Jury Alumni

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  Inês Ayer

  Creative Manager, Google Deepmind

  2026 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  A humanist designer with a 360º approach to problem solving. Ines uses design as a shifter of society, through visual identity, concept and community. Recognized by Forbes for the list of 30under30. Born in Sao Miguel Island in the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America, she graduated in 2016 from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon in the Communication Design course, where in the final year she was part of the development team of the finalist exhibition and collaborated with the atelier TVM designers. In 2017 she left for Berlin to do an internship at Superunion.
  
  Currently she is based in New York working as a Creative Manager at Google Deepmind, having worked previously at AKQA, Instrument for Google projects and at Pentagram. She is also developing project Aliquoti, focused on reducing neonatal mortality for BIPOC women in the U.S. She keeps her scope of interests broad with a keen interest in culture and engineering biotech. Advocating to generate discussions about democracy, climate change and social equity. Inês is also a member of Global Shapers Lisbon, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.

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  Lukas Bentel

  Chief Creative Officer, MSCHF

  2026 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Lukas Bentel (b. 1992) is an artist and designer based in New York. He is a founding member and Chief Creative Officer of MSCHF, a conceptual art collective that uses mass culture, corporate systems, and consumer products as tools for critique.
  
  At MSCHF, Bentel has shaped the group’s artistic and conceptual direction, as well as its distinctive sense of humor. His work spans digitally native artworks, system-based interventions, and product releases that operate simultaneously as sculpture, media, and critique. Notable projects include Satan Shoes, a sneaker released in collaboration with Lil Nas X; Severed Spots, which dismantled and redistributed a work by Damien Hirst; Key For All, a participatory project in which 5,000 keys granted shared access to a single PT Cruiser that traveled coast to coast across the United States; and ATM Leaderboard, a public ranking system that transformed cash withdrawal into competitive spectacle.
  
  Bentel has also led a sustained footwear practice at MSCHF, including the Big Red Boot, Wavy Baby, and collaborations with Reebok and Crocs, treating shoes as both functional objects and cultural products. These works sit at the intersection of fashion, distribution, and virality, using scale and commerce as artistic material.
  
  MSCHF’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at The Getty and in a solo retrospective at the Daelim Museum. The collective is currently represented by Perrotin and has held two solo exhibitions with the gallery.
  
  Prior to MSCHF, Bentel founded Hello Velocity, an artist group and design studio that was part of NEW INC, the art and technology incubator founded by the New Museum. His work has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, CNN, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, ArtNet, the BBC, and other international publications.

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  Annika Hansteen-Izora

  Creative Director, School of Softness

  2026 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Annika Hansteen-Izora is a queer Black designer, artist, and writer. Through their practice Softness Studios, they create digital and irl worlds rooted in softness and play. Their multimodal career has led them across a wide span of brand, product, and writing projects, from leading design at experimentive social startups, to publishing writing on digital gardens, to designing work with companies from MTV to HP. They have spoken on their design practice’s intersection with inclusivity, care, and connection at Princeton, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, The Brooklyn Museum, and others. Their work has been featured by It’s Nice That, AIGA Eye on Design, and ICON Magazine.

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  Lais Ikoma

  Creative Director and Graphic Designer, Polar, Ltda.

  2026 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Lais Ikoma is a Brazilian graphic designer and creative director. Co-founder of Polar, Ltda. — an award-winning design studio based in São Paulo and working globally, with clients including Nike, Google, and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.
  
  Founded estúdio arco (2018–2020), a highly specialized studio working at the intersection of graphic design, motion, and typography, which later merged with another friendly practice to form what became Polar.
  
  Multidisciplinary yet specialized, now focuses on branding, book and editorial design, and packaging, with a particular passion for all things print. Lais thrives on envisioning and executing projects, leading teams, collaborating, and working with a joyful attention to detail and craft.

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  Alex Naghavi

  Creative Director, Block

  2026 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Alex Naghavi is a Creative Director and AI-driven designer based in Los Angeles. For over 17 years, she has worked at the intersection of brand, digital product, and emerging technology—designing brands and experiences that are culturally resonant and strategically grounded.
  
  She is the former Executive Creative Director and Partner at Josephmark, a global design and venture studio where she led brand and product work for clients including Google, Spotify, Sony, Redbull, Hasbro, AMC, XPRIZE, and Twitter. During that time, she helped shape platforms such as We Are Hunted (acquired by Twitter), Clipchamp (acquired by Microsoft), and led the Myspace redesign in 2012 and the RCA Records brand refresh in 2021.
  
  Her work has been recognized by D&AD, Webby Awards, ADC Awards, SXSW, Awwwards, and Fast Company. She has served as a juror for the ADC Awards, Webby Awards, Awwwards, One Screen Film Festival, and the Leo Imagination Fund.
  
  Alongside her client and leadership work, Alex is building Seamless Studio—an AI-powered mockup platform crafted for brand designers. She is also an emerging AI filmmaker whose films have been screened internationally and awarded at Runway’s Gen:48 and the OMNI Film Festival.
  
  Alex is a first-generation Australian of Persian and Dutch heritage. Her practice is rooted in curiosity, cultural awareness, and pushing creative tools toward more expressive, human outcomes—especially as design enters a new era shaped by AI.