Jury Alumni

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  Roanne Adams

  Founder, RoAndCo

  2016 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Roanne Adams is the Chief Creative Director and Founder of RoAndCo Studio. Established in 2006, RoAndCo serves as a visual thought leader for a range of forward-thinking fashion, beauty and lifestyle clients. Acting as both a strategic and creative resource for clients at every step of the branding experience, RoAndCo’s services include branding, art direction and interactive design.
  
  Roanne’s fresh, iconic and forward approach has been recognized throughout the design community and has garnered such honors as PRINT magazine’s “New Visual Artist (20 under 30),” ADC Young Guns 9, as well as one of six of the city’s most “outstanding up-and-coming design professionals” named by T Magazine. A current member of AIGA/NY’s Board of Directors, Roanne lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

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  Alero Dawn Akuya

  VP Global Brand Development, LEGO

  2024 Visual Communication Jury Member

  While at Nike for 13 years, Alero was responsible for some of the most pivotal brand transformations for the sport and culture giant. Most notably, Alero created Nike's Purpose Marketing division, leading Nike's role in sport and social impact alongside key athletes Colin Kaepernick, Serena Williams, Kobe Bryant and many more. She led Nike New York where she orchestrated the launch of Nike's collaboration with Virgil Abloh at New York Fashion Week-- a first for the brand, and one of Nike's most successful collaborations of all time.
  Alero now serves as the Vice President of Global Brand for The LEGO Group. She is responsible for transforming the impact of the 89-year-old Danish brand globally to become a proactive cultural leader through play advocacy, inclusion, and innovation. She has led integrated brand strategy and global initiatives, and campaigns such as Rebuild the World, 90 Years of Play, Play Unstoppable, and Everyone is Awesome. Alero is committed to inspiring a world play movement to ensure creative play remains a birth rite to all children.
  

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  Diana Alcausin

  Associate Creative Director, WeTransfer Advertising Studio

  2021 Visual Communication Jury Member

  D Alcausin is the Associate Creative Director of the WeTransfer Advertising Studio.
  
  She leads a team of talented creatives who design award winning immersive, interactive digital ads viewed by a global audience of 60 million users a month. Collaborating with the world's leading brands, Diana oversees the advertising platform's evolution into a unique digital space at the forefront of creative innovation.
  
  With a grounding in commercial strategy, Diana bridges the gap between business and design with an approach that balances strategic creative execution with business goals.

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  Taamrat Amaize

  Chief Strategy Officer, Collins

  2024 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  I'm a strategist who doesn't believe in conned thinking.
  
  I like using provocative approaches and out-of-category parallels to arrive at solutions. I live for problem-solving and apply that kind of critical thinking to both business and brand challenges.
  
  My experience with established brand behemoths and scrappy start-ups— from technology to CPG, B2B and B2C—has given me an invaluable perspective.

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  Dana Arnett

  CEO, VSA Partners

  2022 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  Dana is CEO of VSA Partners and a guiding force behind the firm's creation of brand programs, digital initiatives and design solutions for its diverse roster of world-class clients. His career has been steeped in design leadership, policymaking, business and brand consulting, and a long record of public service. He has been recognized internationally by multiple organizations for his contributions to design, including the Smithsonian Institute. Dana is past President of AIGA, a recipient of the AIGA Medal, an ID 40 recipient, DIFFA Unsung Hero recipient, a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, a former board member of the Architecture & Design Society at the Art Institute of Chicago, and founding board member of Project &. In 2016, Arnett worked with the Obama Administration to brand and launch Spark, the first-ever government led global entrepreneurship initiative. In the spring of 2022, Dana and Kevin Bethune are pleased to be featured as season 11 co-hosts of the acclaimed podcast, The Design of Business, The Business of Design.

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  Lisa Babb

  Professor, School of Industrial Design, Georgia Tech University

  2022 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Lisa Babb comes from a rich history of activism and social justice through engaging citizens. She has worked in the Graphic Design field and has taught Graphic Design at the collegiate level for more than twenty years. Lisa came from Brooklyn (before it became the brand that it is now) and has lived in Atlanta for more than fifteen. She has a Master’s from Pratt Institute and a Bachelor’s from Baruch College. The same year she finished Pratt, she became a graphic design professor after September 11 changed the world for everybody.
  
  She started at a Corporate Design firm specializing in award-winning Annual reports. Some stops along the way include a commercial catalog company, a marketing group for Seagrams, two sizeable pharmaceutical advertising agencies, a commercial magazine in advertising, museums, and museums. She has designed things as small as a button, as vast as a congressional campaign, and as big as a billboard. She has also designed things as unconventional as a float for the Bud Billiken parade and as functional as a point of purchase display.
  
  Within design education specifically, she has created a Graphic Design department from the ground up. This design leader has made a point of teaching in places that encourage diversity in demographics, ideologies, and models. She started teaching Design at schools in New York City, the last one being PACE University in the Master’s program, before coming to Atlanta and teaching at SCAD and now Georgia Tech. She lives by the mantra “if you want a better world, make one” and truly believes that design and especially design education is one of the few things that can change lives. It is hard even to blink once you have graphic literacy and finally see.

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  Perniclas Bedow

  Creative Director & Founder, Bedow

  2017 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Perniclas Bedow is the founder and creative director of Stockholm based design studio Bedow. The studio mainly works with branding, packaging and book design and for the last decade their work has been widely acknowledged around the world through books, lectures and exhibitions. Perniclas’ work has been awarded by Art Directors Club, Cannes Lions, D&AD and Epica Awards, to mention a few.

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  Alicia Cheng

  Founding Partner, MGMT. design

  2020 Visual Communication Jury Member

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  Alice Chung

  Co-founder, Omnivore

  2020 Visual Communication Jury Member

  ALICE CHUNG is founding partner at Omnivore. She has collaborated with clients such as Princeton University School of Architecture, Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, Luhring Augustine Gallery, University Settlement, and artist Polly Apfelbaum on endeavors ranging from identity systems to websites and publications. She studied at Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University where she received a B.A. in biology and a M.P.H. in health and social behavior. Her graduate work led her to shift her focus to design studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is Senior Critic in Graphic Design at Yale University School of Art.

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  Marion Deuchars

  Author and Illustrator

  2015 Visual Communication Jury Member

  British illustrator and author Marion Deuchars works with major design and advertising agencies, publishes illustrated children's books and has created a globally recognized style of hand-lettering. Whether it's client work for the likes of The Royal Mail and The Imperial War Museum, or inspiring youngsters with her Let's Make Great Art books, Marion's impact on the creative scene continues to be wide-ranging. She is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and represented the UK at Helsinki's World Design Capital celebrations.Her latest book, Draw Paint Print like the Great Artists, was published by Laurence King in Autumn 2014.

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  Daniel Dickson

  Creative Lead, Apple

  2021 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Daniel Dickson is an Emmy award winning design-driven creative director. Specializing in brand development, art direction and design for consumer-centered brands. Drawing from a deep well of art, music, cinema, photography and technology references. Creating meaningful work that helps brands connect with their audiences.
  
  He currently is the design director for Google Cloud. Where he leads a motley crew of designers, writers and thinkers. In his down time he likes to practice photography and drawing. Daniel is based in Atwater Village in Los Angeles where he lives with partner Natalie and their 3 month old boy, Maxwell and 7yr old Mathis.

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  Ryan Essmaker

  Editorial and Creative Director, The Great Discontent

  2016 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Ryan Essmaker is an NYC-based creative director, designer, and photographer. He is a partner at the creative studio, Wayward Wild, and cofounder of The Great Discontent, a print and online magazine featuring timeless conversations with today’s artists, makers, and risk-takers. Launched as a digital-only magazine in 2011, TGD has grown to include film projects, events, and print. Prior to TGD, Ryan served as Creative Director and Head of Product at Crush & Lovely in NYC, and ran his own design and development studio in Michigan.

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  Louise Fili

  Director, Louise Fili Ltd.

  2018 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Louise Fili is director of Louise Fili Ltd, specializing in brand development for food packaging and restaurants. Formerly senior designer for Herb Lubalin, Louise Fili was art director of Pantheon Books from 1978 to 1989, where she designed close to 2,000 book jackets. She is co-author, with Steven Heller, of Italian Art Deco, British Modern, Dutch Moderne, Streamline, French Modern, Deco España, German Modern, Design Connoisseur, Typology, Stylepedia, Euro Deco, Scripts, Shadow Type, Stencil Type, and Slab Serif Type. Fili has also written and designed Elegantissima, Grafica della Strada, Graphique de la Rue, Gràfica de les Rambles, The Cognoscenti's Guide to Florence, and Italianissimo. A member of the Art Directors Hall of Fame, she has received the medal for Lifetime Achievement from the AIGA and the Type Directors Club.

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  Mariano Flore

  Senior Graphic Designer, Atipus Barcelona

  2017 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Mariano Fiore is an Argentinian Graphic Designer based in Barcelona specializing in corporate identity, editorial design and packaging.
  
  He believes in a conceptual work and a simple and direct visual language. In 2009 Mariano got his degree in Graphic Design from the ESD of Murcia. He has 6 years of graphic design experience working in studios from Bolzano (Italy), Murcia and Barcelona (Spain).
  
  In the last years Marino has worked developing projects for national and international clients.
  
  He is currently working at Atipus Barcelona as a senior graphic designer.

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  Nicholas Fulcher

  Art Director & Designer, Atlantic Records

  2023 Visual Communication Jury Member

  NickyChulo (Nicholas Fulcher) is an Art Director & Designer from Northern Virginia who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Learning how to draw at an early age, Nicholas was drawn to graffiti, comic books, and video games. He continued to harness his combined love of art & design and attended numerous design classes in high school. Teachers quickly began to take notice and started to encourage his growth which helped cultivate his passion for visual communication. In 2010, Nicholas began freelancing in Washington D.C. and his primary focus was album art and apparel design. From 2013-2014 he attended Savannah College of Art & Design (Atlanta) studying towards his BFA in Graphic Design. After studying a few years, honing his craft, Nicholas made the move to New York City where he actualized his passion by becoming an Art Director at Atlantic records. He has carefully navigated his way through the industry and has grown into one of the most sought out visual artists.

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  Antonio García

  Head of Design, TXI

  2022 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Antonio García is Head of Design at TXI, and also the founder of Dadwell & Co. He serves as a Board Advisor to AIGA Chicago.
  
  In addition to design leadership, Antonio is a mentor, educator, and lecturer.
  
  If he’s not hard at work, Antonio is most likely DJing, drawing, or training for his next marathon.