Michael Patrick Cronan (June 9, 1951 – January 1, 2013)[1] was an American graphic designer, brand strategist, adjunct professor, and fine art painter.

[3][5] In 1971, he went abroad to study archeology, and work as an archaeological dig manager for Hebrew University in the Negev Desert and then at the Dead Sea.

In the early 1980s a few San Francisco–based designers were nicknamed “The Michaels” because they all had the same name (Cronan, alongside Mabry, Manwaring, Vanderbyl, Schwab), and later they were known as the "Pacific Wave" according to historian Steven Heller.

[2][3][9] Cronan Design clients including TiVo,[10] Kindle,[10] Good Belly,[10] Apple,[11] Levi Strauss & Co.,[11] Estee Lauder,[11] among others.

[citation needed] On January 1, 2013, Cronan died at his Berkeley home after a long time with colon cancer.