Joost Grootens studied archi­tec­tural design at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. As a graphic designer he is self-taught. His studio designs books in the fields of archi­tec­ture, urban space and art, spe­cial­izing on atlases, designing both the maps and the books them­selves. Among his clients are 010 Publishers, Nai Publishers, Lars Müller Publishers, Phaidon Press, Vanabbe Museum and Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum.??Grootens has won numerous prizes for his designs.

Among them the ‘Goldene Letter’ and two Gold Medals in the Best Book Design from all over the World com­pe­ti­tion in Leipzig. In 2009 he was awarded the Netherlands’ most pres­ti­gious design award, the Rotterdam Design Prize. A mono­graph about his work titled ‘I swear I use no art at all’ was pub­lished by 010 Publishers in 2010.

Grootens is pro­gramme leader of the research pro­gramme Information Design at Design Academy Eindhoven’s Master course. He has also lec­tured and con­ducted work­shops at var­ious insti­tu­tions in Asia, Europe and North America. Joost Grootens is a member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale).