UNIQUEWAYS WITH THOMAS GIRARD

Jesse reed is partner at order, managing editor of standards manual, ceo of standards, and creator of chip slip

Dr. Andy Polaine is a design leadership coach, educator and writer with three decades of experience helping clients transform their organisations and themselves. He is co-author of Service Design: From Insight to Implementation.

John Bielenberg founded Project M in 2003. He has won more than 250 design awards in his career, and became an AIGA Fellow in 2008. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired six of his design projects, and staged a solo exhibition of his work in 2000. In 2009, John was awarded the Washington University Skandalaris Award for Design Entrepreneurship in St. Louis. He went on to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Maryland Institute College of Art.

Tamara Adlin helps teams make great products. Former UX leader at Amazon. 20+ years consulting (specializing in messy startups). Co-author of the Persona Lifecycle books

Naomi Ann Clarke is a freelance illustrator and art facilitator working with art directors in editorial, publishing, brands and charities, influenced by our connection to nature, adventure, wellbeing and heritage.

Dan consults with companies and organizations worldwide on design and innovation. An early proponent of Inclusive Design he also lectures internationally on research and the future of design. He established ThinkActHuman with the goal of design for a better world. 

Jakob Schneider is partner and creative director at KD1 design agency, co-founder of More than Metrics and Smaply, designer and editor of This is Service Design Doing and This is Service Design Thinking.

Susan Weinschenk has a Ph.D. in Psychology, and is the Chief Behavioral Scientist and CEO at The Team W, Inc, and former Professor at the University of Wisconsin. Susan consults with Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups, governments and non-profits, and is the author of several books, including 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People, 100 MORE Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People and How To Get People To Do Stuff.

Nadine’s work has been featured in the 5th edition of Megg’s History of Graphic Design and in 2012 she was selected by Fast Company as one of its 100 Most Creative People in Business. In 2016 her work was showcased in the 4th edition of First Choice which highlights the work of the 250 top global designers.

Jake Barton is an American designer, and Founder of Local Projects, an experience design firm for museums, brands and public spaces based in New York, New York. He is on Fast Company Magazine’s list of top fifty designers and his TED Talk has over one million views.

Throughout my 30 years in the creative industry, I have worked for a corporation, a government department, four design studios, started two successful agencies, and taught and continue to teach design courses to the next generation of creatives.

I'm an executive UX and product design leader with more than 20 years of experience. I lead design transformations for high-growth companies. I love elevating the business impact of design, leveraging design as a strategic differentiator, and building design orgs to scale.

Senior Product Designer @Mixpanel. Author of Laws of UX. Creator of Humane by Design. Co-organizer of IXD2.

I am Andrea Catalina Rodriguez, a muralist and graphic designer based in Toronto, with a passion for lettering & colour. My creative vision is deeply rooted in my love for Colombia and the rich tapestry of Latin American culture.

I am a UX researcher based in New York City. I currently work as a UX research manager on the Material Design team at Google and organize Ladies That UX NYC. My work focuses on the emergent role of artificial intelligence in UX design and software development.

Amber Case studies the interactions between humans and technology, and how technology affects culture.
Case is an internationally recognized design advocate and speaker, and the author of four books, including Calm Technology and A Kids Book About Technology. She spent two years as a fellow at MIT’s Center for Civic Media and Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and was a 2021 Mozilla Fellow.
Named one of Inc. Magazine’s 30 under 30 and Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology, she was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2012 and received the Claude Shannon Innovation Award fr...

I lead teams and mentor designers while keeping my hands dirty in the practice. I design physical and digital services, and have been doing this and things related to this since 1997. I specialize in service design, behavioral design, and interaction design, all for increasingly complex service and product platforms. Co-author of Orchestrating Experiences from Rosenfeld Media

Throughout my 30 years in the creative industry, I have worked for a corporation, a government department, four design studios, started two successful agencies, and taught and continue to teach design courses to the next generation of creatives.

Ash is the co-founder and creative director of Six Cinquième. As a brand consultancy, Six Cinquième exists to define and build brands for visionaries who want to leave behind an impactful legacy in people’s lives, their industry and the world.

Indi is a solution strategy researcher who created a method that lets teams clarify, measure, and grow their solutions and audience based on thinking styles. She works with teams on knowledge-building projects. She also teaches six applied research courses, writes books & essays, makes talks and podcast appearances, and pens helpful posts on LinkedIn.

* 24 design patents * 6 Featured Mobile apps * 6 design books in 3 languages including UX for AI: A Framework for Designing AI-Driven Products (April 2025) * Hundreds of millions in design ROI

Founder of Manic Type, Jamie Chang is a seasoned type designer and letterer based in Toronto, Canada. Jamie’s work delves into expressive typography, and its textural intricacies. A graduate of Type@Cooper and holding an MA TypeMedia from The Royal Academy of Art in the Hague. He now teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design. He has spent years working on his independent practice designing typefaces and working for Canada Type and The Northern Block. 

Paul Twa is a designer and illustrator who merges the richness of maximalism with the depth of visual history to create bold, intentional, and timeless work.

Today, as chief creative officer at Bruce Mau Design, Stein likes to operate without a rigid structure and follows the ethos that there is no “right way” when it comes to creativity.

Vince is the Founder, CEO and Executive Creative Director of Frost*collective. A globally recognised and awarded creative who is passionately committed to designing a better world.

Danah Abdulla is a designer, educator and researcher interested in new narratives and practices in design that push the disciplinary boundaries and definitions of the subject. She is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Anti/Post/Decolonial Histories, Theories, Praxes at the Decolonising the Arts Institute at University of the Arts London (UAL). She is the author of two books: Designerly Ways of Knowing: A Working Inventory of Things a Designer Should Know (Onomatopee, 2022), and Design Otherwise: Transforming Design Education in the Arab Region (Bloomsbury, 2025). www.dabdulla.com.

Rachel [she/her] is an independent creative executive shaping the future of design at the intersection of brand, culture, and technology. Since founding her SF-based consultancy in 2020, she has brought her expertise to larger companies like Airbnb and Dropbox and women-founded ventures such as Chicken & Egg Films and Acora. 

Debra has been the Design Director of The New York Times for Kids since 2017. Previously she spent more than 25 years working as an editorial Art Director designing magazines such as Rolling Stone, House and Garden, Condé Nast Traveler, Esquire and More magazine.

Hi, I’m Gurudutt — your go-to creator for blending brains, beauty, and business into seamless digital experiences. 🚀 I thrive at the crossroads of engineering precision, creative artistry, and business impact, turning complex challenges into intuitive solutions that inspire.

Interdisciplinary artist, inventor, co-founder, executive, design leader, DJ, dancer, designer, and aspiring writer. Background in design, engineering, and interdisciplinary mischief. Decades of experience shipping products and experiences, including work on multiple operating systems and inventions that have now become ubiquitous and everyday.

My name is Abby Covert. I am an author, teacher and community leader in the field of information architecture. My work aims to make information architecture and sensemaking skills accessible to everyone.

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I started learning design at two years old on my father’s letterpress (yes, really - there’s a photo to prove it). I’ve been creating ever since, following in his footsteps as a second-generation design and Creative Director.

Lou Downe is the author of Good Services, the bestselling book on how to design services that work and the founding director of the School of Good Services. Lou is the former Director of Design for the UK Government where they founded the discipline of service design, growing a 2000 strong team of designers into one of the largest, and most influential design team’s in the UK - winning a Designs of the Year award and a D&AD lifetime achievement award

I make stuff like moonlearning.io and thesolo.io, and enjoy speaking at conferences about the intersection of UI design/coding and solopreneurship.

I am an award-winning designer with years of experience as a graphic designer, art director, and brand consultant. Until Sunday encompasses the versatile work I do, whether that’s crafting compelling and trustworthy brand stories for cutting-edge tech startups, leading innovative digital designs for global organisations, or illustrating a captivating book.

He joined Pentagram’s New York office as partner in 2010. Eddie Opara was born in Wandsworth, London in 1972. He studied graphic design at the London College of Printing and Yale University, where he received his MFA in 1997. He began his career as a designer at ATG and Imaginary Forces and worked as a senior designer/art director at 2×4 before establishing his own studio, The Map Office, in 2005.

Virtual Reality Developer, Industrial Designer, UX Designer, Web Developer & CG Artist

I am an award-winning designer with years of experience as a graphic designer, art director, and brand consultant. Until Sunday encompasses the versatile work I do, whether that’s crafting compelling and trustworthy brand stories for cutting-edge tech startups, leading innovative digital designs for global organisations, or illustrating a captivating book.

As an evangelist for design ethnography, Kelly is dedicated to understanding how real people integrate products and services into their daily lives. Kelly is founder and principal of both gotomedia and gotoresearch.

I'm Brad Frost, a design system consultant, web designer, speaker, writer, musician, and artist located in beautiful Pittsburgh, PA. I wrote a book called Atomic Design, which covers all that goes into creating and maintaining effective design systems.

Luba Lukova is an American visual artist, known for her thought-provoking images and expressive poster designs. Her work has won international acclaim and is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York among many others. 

Luba Lukova is an internationally renowned, New York-based visual artist and designer. Her powerful, thought provoking works have been exhibited around the world and are included in the permanent collections of a long list including the Museum of Modern Art, New York.Her many solo exhibitions include the Smithsonian Affiliate National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, O...

Luba Lukova is an internationally renowned, New York-based visual artist and designer. Her powerful, thought provoking works have been exhibited around the world and are included in the permanent collections of a long list including the Museum of Modern Art, New York.Her many solo exhibitions include the Smithsonian Affiliate National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio; Jewish Museum Milwaukee; Museum of Design Atlanta; La MaMa Gallery, New York; The Art Institute of Boston; UNESCO, Paris; and DDD Gallery, Osaka, Japan.

Natasha Jen is an award-winning designer, an educator, and a partner at Pentagram. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, she joined Pentagram’s New York office in 2012. A six-time National Design Award nominee.

Linn is a leading advocate for service design in Canada and co-founded Service Design Toronto in 2013. She runs Made Manifest, a boutique consultancy, leading transformational projects for clients like Mejuri, TELUS, Shopify, and the City of Toronto. She writes the Ask a Service Designer newsletter and has spoken at global conferences like Service Design Network, CanUX, and Service Design in Government. Linn has also appeared on podcasts such as the Service Design Show and Power of Ten. She loves glitter, dancing, cats, lifting heavy things, baking, and making themed playlists.

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Liz is part designer, part educator, and full-time dog owner. Liz is VP of Design at Microsoft AI, and the Founding Chair of the MFA Interaction Design Program at the School of Visual Arts. Previously, Liz was Senior Vice President of Digital and Vice President of Design for NPR, responsible for leading human-centered design across NPR’s products and platforms

Christopher Noessel is IBM’s Design Principal for Applied AI. and a masters graduate from the cool but short-lived Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy.

Ivy Ross (born 1955)[1] is an American business executive, designer,[2] and Chief Design Officer for Consumer Devices at Google.[3] She has worked at Google since May 2014; prior to being appointed Chief Design Officer, she led the Google Glass team at Google X.[4][5] Ross's metal work in jewelry design is in the permanent collections of 12 international museums, including the Smithsonian. In February 2019 she was named one of the 15 Most Powerful Women at Google by Business Insider.[9]

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing, he’s most probably running front-end & UX workshops. He loves solving complex UX, front-end and performance problems. He also runs Smart Interface Design Patterns, a video course and UX training for passionate UX designers.

I’m a product design leader and the author of four books: Designing Devices (2011), Designing Gestural Interfaces (2008), Designing for Interaction (2006, 2009) and Microinteractions (2013). I’m currently an Assistant Professor of The Practice at CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute.

I’m Gabriela Namie, a designer and art director based in New York. I’ve spent over 10 years harnessing systematic creative thinking to craft visuals and help brands come to life. I currently work at Google as Seed Studio’s VisD Lead.

Mike Monteiro is cofounder and design director of Mule Design, an interactive design studio whose work has been called "delightfully hostile" by The New Yorker. He's written four books: Design Is a Job, You're My Favorite Client, Ruined by Design, and The Collected Angers. He's not as smart as his wife, as courageous as his daughter, or as charming as his dog. He's pretty much given up on tech and is considering a future as a lighthouse keeper or record store owner, or maybe opening a record store in a lighthouse.

previously &Walsh – is a brazilian graphic designer based in Brooklyn, NY. associate design director Base, teacher Aprender Design, half of Anywhere 

Yo has worked with visionary founders, ambitious CMOs and wildly talented creatives across DTC, food, retail and entertainment—basically all the fun stuff. Clients include Pinkberry (the yogurt that launched a thousand cravings), Evite (because sending paper invites is so 1800s), Winc (for those who like their wine with a side of convenience), Disney, NBC’s The Today Show and Turner Networks. she’s been nominated for three Emmys, which is a fancy way of saying I’ve almost won—thrice.

June Digan is a designer and illustrator specializing in traditional and digital mediums. A graduate of Fine Arts and Design major in advertising arts at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, June's work focuses on moods, emotions, and storytelling using delicate characters, whimsical landscapes, and lettering.

I'm Anahit Lou, a multidisciplinary designer, creative researcher, and educator with a strong affinity for modernism and a commitment to ethical design practices. Having initially pursued studies in corporate law, I redirected my path to follow my passion for design, dedicating nearly a decade to working as a designer, educator, and art director.

Hi, my name is Tea Uglow. I have been a creative since I was little and was Creative Director at Google's Creative Lab from 2007 until 2023. Now I run a creative advisory and freelance as a creative coach for agencies or studios.

I’m Ana, founder and CEO at Eight Station Rendering Studio,and co-founder of 044Bureau branding studio. My passion for detail and years of architectural experience have shaped the way I approach each project, always with your vision at the forefront.

Join me as we explore the intersection of design, creativity, and storytelling, bringing spaces to life with purpose and meaning.

Lizzy Ellingson has over 20 years of experience in design and digital product solutions. She earned a Master’s in Design from the School of Visual Arts. In 2021, Lizzy was named to Retail Touchpoints’ 40 Under 40 list.

Hi, I’m Nu—a designer, strategist, and educator dancing between design, culture, pedagogy and socially-engaged art. My practice integrates and reframes design beyond aesthetics. I’m interested in how design can serve as a catalyst for meaningful social change, informed by my Liberian heritage and a commitment to counter-culture ideals. I believe in the regenerative power of creativity to reimagine what is possible and to shape more inclusive and sustainable futures.

I grew up in the countryside on a small island in Denmark. Everyone knew each other in our village, all the kids played together, and looking back it felt like every day was sunny. In 2017 I graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Art and Design and immediately packed my bags and headed to Vancouver, Canada. Since then this has been home and I’ve carved out a wonderful career here as an illustrator, lettering artist, and all-around creative.

I’m the founder and head of 43 Design Studio, where we help businesses grow by designing user experiences that really connect with people.

My past clients and brand experience while freelancing include FAANG companies such as Google, and other high-profile companies like General Mills, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Postmates, and Ford.

Who I am

** Experienced user research practitioner with over two decades in the field and keen business skills

** Knowledgeable consultant who has worked with 150 organizations

** Manager of staff and projects with routine success at management of time, scope and budget

I work with new and emerging leaders around the world to increase their people leadership skillset and develop effective, inclusive practices that make them better at people stuff.

Matthias Hollwich is the founder of HWKN, a NY-based collective of architects, sculptors, social strategists and innovators dedicated to use architecture to shape a better world. He was honored in Fast Company’s ranking of the world’s Top 10 Most Innovative Architects and in Business Insider’s list of Top Business Visionaries. A Google search reveals hes the business partner of Rem Koolhaas.

Best known as the designer of the Google logo. Her practice is described as “We are passionate about problem solving through creative collaboration. We ask questions, share and develop stories, go wide and deep, and magic happens.”

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.

Cali Haan is a writer and personal-self trainer in Vancouver. Her writings and artworks have won nominations and prizes, including Finalist: Best Comedian with a Day Job and Honourable Mention: Out on Screen.

Grace Chen is an aspiring multi-modal journalist in Vancouver who wants to tell stories that matter. She previously attended Queen's University and is now at BCIT's Journalism program. Grace has big career goals that includes eventually working in the 'media hub' of the world-- New York City.

She is an MA Design graduate from the Royal College of Art, London. Before joining Studio Dumbar, Liza worked for Pentagram London for several years. In 2004 she co-founded—and still co-hosts—the podcast station Typeradio.org with Donald Beekman and the type foundry Underware.

Davide Radaelli Design Studio works with international companies and agencies from all over the world. Some of the brands DRDS has worked for are: Panasonic, Novartis, IBM, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Sedar, Indigo Film, F.E.R.A., Morini Rent, Nemen, Designjunction, LetteraG, Writeground.

Vincent Wanga is a dynamic international design thought leader, creative keynote speaker, award-winning creative and executive, author of The Art of Direction, serial entrepreneur, and experienced brand consultant with an exceptional range of expertise over a distinguished two-decade career.

Karim Rashid is one of the most prolific designers of his generation. Over 4000 designs in production, over 300 awards and working in over 40 countries attest to Karim’s legend of design.

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino is an Internet of Things author, consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur with a background in industrial and interaction design. She wrote Smarter Homes: How Technology will Change your Home Life (Apress, 2018). Her projects are also part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Co-founder and chief creative officer of Design Army in Washington, DC, where she oversees all creative coming through the agency's doors. An award-winning creative director and savvy business leader, Pum has dreamed up and developed numerous high-profile campaigns worldwide. 

Arthur Samuel Wilbur Chantry II is a graphic designer often associated with the posters and album covers he has done for bands from the Pacific Northwest, such as Mudhoney, Mono Men, Soundgarden, and The Sonics.

At Dell Technologies, I transform intricate challenges into elegant, user-centric solutions. Over nearly two decades, I've honed my skills in design thinking, user experience, and visual design, consistently elevating products from concept to reality.

A British-born, Dubai-raised Product Designer with in-house and agency experience and a penchant for creating impactful solutions to pressing problems.

Yves Béhar (born 9 May 1967) is a Swiss-born American designer, entrepreneur, and educator. He is the founder and principal designer of Fuseproject.

Gemma O’Brien is an internationally renowned designer and artist known for her bold graphics, illustrative lettering and murals. Her work has been commissioned by Apple, Nike, Google, and is held in the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.

Yves Béhar (born 9 May 1967) is a Swiss-born American designer, entrepreneur, and educator. He is the founder and principal designer of Fuseproject.

Erin’s story is unique. An artist focused on creative outcomes, Erin has also achieved the balance needed to run a successful company. Her early aspirations were not to own and run a studio, but, as she stepped forward in creative work, she realized that great outcomes require a talented, multifaceted team including great producers and support staff.

After undergrad, she enrolled in the masters program Design/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), studying under Steven Heller. After graduation, she worked for Graphis Magazine, New York City's Olympic bid, and Pentagram under partner Michael Bierut

Accomplished graphic designer with 14+ years experience. Currently Director of Design at Concrete in Toronto.

After completing a BFA at Emily Carr University in 2006, Pamela went on to study design and illustration in the IDEA program at Capilano University. Currently, Pamela is a Creative Director at Rethink working with clients such as A&W, SmartSweets and YWCA. Her work has been recognized by the One Show, Clio Awards, Communication Arts, the Advertising & Design Club of Canada, Applied Arts, Marketing Awards and the National Magazine Awards.

Founder, CEO, and Chief Curator at Nooroongji Books. Making multilingual mainstream.

Communication Design major at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and works at Blim.

Peter is founder and principal of Q30 Design Inc., a Toronto-based branding, digital and investor relations communications firm.

I'm an IBM Product Strategist with 13 years of experience in User Experience Design, shaping the day-to-day lives of over 250,000 IBM employees worldwide.

Known for her passion for taking on initiatives that blend cultural awareness, humanity and a love of art to advance society and business alike, Vanessa’s experiences living and working in Buenos Aires, LA, New York, Mexico City and Toronto, have given Blok a unique international perspective that has been recognized and awarded around the world.

Partner and ECD at Rethink — AdAge’s Creative Agency of the Year, one of Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Creative Agencies, and Canada’s top Creative & Design agency five years in a row and counting.

Paul Wong is a media-maestro making art for site-specific spaces and screens of all sizes. He is an award winning artist and curator known for pioneering early visual and media art in Canada, founding several artist-run groups, and organizing events, festivals, conferences and public interventions since the 1970s. Wong has produced projects throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

I am a graphic designer, author, and educator based in Brooklyn, NY.  My deep and wide-ranging expertise in visual communications— from custom typography and conceptual illustration to brand visualization and the design of editorial and information systems—is the result of over thirty years of professional and academic activity.

Stanley Chow is an artist and illustrator from Manchester, England. Stanley Chow Illustrations brings portraits of famous individuals captured through artistic mediums to capture a timeless character!

Louis Fishauf is one of Canada's most respected graphic artists and visual communicators. He has designed magazines, posters, corporate logos, murals, ad campaigns, product packaging, apparel graphics, postage stamps and websites for a wide variety of large and small clients. His innovative graphic style has garnered awards and industry recognition in Canada and abroad.

Louis Fishauf is one of Canada's most respected graphic artists and visual communicators. He has designed magazines, posters, corporate logos, murals, ad campaigns, product packaging, apparel graphics, postage stamps and websites for a wide variety of large and small clients. His innovative graphic style has garnered awards and industry recognition in Canada and abroad.

Currently a Designer at NASA’s JPL and a recent speaker at Config. For over a decade, I have worked in various places, ranging from tech startups, design agencies, and Fortune 500 companies. I have a love for good design and I appreciate all things nerdy.

I’m Danielle Molyneux — but you can call me Dani. I’m a type-twisting artist and designer. I’m also the person at Dotto.  A wise woman once said to me, ‘my brain doesn’t work in numbers — it works in stories’. And with that I concur. I’m obsessed with words and their power to change, challenge and inspire. My quest is to bring words to vibrant life, playfully challenging perceptions and celebrating ideas. Making words to live by.

Stefan G. Bucher (born 1973) is an American writer, graphic designer and illustrator. He works through his design studio, 344 Design. Stefan G. Bucher was born in Germany in 1973. Bucher moved to California to attend the Art Center College of Design.

Career spanning over 18+ years John has worked with various technology corporations in roles ranging from software coder to leadership roles like CTO, Head of technology. Passionate about web technologies and was instrumental in delivering key software products for companies like Apple, Tesco, Boeing, to name a few.