Tomás Maldonado (25 April 1922 – 26 November 2018) was an Argentine painter, designer and philosopher. He was born in Buenos Aires. He was one of the main theorists of design theory From 1954 to 1967, Maldonado worked at the Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung – HfG) in Germany. He created a system of codes for the design program of the Italian firm "Olivetti" and the department store "La Rinascente".