Willy Wong, President

Willy Wong is Chief Creative Officer of NYC & Company, the City of New York’s official marketing and tourism organization. He leads the creative vision for branding, advertising, design, and strategic partnerships across major civic initiatives and global campaigns. Willy is an adjunct at NYU and a graduate thesis advisor at SVA in both the MFA Interaction Design and MFA Designer as Entrepreneur programs. He often collaborates on book designs for Rizzoli, serves on the advisory board of SXSW Interactive, and also advises on the occasional startup. Before a career in design and advertising, he worked in software engineering at Sapient, management consulting at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and private banking at JP Morgan. Willy received his AB from Dartmouth College and MFA from Yale University.

Glen Cummings, Vice President

Glen Cummings is a graphic designer and the principal of MTWTF. MTWTF works with clients, partners, consultants and vendors to collaboratively create publication systems, identity systems, signage systems and environmental graphics. Current clients include Lincoln Center Theater, The City of Newark, Columbia University School of Art, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Glen holds a B.F.A. from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and an M.F.A. in Graphic Design from Yale University School of the Arts. Before starting MTWTF Glen was a designer and art director at 2×4, and before that a speed metal guitarist in Nashville, Tennessee. Glen is a lecturer in Graphic Design at Yale University School of Art and a founding partner of Safari 7, A Self-Guided Tour of Urban Wildlife along New York City’s 7 line.

Josh Smith, Treasurer

Josh Smith is the creator and curator of Newswordy, co-founder of the design blog idsgn, and a member of the Brooklyn-based design group Hyperakt. He focuses his expertise on creating design that effects positive social change and global development. Born in Nova Scotia, Josh worked in Canada as a graphic designer and environmental designer before moving to New York City and expanding his area of focus to branding. Since then he has continued exploring multiple facets of the design field, including web design, packaging, product design, data visualization, and design writing. Notable clients have included: TED, Ford Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NPR, Thomson Reuters Foundation, PwC, Kayak.com , GOOD magazine and SPIN magazine and Google. His work has been recognized by the AIGA: 365 awards, Brand New Awards, One Show, among others. He holds a BFA with honors and distinctions from the Alberta College of Art and Design.

Paula Scher, Emeritus

Paula Scher began her graphic design career as a record cover art director at both Atlantic and CBS Records in the 1970s and in 1991 she joined Pentagram as a partner. She has developed identity and branding systems, promotional materials, environmental graphics, packaging and publication designs for a wide range of clients, drawing from what Tom Wolfe has called the “big closet” of art and design history, classic and pop iconography, literature, music and film to create images that speak to contemporary audiences with emotional impact and appeal.

Paula is a recipient of the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, the TDC Medal and the AIGA Medal, she holds honorary doctorates from the Corcoran College of Art and Design, the Maryland Institute College of Art, the Moore College of Art and Design. She is the president of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, serves as Commissioner on the New York Public Design Commission, and was elected to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, as well as many other institutions. Her teaching career includes over two decades at the School of Visual Arts, along with positions at the Cooper Union, Yale University and the Tyler School of Art. She is the author of Make It Bigger (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002) and MAPS (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011).

Steff Geissbuhler, Emeritus

Steff Geissbuhler is a designer of integrated brand and corporate identity programs. Steff has designed print materials, posters, architectural graphics, sign systems and exhibits for a wide variety of clients. In 2005 Geissbuhlerʼs work has been honored with the American Institute of Graphic Arts Medal for his sustained contribution to design excellence and the development of the profession. He has received awards from all major professional associations. Steff served as the U.S. president of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and has been a member of the board of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He is a past president of AIGAʼs New York chapter.

Steff Geissbuhler received his diploma in graphic design from the School of Art and Design, Basel, Switzerland. He has taught at the Philadelphia College of Art, Cooper Union, Yale University and lectures throughout the country. Prior to forming his own design consultancy in September 2011, geissbühler:design, he was a founding partner at C&G Partners for 6 years and a partner at Chermayeff & Geismar Inc. for 30 years.

Melanie Wiesenthal, Education

Melanie Wiesenthal is a Partner at Deerfield, a retail, fashion and beauty focused design studio based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As Co-Creative Director, Melanie is a dedicated advocate of storytelling, with a firm belief that all design stems first and foremost from a great idea and that healthy partnerships with clients is the key to creating award winning work. Melanie’s experience working with both in-house creative teams like Victoria’s Secret Beauty, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (where she first met and worked with her partner Yael Eisele), Origins, and Aveda has given her unique insight into how corporate design works. Before her in-house experience, Melanie designed for award winning design firms Carbone Smolan Agency and boutique shop, The Valentine Group, where she got a head start in the realm of branding, design for cultural institutions, retail design and packaging. Melanie is an Adjunct Professor at Parsons School of Design, where she has taught studio classes in typography and graphic design since 2003. She is currently a lecturer at the School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding program. Melanie has spoken at numerous conferences in the US and abroad on design and sustainable design including AIGA, Fuse and ENG Amsterdam. Her work, both corporate and freelance, has been featured by The Art Director’s Club, Print Magazine, Communication Arts, Graphis, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, How Magazine and Graphic Design USA. Melanie was born in Toronto, Canada and is a graduate of McGill University, Montreal, and Parsons School of Design, New York.

Rachel Abrams

Rachel Abrams is founder of Turnstone Consulting, where her work as a design strategist and graphic facilitator helps clients see and say what they mean. Rachel has worked with Amnesty International, City ID, Design Trust for Public Space, Ludic Group, Karsan Automotive, New York Times, Pentagram Design, and various corporations and public city agencies. In 2012, she was Special Advisor to PentaCity Group, supporting the consortium that designed the street maps for New York Citibike and the New York Department of Transportation’s forthcoming citywide pedestrian way finding system.

Her writing about design has featured in the Design Council magazine, The Economist, Eye, Frieze, Good, Urban Omnibus and Wired. On the faculty of the School of Visual Arts Interaction Design MFA program, Rachel teaches, and has presented to AIGA, Creative Capital, Harvard GSD, Istituto Europeo di Design, Stern School of Business and SxSW. Previously, she taught at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, was a user experience strategist for IBM and for branding consultancy, Imagination. British-born and educated, Rachel is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Royal College of Art.

Charles Adler

Charles is an entrepreneur with more than 14 years experience in interaction design. Formerly director of strategy and senior information architect at Agency.com, his work in user experience, design and information architecture is driven by a commitment to all things clean and simple. Previously, he co-founded Subsystence—an online art publication, and Source-ID—and independent interaction design studio.

Eric Adolfsen

New York-native Eric Adolfsen is a creative director and artist. He is currently developing the Wooly, a bar and collaborative project space on the ground floor of the Woolworth building. Eric is also the artistic director for the luxury line House of Waris. He was most recently a director at the New York wing of Brand New School, a film, animation, design and interactive studio. During his time there, he co-lead the massive rebrand of Cartoon Network and directed many commercials including the visually-driven ʻ$5 Footlongʼ campaign for Subway and others for clients like BBC, HP and Toyota. Eric received his BA in Art-Semiotics and English from Brown and his MFA in Graphic Design from Yale.

Jessi Arrington

I’m a Brooklyn-based graphic designer. In 2005, I co-founded WORKSHOP (where design and social responsibility meet) with my two best friends, Creighton and Josh. Creighton and I happen to be married now. We’ve been fortunate enough to complete branding, web and print projects for such forward-thinking clients as Echoing Green, Moving Windmills and TED. I’ve got Southern roots, am passionate about color theory (especially rainbows), and believe in the power of Beer Fridays and amazing neighbors.

Aaron Carambula

Aaron Carambula is the Creative Director at Lore (formerly Coursekit) where he leads an integrated product and graphic design team. Prior to joining Lore, Aaron co-founded the design firm Objective Subject and helped grow it from small web and identity projects to rebranding the AP around the time of his departure. A type & lettering obsessive, he is a co-founder of Friends of Type and a graduate of the Type@Cooper typeface design post-graduate program.

Irwin Chen

Irwin Chen received his BA in English Literature from Yale University in 1994, and spent one year in the Netherlands on a Fulbright studying design at the Jan van Eyck Akademie in Maastricht. He returned to New York where he began work as a digital designer, first for Jessica Helfand and later at Funny Garbage and 2×4. He is currently the founder of Redub LLC, an information design and interaction design consultancy based in New York. He also teaches Interaction Design at Parsons The New School For Design.

Mimi Chun

Mimi leads design efforts at General Assembly across myriad offline and online experiences including communications, environments, products, services, and educational offerings. Prior to joining GA, Mimi led project teams at user-centered design consultancies including the New York office of IDEO and IA Collaborative in Chicago. She has worked for clients across a wide range of industries including education, media, retail, financial services, technology, and hospitality. Mimi received her BFA in Graphic Design at Carnegie Mellon University and her MFA from Yale University.

Carla Echevarria

Carla is a Creative Director at Google Creative Lab, and teaches Digital Media Design in the School of Visual Arts. A graphic designer by training and a geek by heart, she has spent the past decade developing work that expands the possibilities of human communication through emerging media.

She was formerly an Executive Creative Director at R/GA, and founded a New York startup focused on creating digital products and services for first-time urban parents.

Carla pursued her BA in Philosophy at St. John’s College, and MFA in Communication Design at Pratt Institute. She grew up in the Philippines.

August Heffner

August Heffner is a graphic designer, art director, educator and illustrator. He was raised in an antique store in St. Louis, MO, educated in Kansas and moved to New York City to work for, and learn from, his design heroes Matteo Bologna and Stephen Doyle.

For awhile he worked for a really, really big branding firm and then as Assistant Creative Director at The Museum of Modern Art while art directing the Diner Journal. He writes for Print Magazine’s blog and teaches design at the School of Visual Arts. As of this writing (6/12) he is about to become Design Director at J Crew. He is really excited.

August lives in Brooklyn with two really beautiful people, one of whom (as of this writing) is only 26in tall!

Min Lew

As the Creative Director of Base’s New York Studio, Min divides her time between designing, directing, and managing. With a holistic perspective, strategy and a fresh approach to projects, she has worked with a wide range of organizations, among them Pantone, MoMA, Gagosian Gallery, Princeton Architectural Press, Coca-Cola, Fred Segal Beauty, Milk, Miami Art Museum, Gwangju Biennale, and Wellesley College. Her work has been featured in various publications and has won numerous awards over the years. Previously, Min has worked with B.I.G. at Ogilvy & Mather, Pentagram, and Simon & Schuster.

Min studied at Ewha Womans University, received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, and an MFA from Yale. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, raised in Seoul, Korea, Min now calls Brooklyn her home.

Dan Michaelson

Dan Michaelson is a half of the graphic design partnership Linked by Air. Design and technology are intertwined inventive processes in the studioʼs work, which often focuses on the production of public space, both physical and online. Some of the studio’s projects include the Yale School of Artʼs website, the Whitney Museum of American Artʼs website and a new interactive area for kids, the motion graphics firm Brand New Schoolʼs website, the magazine ArtAsiaPacificʼs website, books for the Public Art Fund and the architects MOS, the AIGA 365 exhibition with Lana Cavar, and the exhibition “Fusedspace” with Sulki and Min Choi.

Dan previously worked at the design firms Pentagram and 2×4. He holds degrees in American history from Columbia University and graphic design from Yale University. He currently teaches the two-semester graduate typography course “Networks and Transactions” and the graduate thesis studio in the graphic design program at Yale.

Ian Spalter

Ian Spalter creates products and services designed to enrich people’s lives.

He is currectly the Director of Design and UX at Foursquare, a leading mobile startup based in NYC. Previously he worked at R/GA as the VP of Product Design leading the creative team behind projects such as the Nike+ Fuelband, Nike+ GPS, Nike+ Basketball and Nike+ Training.

Matt Spangler

Matt is a NY based entertainment exec who was recently named EVP of Content & Marketing for Tribeca Enterprises. The new position overseeing creative production and marketing across all Tribeca businesses including Tribeca Films, a year round distribution business, the annual Tribeca Film Festival (and its international licenses) and a new original content group.

After starting his NY career in the Comedy Central digital group, he was an original partner at thehappycorp global, where he proudly worked with clients such as Apple and Foursquare precursor Dodgeball, a co-founder of the infamous NYC creative “fight club” LVHRD, known for its artisanal events that fueled competition among NYC creative professionals and spent 2009-2011 running Winston Wolf Inc, a consultancy he founded to provide strategic services to brands such as Mercedes AMG, Reebok and more.

Todd St. John

Todd St. John is a designer, animator and filmmaker living in New York City. He grew up on the island of Oahu. In 2000 he founded the NYC-based studio HunterGatherer. St. John was included along with frequent collaborator Gary Benzel in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial: Design Now. In 2008, HunterGatherer won a Webby and was nominated for an Emmy for the animated short “Circle Squared”. In addition to the studio, St. John has taught as a lecturer in the Yale School of Art’s graduate program, and occasionally exhibits non-commercial work under his own name.

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