AIGA NY Portfolio Reviewers – Fall 2025

Max Amato is a multidisciplinary creative director, artist, designer, illustrator, and author based out of New York City. He works primarily in branding and design projects for sports, music, fashion, and cultural clients. After working at agencies like Doubleday & Cartwright, Sid Lee, and Character, as well as in-house at brands like Nike and Apple, he co-founded his own design studio Itch Projects.

Kiser Barnes is a creative leader and industry pioneer who works at the intersection of design, technology, and innovation. As Chief Creative Officer and Partner at Red Antler, Kiser supercharges brands through multi-disciplinary creativity. He is known for crafting fantastic futures by fusing transformative design with unique experiences.

From disruptive startups to Fortune 100 giants, Kiser has been instrumental in shaping some of the world’s most iconic companies across a wide range of industries. He brings a holistic, forward-thinking approach to creativity, with experience that spans brand design, advertising, product design/apps, e-commerce, retail, experiential design, AI, augmented reality, gaming design, innovation solutions and more.

Kiser has led groundbreaking work, including Walmart’s entry into the metaverse with WalmartLand on Roblox and Delta’s CES Wonder Window experience, which redefined immersive brand storytelling. A Cannes Lions Grand Prix winner and AdAge Web3 Marketing Trailblazer, Kiser is recognized as a leader in the integration of media disruption with next up technologies and AI

Ryan Bugden is an independent typeface and graphic designer based in Brooklyn. He creates custom typefaces for clients, and co-runs the design practice R&M with Michelle Ando. He also teaches typeface design at Type@Cooper and School of Visual Arts. Before graduating from Type and Media in 2019, he studied graphic design at RISD and typeface design in the Type@Cooper Extended Program, and has held design roles at various NYC design studios.

Simon brings a global perspective to brand building having worked as a designer and creative lead in Australia, the UK, and the US. He has led memorable campaigns and award-winning identities with Nike, The Athletic, The New York Times, PayPal, Spindrift, Mode, and MoMA. With experience at several globally renowned branding agencies — Winkreative, Moving Brands, Gretel, and Wolff Olins — Simon now leads multidisciplinary teams at BUCK, crafting thoughtful and stunning brand systems at scale, with motion at the heart. Simon serves as a mentor at SVA and D&AD Shift — a program dedicated to giving people without a traditional design education entry into the creative industries. He was also a judge at this year’s D&AD awards in the typography category.

Kapono is a Founding Partner and Head of Design at Combo. Prior to Combo, Kapono spent over a decade working at some of the industry’s most notable design studios such as BIG at Ogilvy, The Brand Union, AR New York and Mother Design. Under Kapono’s leadership, Combo has successfully created, refined, and transformed some of today’s most innovative brands, including Away Luggage, Saie Beauty, GAP, Instagram, Nike and H&M, amongst others – work defined by Combo’s diverse team and collaborative approach to creative challenges.

Growing up between South Korea and Hawaii, Kapono followed in the footsteps of his father, a designer in Seoul who went on to have a hand in some of South Korea’s most iconic brands throughout the 1980s.

An active member of the community, Kapono is a contributor to For Freedoms, a non-partisan art collective, as well as an integral part in the success of Scope of Work, a talent development agency for underrepresented young people in the creative industry.

Originally from Ohio, Garrett studied at the University of Cincinnati, School of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). As Design Director at Order, a design office based in Brooklyn, his work is research-based, systematic, and practical. Developing identity systems for clients like Herman Miller, Apple, and Notion, among others, his work is focused on utility, creating a strong but adaptable relationship between form and function.

Damien Correll is the VP of Brand & Creative at Figma, where he leads the Brand Studio team. Based in New York, he has spent over two decades working across brand and product design—often in the spaces where the two meet. His past experience includes leading creative teams at Tumblr and Google, building design systems, reimagining emojis, designing books, directing animations, and shaping design conferences and typefaces. Across startups, global tech companies, and his own independent practice, Damien’s work centers on making the expected surprising, the strange familiar, and the accessible abundant.

I’m a product design leader based in New York with over a decade spent building products that reach millions. At LinkedIn, I lead product design for Premium acquisition, and previously, I led Duolingo’s growth design team. I specialize in growth with vision, craft with taste, and teams with heart. At the core of my work is connection: helping people connect to things like healthcare, opportunities, education, and creativity. That same drive also led me to create Pour Toi, a community built around art, play, and presence.

David is the Design Lead in the Office of Communications at The Ford Foundation. He is board member of the AIGA New York. He’s an artist and illustrator, he is also the founder and manager of dpicting studio, an integrated consulting business devoted to conceptualizing and elevating the creative ideas of multicultural businesses. He’s also an instructor with Social Movement Technologies, an org building the capacity of advocates to organize digitally. Prior to joining Ford, he worked at Demos, Frontline Solutions, Black Folks in Design and Good Shepherd Services.

Gina Shin is a New York–based design director and art director. Her practice spans brand strategy, naming, visual identity, art direction, campaigns, exhibition design, print design, packaging, digital/web design, and image making. Her professional experience includes working at Apple, Nike, 2×4, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Base Design, and Pentagram. She is currently a Design Director at 2×4. Gina has also served as a critic at Columbia GSAPP, School of Visual Arts (SVA) portfolio classes, and Parsons School of Design senior thesis.

Vancouver born and ECUAD educated, with her early career in London, Kat is creative director and co-founder of Thackway McCord, a NYC-based brand strategy and creation practice focusing on corporate brand building plus work in the cultural and tech space. Kat is a visiting speaker, a mentor to early career designers and recently served on the board of AIGA NY, championing the future of design for all.

I’m Laura Scofield, a Brazilian New York-based graphic designer. I’m currently a Design Director at The Atlantic working on projects that span branding, editorial design, web design, events and more. My work has been recognized by the Type Directors Club, Society of Publication Designers, D&AD, Cannes Lions, Red Dot, Print, iF and Brazil Design Awards. I also served as a jury member on the Type Directors Club, Latin American Design Award and Brazil Design Awards. I’m a visiting critic at Parsons Communication Design and former AIGA NY board member. In my free time, you’ll find me researching about vexillology (the study of flags).

Nikki (Niktari) Makagiansar is a New York-based designer, technologist, and educator. She currently leads interactive design projects for arts and cultural organizations at Morcos Key. Previously, she was a designer at Pentagram under partner Giorgia Lupi, where she helped develop algorithmic and data-driven identity systems. She is a member of New Museum’s NEW INC, an incubator program for artists, technologists, and designers. Nikki teaches coding and interaction design at Parsons School of Design, The Cooper Union, and SVA. She has given talks and workshops at the New Museum, Typographics, and Rhizome, and was a juror for the International Creative Awards in the website category.

Working at the intersection of editorial design, motion graphics, image-making, and illustration, I operate collaboratively and independently across contexts in entertainment, news, technology, and pop culture. I’ve made work for and with Pentagram Design (teams Emily Oberman and Matt Willey), MTV, The New York Times, A24 Films, MSCHF, The New Yorker, Nike, The Atlantic, IFC Films, WIRED, Billboard Magazine, The Shed, and more. My work has been recognized by Type Directors Club, The Society of Illustrators, The Society of Publication Designers, Art Directors Club, International Motion Art Awards, and American Illustration. As part of my practice I teach time-based design courses at Parsons School of Design, where I’ve been a faculty member since 2015, and at Yale University, from where I received an MFA in Graphic Design.

Amelia Nash is a Canadian, now New York–based designer, brand strategist, and creative director with over a decade of experience building sustainable, purpose-driven brands. She is the Brand & Marketing Manager for the School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding program, Senior Staff Writer at PRINT Magazine, and serves on the Boards of Directors for both Canada’s RGD and AIGA NY. Amelia has led award-winning branding and digital design projects, guided cross-functional teams, and mentored emerging designers through education, workshops, and industry programs. Her work focuses on crafting meaningful brand identities that balance creativity, strategy, and sustainability.

Mike Perry is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of TAVERN, a Brooklyn-based creative agency focusing on food, beverage and hospitality brands. With 15+ years of success in building industry-leading brands, Perry made a name for himself, both brand and agency side, with stints at NBC Sports Network, Quaker City Mercantile, Stranger & Stranger, Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR), Design Bridge and TikTok Creative Labs. He has been behind some of the biggest rebrands in the industry, with clients including Budweiser, Beam Suntory, Burger King, and Diageo.

Perry creates timeless brands by taking inspiration from the brand’s past while simultaneously reimagining their equities for contemporary tastes and standards. Through this signature “modern heritage” branding philosophy, Perry and Tavern pair strategic storytelling with archival stewardship. They build brands that resonate with today’s audiences, as is evident in recent work with brands such as Sizzler, Old Grand-Dad, Burt’s Bees, Overholt Whiskey, and Old Crow, to name a few.

Kelly Clawson is a multidisciplinary creative director based in New York City. She leads a creative team at The Museum of Modern Art as Associate Creative Director, specializing in art direction, photography, design, typography and digital. With over a decade of experience, she brings a unique perspective to brands and campaigns, having worked with clients in art, fashion, beauty, direct-to-consumer, food/beverage and tech for companies like MoMA, Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Thirdlove, 160over90 and Sagmeister & Walsh. She studied design and typography at Tyler School of Art and SVA’s Masters Workshop in Design.

Brian Gartside is an award-winning designer and typographer/letterer who has built his career delivering visually impactful, effective design work for some of the world’s most celebrated agencies and companies. He currently serves as the Global Design Lead of Iris Worldwide. Time and again, Brian’s work has earned top honors from the industry’s most prestigious awards organizations, including the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, The Type Directors Club, The One Show, The CLIO Awards, The Andy’s, and ADC. His work has been featured in the Smithsonian and Boston’s Museum of Science, and he won the prestigious ADC Young Guns award in 2014.

Dana Tanamachi is a graphic designer, illustrator, and muralist in New York City. Her vibrant, lush, and symbolically rich artwork brings life and energy to any surface—from pint-sized postage stamps to immersive murals. After working under design legend Louise Fili, Dana founded her eponymous design practice, Tanamachi Studio, where she has created custom typography, illustrations, and large-scale installations for brands such as Target, Nike, Starbucks, USPS, Penguin Books, Uniqlo, Instagram, the Obama Foundation, and West Elm. Her work has been featured on the covers of TIME and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Raven Mo is a New York–based identity designer, letterer, and researcher driven by the enduring pursuit of typographic excellence. As an advocate for multi-script design accessibility and representation, she is deeply engaged with the social relations and cultural infrastructures shaped by type. She currently designs brand identities at Mackey Saturday, collaborating with Fortune 500 companies and high-growth startups to craft systems rooted in clarity and longevity. Previously, Raven designed for e-commerce brands at Elevate and co-led the AIGA NY Mentorship Program, advancing the organization’s mission to foster meaningful connection and growth within the design community. Earlier, she served as Programming Chair at AIGA Chicago, developing inclusive, community-driven initiatives for designers across the city.

Nora is a Lead Designer at SYLVAIN. She has helped clients solve a wide range of creative problems, from brand identity & packaging design to brand & design architecture and product implications. Her most recent work in these spaces has been with brands like Amazon, Nike, AMEX and The New York Times.

I’m Drew Campbell, a designer and creative director. For the past 10 years I’ve been at The Atlantic, now leading a team of designers that produces work on projects across branding, editorial design, digital experiences, events, and more. Recently, any of my spare time has been filled with analog collage explorations using found materials.

John Castrillon is an Executive Creative Director based in New York. He began his career at agencies like Grey, Nickelodeon, DDB, and Leo Burnett, shaping ideas for global brands before moving into the purpose-driven space. As Vice President of Creative at the American Cancer Society, he built an in-house agency from the ground up and led national campaigns like I Love You, Get Screened. John now advises ZERO Prostate Cancer and the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, and collaborates with Two Much, a boutique creative studio in Barcelona.

Currently the Design Lead at Wieden + Kennedy where he’s called home for the past 10 years. Before his time there he freelanced at a number of New York City design studios (2×4, Sagmeister Inc. and Office of Paul Sahre, among others) where he also graduated from the School of Visual Arts. Before that, he was born in New York.

Claudia Rubín is a graphic designer from Puerto Rico, based in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in Communications Design. She is currently a Senior designer at The New York Times Magazine. Her work has been recognized by organizations such as the Art Directors Club, the Type Directors Club, D&AD, the Society of News Design and the Society of Publication Designers. She’s also worked with clients such as Buck Design, Harper Collins, FSG, Agüita and other independent brands and publications based in New York and the Caribbean.

Antonio Nogueira is a New York-based designer. Born in Brazil, he received his BA in 2015 from University of Espírito Santo. In 2016, he moved to Barcelona, Spain to pursue a Master’s degree in brand design & packaging. During his five-year stay, he worked at Mucho, an international design studio founded in Barcelona. Antonio had the opportunity to work with international clients across different disciplines and market areas, including European Investment Found (EIF), Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (Macba), Museum Picasso of Barcelona, Fundacion Joan Miro, Catalana Occident Group, and many others.

In 2019, he pursued a second Master’s degree in graphic design, studying strategic thinking and creative business, Postgrafica at IDEP Barcelona, new visual narratives for libraries.

In 2021, Antonio joined Pentagram. Since joining, Antonio has worked on designing the brand and packaging for the testing kits for New York Pandemic Response Lab, the rebranding for Galaxy Digital, Splash Financial, Skolem, Case Western Reserve University, Auros Home, The One Wall Street, and many others.

Christie Shin is a professor at SUNY FIT with a three-decade career in branding, UX/UI, digital product design, and typography. She chairs Creative Technology & Design and has received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence (2023–24) and the Faculty Excellence Award (2017). A Pratt alumna with BFA, MS, and MFA degrees, she is Partner at Cynda Media Lab with 60+ design awards, founder of the Design Portfolio Center, and co-founder of DSGN BY D., bridging academia and industry through innovation.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Calen is a designer driven by playful intuition, curiosity, and a deep appreciation for visual form. A Parsons School of Design graduate with a BFA in Communication Design, Calen has worked with companies including Apple, Droga5, Equinox, R/GA, AG1, and contributed to projects for Hennessy, PayPal, Chase, Meta, and Google Creative Lab. Currently, Calen is a designer at Coinbase, where she continues to explore the intersection of creativity, clarity, and craft.

Simran is a Senior Designer at Koto NY, where he focuses on crafting elevated, contemporary, and thoughtful brand work across both print and digital platforms. With a decade of experience, he has collaborated with a diverse array of clients, from cultural organizations and founder-led tech startups to globally recognized brands such as Apple, Lonely Planet, and Universal Music Publishing Group. Simran’s primary interest lies in developing scalable yet innovative brand systems.