Jury Alumni

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  Nu Goteh

  Principal, Room for Magic

  2024 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Nu Goteh is a multi-disciplinary creative & designer who works in audio, visual, and written mediums. He is the co-founder of the strategy and design studio, Room for Magic, and co-founder and creative director of partner publication, Deem Journal. Nu’s practice is informed by his love for counter/subculture(s), his background as a Liberian-born refugee, and a lifelong dedication to building platforms that enable communities to engage in shared experiences.

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  Teal Triggs

  Associate Dean of the School of Communication, Royal College of Art

  2015 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Teal Triggs, is a Professor of Graphic Design and Associate Dean, School of Communication, Royal College of Art, London. As a graphic design historian, critic and educator she has lectured and broadcast widely and her writings have appeared in numerous edited books and international design publications. Her research has focused primarily on design pedagogy, self-publishing, and feminism. Teal is also Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Communication Design (Bloomsbury/ico-D) and co-editor of Visual Communication (Sage) and Associate Editor of Design Issues (MIT Press). She is currently co-editing a new book The Graphic Design Reader (Bloomsbury). Her previous books include: Fanzines and, The Typographic Experiment: Radical Innovations in Contemporary Type Design, both published by Thames & Hudson. She is a Fellow of the International Society of Typographic Designers, the Royal College of Art and the Royal Society of Arts.

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  Kristy Tillman

  Head of Global Experience Design, Slack

  2019 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  Kristy Tillman currently serves as the Head of Global Experience Design at Slack. As the first in the first in the role, she is building a vision and a team whose mission it is to lead the transformation of branded and built environments, workplace experience and culture, and their integrated services and programs through the use of design and technology to make Slack employees, partners and visitors’ lives more pleasant and productive.
  
  Prior to this role, Kristy lead and built Slack’s first Communication Design team, as the Head of Communication Design. Where was lead the design of Slack’s first user conference, marketing website’s first overhaul, and the creative direction of several brand marketing campaigns.
  
  Before Slack, Kristy was the Design Director at Society of Grownups— where she lead design teams dedicated to crafting exceptional experiences across both brand and product. She also worked as a designer at IDEO, an award-winning global design consultancy where she helped solve design problems across a variety of industries including consumer product goods, finance, education, and healthcare.
  
  Kristy believes in a future where design is a tool that aids underserved communities in solving sociocultural problems. As the co-founder of the Detroit Water Project and founder of Tomorrow Looks Bright, Kristy has a strong commitment to furthering the accessibility of design.
  
  She is an alumna of Florida A&M University.

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  Maria Gonzalez

  Senior Communications Designer, Slack

  2019 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Maria is a Senior Communications Designer at Slack. She is an award winning designer and illustrator with experience working at startups and advertising agencies. Her work has been featured in Print Magazine, Lurzer’s Archive, Interface Lovers and has won a D&AD Impact Award, Gold Effie, Silver Addy, and more. She has a diverse skill set ranging from web and app development, UI, TV, print, social, illustration, art direction and brand identity design.

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  Marvin Schwaibold

  Senior Design Lead, Squarespace

  2021 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Marvin Schwaibold is a Senior Design Lead at Squarespace where he is in charge of creating new design systems, creating prototypes and pushing the product forward. He focuses on interactive campaigns and new and interesting ways users will interact with the web on a global scale. He was previously a Art Director at Watson Design Group in Los Angeles working on interactive websites for clients like Wes Anderson, Disney,Netflix, IFC Films, Amazon Prime and Paramount Pictures.
  
  Marvins focus lies on the marriage of typography and interactive systems in the digital and print world. He strongly believes in the democratisation of good design on a larger scale.

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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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  Matt Willey

  Art Director, The New York Times Magazine

  2015 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Matt graduated from Central St Martins in 1997. Having gained valuable experience at a handful of small design companies he joined the internationally acclaimed studio Frost Design, later becoming Creative Director. In 2005 he co-founded Studio8 Design with Zod Bather. Matt is a co-founder of Port Magazine, which launched in February of 2011. In 2014 he was named Designer of the Year by Creative Review.He is currently the Art Director of The New York Times Magazine.

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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.

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  Bryony Gomez-Palacio

  Co-founder, UnderConsideration

  2023 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Born and raised in Mexico City, Bryony Gomez-Palacio is co-founder of UnderConsideration, a graphic design firm generating its own projects, initiatives, and content while taking on limited client work. Over the last two decades Bryony has managed the behind-the-scenes of various blogs and design sites co-created with her husband and partner Armin Vit, including Brand New which is devoted to opinions on corporate and brand identity work.
  
  In 2010 the Brand New Conference, a two-day event on corporate and brand identity with some of today’s most active and influential practitioners from around the world, was created. In 2018, they conceived First Round, a one-day showcase of original presentations made to clients showing initial design explorations for logo, identity, and branding projects.
  
  When not hand-making materials for the Brand New Conference, organizing events, or working on client work Bryony can be found heading out of town where she loves to meet new people while conducting workshops, judging competitions, lecturing on all things design, or coaching others on all aspects of life and work.
  

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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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  Nessim Higson

  Executive Creative Director, WeTransfer

  2021 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  Nessim Higson is the Executive Creative Director at WeTransfer, where he is in charge of the creative brand, identity, and visual language of the company. He was previously the Web Design Director for Squarespace helping oversee the continuing development of the platform and brand, and how it can be a leading force in championing creativity globally. He helped lead the charge on innovation within SQSP through helping establish their web concepts team and oversaw the rebrand of the company in 2019.
  
  Prior to joining Squarespace, Nessim lived and worked in Amsterdam for 6 years and has continued to run his independent studio IAAH / iamalwayshungry working with a range of clients such as Adidas, The Criterion Collection, DC Comics, TED, Google, and a wide range of global advertising and design agencies.
  
  Nessim is a firm believer that great communication can not only shift the economic marketplace but has a responsibility to contribute to the social fabric of society.

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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.