Teaching Curious?

Nika Simovich Fisher is a graphic designer, writer, and educator based in New York. She is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design, and the director of the AAS program. Her research explores how design and identity overlap and highlights underreported voices in internet and design history. She has written stories ranging from the digitization of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet during the Yugoslav Wars to the impact AI has had on spirituality for publications including The New York Times, Eye on Design, and WIRED. She also runs Labud, a design studio specializing in strategy, branding, and web design for clients across fashion, art, and tech. Instagram: @labud.nyc

Aamina is an educator and designer of identities, services and systems that create more inclusive and accessible experiences both online and in the real-world. Her clients and collaborators include the NYC Office of Technology & Innovation, Amazon, Walt Disney Imagineering, the Smithsonian Institution, Johnson & Johnson, and Johns Hopkins University. Aamina received an MFA from CalArts and graduated from UCLA with a BA in World Arts & Cultures. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and has been exhibited at the Brazilian Graphic Design Biennial and the Gallery at REDCAT. She currently teaches at Pratt Institute.

Aaris is an educator, writer, and designer. She is a professor of graphic design at St. John’s University in Queens, New York and was the Director of Fellowships at Design Incubation from 2015-2021. She currently co-facilitates the Design Writing Fellowship and annual Writing Groups at Writing Space, Chicago. At St. John’s University she runs the internship program for the Department of Art and Design and teaches classes on typography, sustainable design, packaging and advanced projects. In her research Sherin addresses complex issues including the environment, creative thinking, and innovative problem solving methodologies that can occur across media and disciplines. Sherin is the author of seven books which have been translated into Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese and Arabic. Her most recent publications are the books Introduction to Graphic Design and Sustainable Thinking: Ethical Approaches to Design and Design Management (Bloomsbury, UK).

Kelly is an Assistant Professor and the Associate Director of the BFA Communication Design program in Parsons School of Design at The New School. In her independent design studio Bright Polka Dot, she works across platforms to create publications, exhibitions, and digital experiences for educational and cultural institutions. Her ongoing design research interrogates the complexities of identity, systems of value, and shared vernacular in and around Black visual culture. IG: @brightpolkadot Twitter: @brightpolkadot

Laina has been a designer and educator for over 25 years. She now brings that experience to her current position of Curriculum Coordinator for the BFA Design and Advertising departments at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Teaching at SVA since graduating there with her Master’s in Computer Art, she also taught for many years at Bergen Community College and Ramapo College in their Design departments, specializing in design, portfolios, typography, interactive media, and creativity. Her design and consulting work as a solopreneur is focused in both the publishing and advertising worlds, with an equal passion for the scope of print and image. In leisure, Laina is an ardent tennis player, jewelry designer, multimedia artist, and adventurer with her family.

Lynn is the co-founder and partner of Dome, an experience design studio in New York City. She is a multi-disciplinary designer and creative director in experience design, graphic design and built environments. She is Director of the MPS Communication Design and Assistant Professor at Parsons School of Design. Previously she was an experience design lead at SYPartners, collaborating with strategists and company leaders in transforming their brand. She was a Senior Designer at Local Projects from 2011–2013, designing and overseeing graphic design, interactive, and media projects for museums and cultural institutions. She designed at Fathom Information Design in Boston creating interactive tools and computational data visualizations. From 2005–2008, she was the graphic designer at SWA Group, a landscape architecture firm in Los Angeles and Houston. She received her MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, a Certificate of Collegiate Teaching from Brown University, and a BS in Psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Megumi is a designer, developer, and educator. They combine UX and Product Strategy to create sustainable software and web experiences for business and consumer facing products. Currently, they teach the Shopify Course at ilovecreatives. Previously, they taught Intro to Coding for Designers at Index, where they also served as Director of Education. They have also hosted workshops at General Assembly and taught the UX Academy at DesignLab. Their current research interests include permaculture web design, the physical infrastructure of the net, and how to exist as a person online. Instagram: @meewgumi