Thomas Nagel studied visual communication at the HfG academy of art Offenbach under professor Friedrich Friedl.

1988-1994, he was a designer, art director and project manager at MetaDesign Berlin and San Francisco.

Since 1994, Thomas is partner and managing director of xplicit Gesellschaft für visuelle Kommunikation mbH, based in Frankfurt/Main and Berlin, where he works as a graphic designer, texter, type designer and project manager.

He is also a founding member of mind(21) Fabrik for knowledge engineering und knowledge design and of the collaborative typo project/foundry Face2Face.

Thomas Nagel has been a visiting lecturer at the Bauhaus University Weimar, the GDC, and Capilano College, Vancouver, and the Merz-Akademie in Stuttgart.