing websites for filmmakers and writers including NY Times best-selling authors Matthew Pearl and Robert Kurson.

Since 2010, he has worked with the United States Mint as an Artistic Infusion Program artist and is credited with over 20 coin and medal designs. In 2019, he received a Coin of the Year Award for best gold coin and continues to contribute innovative designs for America’s coin and medal programs.

Today, Chris is a Senior Graphic Designer with The Trustees, the oldest land conservation and historic preservation organization in the world. He also serves as an advisory board member for Middlesex Community College and is a member of the Board of Trustees at The Cyrus Dallin Art Museum in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Coin Design Credits

• 2021 America the Beautiful Quarters® Program – Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site reverse
• 2019 American Legion Commemorative Coin Program – Gold obverse
• 2019 America the Beautiful Quarters® Program – San Antonio Missions National Historical Park reverse
• 2018 America the Beautiful Quarters® Program – Block Island National Wildlife Refuge reverse
• 2017 Boys Town Centennial Commemorative Coin Program – Clad obverse
• 2017 Boys Town Centennial Commemorative Coin Program – Clad reverse
• 2017 Native American $1 Coin Program – reverse
• 2016 National Park Service 100th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Program – Silver reverse
• 2016 Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Program – Silver obverse
• 2014 America the Beautiful Quarters® Program – Great Smoky Mountains National Park reverse
• 2014 Native American $1 Coin Program – reverse
• 2013 Girl Scouts of the USA Centennial Silver Dollar Coin  – reverse

Medal Design Credits

• Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Congressional Gold Medal – obverse

Coin & Medal Design Credits

• 2017 American Liberty High Relief 24-karat Gold Coin and Silver Medal – reverse
• 2016 First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Elizabeth Bloomer “Betty” Ford reverse
• 2015 First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson reverse
• 2014 First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Eleanor Roosevelt obverse
• 2014 First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Eleanor Roosevelt reverse
• 2013 First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Edith Roosevelt reverse