Bringing the Food to Life

Illustrator Ian Nagy and the Art of Zingerman’s

Dancing bread, complete with hat and cane. A pickle rocking out on an electric guitar. A bottle of olive oil turned shark swimming in the sea. If you know Zingerman’s at all, you know its iconic imagery. 

From personified food to freewheeling comic scenes, our art is unabashedly fun, winningly whimsical, and endlessly imaginative. And whether you encounter it in a Mail Order catalog or find yourself immersed in it at the Deli, it’s an essential ingredient of the Zingerman’s experience.

Much of our visual world today flows from the fertile mind and pen of illustrator Ian Nagy, who was originally hired as an assistant sign maker at the Deli back in 1991. 

A lifelong Ann Arborite, Ian had taken a valuable design class in his senior year at Huron High School, plus some art courses at Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University, but beyond that, “I really didn’t know what I was doing,” he says in typically humble fashion. “I learned so much from my co-workers”—among them Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig, early illustrator Kate Uleman, and Steve Wallag-Muno, creator of our distinctive “Muno” font. 

Ian honed his chops through the ’90s, gaining deeper knowledge about food that enabled him to depict it with greater detail and specificity. He helped develop the brand identity for the newly formed Bakehouse, whose bread bag won national design recognition from Print magazine in 1997. And by that point, he most certainly did know what he was doing—enough to be named Zingerman’s first-ever full-time illustrator. 

Though he was largely given free rein to dream up his own concepts and characters (“We definitely didn’t have a style guide”), there was a playful aesthetic firmly in place and a North Star to follow: “Ari’s whole thing was, we want to make the food more approachable, so people can learn about it and appreciate it,” Ian explains. “We’re countering the idea that specialty food is for the elite.”

He took this democratizing mission to heart, building out a singular universe of “cartoony, chaotic, and humorous” images—in his well-chosen words—that have now become as instantly identifiable as a Zingerman’s Reuben. (“Bread Astaire,” the tap-dancing anthropomorphized ancestor of them all, had already been birthed prior to his arrival.) 

Some of Ian’s own favorite projects include his elaborate illustrations for Mail Order gift boxes—which tell compact stories in crowded, colorful frames that seem to burst into three dimensions—and a holiday-themed collectible card for our signature Zzang!^® bar. “I tend to like the super complicated stuff,” he says with a modest shrug. 

Others, it turned out, liked it as well: Print honored Zingerman’s artwork six years in a row in the late ’90s and early 2000s, even devoting a lengthy feature to the art department—then run by Lakshmi Shetty—in a 1998 issue. “Design-conscious Zingerman’s Deli has an extensive graphics program,” reads the article’s subhead. “And their pastrami is good, too.” 

The story later led design students from an out-of-state college to travel all the way to Ann Arbor for the sole purpose of touring the Deli, “which was pretty wild,” Ian remembers.  

As quick as he is to credit former Zingerman’s illustrators like Ryan Stiner (a 15-year veteran) and Philip Stead (now an acclaimed children’s book author) for their lasting contributions, folks here are equally eager to give Ian his due. 

“I feel like our look and feel really solidified with Ian’s take on it,” says Nick Jaroch, a sign painter and merchandiser at the Deli for nearly two decades. “His work has this consistency about it, where it’s recognizable and distinct but doesn’t ever feel worn out or repetitive. I’ve seen so many illustrations of sandwiches and pickles and cheese, but he brings a fresh perspective to all his stuff.”

Keeping it fresh is vital for Ian, who, by his count, has crafted about 6,500 unique images for Zingerman’s. (When asked how he tallied this, he replies matter-of-factly: “I have a ridiculous archive on my phone.”) Still, even when the edible subject is the same, he “[tries] to do something different every time.” 

Fortunately, Ian has a wide array of personal sources of inspiration to tap into—from classic comic strips, like Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, to the social realist drawings of Ben Shahn (“I steal from his line quality because it has so much character”), to the so-called “outsider” and “lowbrow” underground art movements. And, he adds, “kids’ artwork is amazing,” before the limits of adult self-consciousness set in.

His creativity doesn’t stop at visual art, however: Ian is also, as he puts it, “obsessed with music.” A guitarist and songwriter who additionally plays the bass and drums, he’s been a member of seven bands and enjoys an eclectic mix of genres: rock, R & B, hip-hop, jazz, classical, ska, reggae. And what does he see as the common thread between his musical life and his practice as an artist? The joy of “collaborating with people,” be they bandmates or colleagues. 

Reflecting on his 35-year career—from novice sign maker to key shaper of Zingerman’s pictorial vocabulary—Ian sums up the journey with characteristic pithiness: “It’s worked out.” He expresses gratitude for his role as staff illustrator and for the unique opportunity each project brings. There’s always a new catalog to tackle, or a Zingerman’s News, or our monthly full-page ad in the Ann Arbor Observer.

The stunning variety of Ian’s work has now been celebrated with two linked exhibits at the Ann Arbor District Library—titled, appropriately, A Feast for the Eyes—in 2024 and 2026.  

“With everything, I try to challenge myself,” he says. “I’ll switch things up real subtly that most people wouldn’t even notice, like change the line quality slightly or use a different coloring technique. That’s what makes it fun.”

There’s that word again: fun. At the end of the day, there probably is no better way to describe the high-stepping sandwiches, cheerful cheese wedges, and myriad other foods and creatures Ian Nagy has inked into existence at his drafting table. 

And for those of us lucky enough to share an office with this unassuming wizard at Zingerman’s Creative Services, we can’t help but glance over from time to time to spy him sketching away, and wonder what kind of magic he’ll conjure up next. 

You can purchase Ian’s original art at zingermansart.myshopify.com, or visit the Deli and Roadhouse websites to find Ian-designed merch!