Kris Thayer is a senior designer at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). She received her design education at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and holds a degree in Humanities from the University of Minnesota. Thayer started her design career at the Walker Art Center, spent 7 years at Larsen Design, and joined Mia in 2006. At Mia, she initiated the museum’s digital publishing efforts with an award-winning, interactive magazine for tablets and evolved the program to produce digital art catalogues using an open-source, multi-format publishing tool. Notable Mia projects include multi-sensory gallery installations and several digital catalogues. Alcohol’s Empire was the first of these (and includes many 18th century cocktail recipes). Manhattan straight up is her drink.