PORTFOLIO DAY - Key Persons

AIGA San Francisco, the professional association for design, is an advocate and resource for the cross-disciplinary and design-adjacent Bay Area community focused on social, ethical and professional interests. Our local community hails from a diverse array of creative disciplines, identity, race, ethnicity and origins, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of experience. We promote and support accessibility, inclusion, utilizing skills for the betterment of society and design for all. AIGA San Francisco is led by an inspiring group of individuals with diverse backgrounds and professional experience. Volunteers offer their time and energy to help run programs and initiatives. Together they form a collaborative of interested community members dedicated to supporting Bay Area designers.

Job Titles:

• Freelance Writer and Editor

Alyson Kuhn is a freelance writer and editor with an eye and ear focused on brand building. Over the past two decades, she has worked with brands in both the for-profit (from Abacus Builders and Adobe, to Monotype and moo.com, to 'xtole) and non-profit sectors (notably Heart to Heart International Children's Medical Alliance, Joey's Corner, and Rocketship Education). She is an insistent advocate for beautifully executed artifacts, including thank-you notes and party favors, as well as for user experiences that provide delight in the digital realm. Alyson has collaborated closely with several design and brand identity firms. With Michael Osborne Design, she has worked on promotional materials for paper mills and on four exhibitions, including Alphabetilately (currently in its seventh year at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum) and San Francisco Graphic Design at the Museum of Craft + Design. With Elixir, she is the lead writer, namer, and interviewer on brand strategy projects. Past clients include Adobe, Exposures, Gott's Roadside, Naturopathica, and Taryn Rose. Alyson's art- and design-centric writing projects include: the two-volume "Speclogix Compendium of Paper & Printing"; "Words at Play, " a limited-edition book and micro-site for Adobe; "Hearts in San Francisco," a photographic record of the 2004 citywide fundraising art exhibit; features for various design publications; and, the extensive introduction to "Art Made From Books" (Chronicle Books, 2013). Alyson was the founding editor of Mohawk's on-line magazine "Felt & Wire," for which she has written hundreds of in-depth articles. Alyson joined the AIGA SF board as communications director in 1997, with an extensive background in specialty printing, fine paper, envelopes and all things postal. She promptly conceived of a chapter event about the collecting of stamps and the sending of mail, illustrated with an alphabet of stamp-like images created by designers at 26 different Bay Area studios. During her five years on the board, Alyson stewarded the philatelic alphabet project to ever-greater visibility. AIGA SF licensed the alphabet of images first to Dickson's (Atlanta), then to Chronicle Books (San Francisco), and ultimately to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum (Washington DC). In the process, Alyson orchestrated two publication parties in the historic lobby of SF's Rincon Annex Post Office and a correspondence salon at the National Postal Museum. Alyson has also served on the board of the San Francisco Center for the Book (2000-2003) and co-curated two exhibitions at the Center. She has taught envelope-folding workshops in San Francisco, Napa, Chicago, Kansas City, and Washington DC. A few decades ago, after earning her B.A. in French from the University of California at Irvine, Alyson lived in Paris for several years. She currently lives in Monterey, where the clerks at the downtown post office treat her outgoing mail with great respect.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Design Director, Varo / Executive Director, Secretary

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee
• WILD Editorial Lead

Job Titles:

• Designing Products Series Co - Lead
• Member of Committee

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee
• WILD Programming Lead

Job Titles:

• Designer
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Co - Founder, Sugarfish

Clement is a designer, digital pioneer, software publisher, app developer, author, design patent holder, restauranteur and serial start-up entrepreneur. Clement, a former creative director at Apple in the early 80's, founded multiple successful design-related businesses: Studio Archetype, CMCD, and NetObjects. He was the Chief Creative Officer of Sapient, a Trustee of Art Center College of Design and the national president of AIGA.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Legacy and Diversity Board Member and past President

With 20 years of professional practice, David has experiences across a range of projects, from identity and branding, editorial design, books and publications, catalogs, and packaging to exhibition design, signage, wayfinding, and environmental graphics for a diverse mix of corporate, civic, educational, cultural and arts clients. His publication work, environmental graphics and signage, and exhibition design have been recognized by AIGA, Graphis, Print, STEP, as well as the Western Art Directors Club and the New York Art Directors Club. He has deep roots in the Bay Area design community, beginning his career with renowned San Francisco designer Gerald Reis; and, for over a decade, as a senior designer at Pentagram, working with partner Kit Hinrichs. David holds an B.A. in Art from UC Berkeley, where he focused on printmaking. He later continued his studies in graphic design at the California College of Arts & Crafts (now CCA), where he now teaches in the undergraduate graphic design and graduate design programs, with a focus on typography and information design.

Job Titles:

• Executive Director
• Member of the Board of Directors

Job Titles:

• Partner and Creative Director, With Fani Chung, of Gee

Earl Gee is Partner and Creative Director, with Fani Chung, of Gee + Chung Design, an award-winning multidisciplinary brand communications firm based in San Francisco. The firm focuses upon the high technology, healthcare technology, and venture capital sectors; three of the primary economic drivers of the Bay Area. Earl has built an international reputation for creating successful branding, print, packaging, environmental, and interactive programs for many of Silicon Valley's most influential companies including Adobe, Apple, Applied Materials, IBM, Oracle, National Semiconductor, Symantec, and Sun, enjoying the intellectual challenge of making complex technology understandable, meaningful, and memorable to audiences. Earl was named in Graphic Design USA's 50th Anniversary Survey as one of the publication's 50 "Most Influential Graphic Designers Working Today" and one of its "People to Watch in 2010". He was also one of only 50 U.S. graphic designers selected for the international edition of Who's Who in Graphic Design. He has served on a United Nations-sponsored Delegation on Package Design which toured the People's Republic of China, lectured at leading universities and design organizations, and served as a frequent juror for major design competitions, including Communication Arts, AIGA DC, Spark, Creativity, Critique, Step By Step, Publish, and Exhibitor. Gee + Chung Design has been profiled in the Adobe Website Gallery, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Workflow Guide, Rockport Publishers Graphic Design: America 2, Graphis Designers USA 2, Graphis Branding USA 1 and 2, DIGIT (U.K.), and Designer's Workshop (Japan). Under Earl's creative leadership, Gee + Chung Design has been honored by virtually every major design competition including AIGA, Communication Arts, Graphis, Print, I.D., HOW, the One Show, Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, Society of Publication Designers, and Society for Environmental Graphic Design. Earl's work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of the AIGA Archives, Art Center College of Design Archives, Colorado State University International Poster Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, U.S. Library of Congress, and Smithsonian Institution. Earl began his career as a designer at Landor Associates, San Francisco, creating identity programs for Fortune 500 companies. As a senior designer at Mark Anderson Design, Palo Alto, he designed award-winning branding programs for Herman Miller, PG&E, and the Oakland Museum. He received his BFA in Graphic Design with Distinction from Art Center College of Design and was included in Design Impact: A History of Art Center College of Design. Earl has demonstrated a strong commitment to his alma mater, having designed award-winning brands for the Art Center Alumni Council, Art Center DOT Launch, and The Design Accelerator. Among his many formative experiences with AIGA San Francisco, Earl has served on the AIGA SF Events Committee, as a mentor for the AIGA SF Urban Forest Mentoring Project, and been exhibited in 25 Years of AIGA San Francisco, the AIGA SF Environmental Poster Show, the AIGA SF cause/affect Awards Exhibition, and Alphabetilately A to Z at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. His most rewarding experience was the opportunity to serve on the AIGA SF board as Membership Chair, helping to increase AIGA SF membership from 1,200 to nearly 1,800 members during his term, establishing AIGA SF the second largest chapter in the nation. He was also honored to represent AIGA SF at the AIGA National Leadership Retreat, presenting on membership engagement.

Job Titles:

• Creative Director at West
• Member of Committee
• WILD Creative Lead

Felicia (she/her) is a creative with a love for design and branding. She's led teams of designers, creators, and makers to build beautiful brands that stand out. Felicia is Creative Director at West where she specializes in creating design systems and brand identities that map to business needs and scale alongside ever-growing brands. A multi-faceted designer, she infuses every project with the knowledge of how design must underscore product, marketing and company strategy. Felicia creates visual, connected stories that bring brands to life and give founders the tools to share their unique vision with the world. Her love for design thinking has led her to achieve an MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee

Hugh Dubberly received a BFA in Graphic Design from RISD (1981) and an MFA from Yale (1983). At Apple Computer (1986 - 1994), Dubberly was a Creative Director, managing graphic design and corporate identity; he also produced the technology-forecast film Knowledge Navigator presaging the Internet and interaction via mobile devices. At Netscape (1995 - 2000), he was Vice President of Design managing groups responsible for the design, engineering, and production of Netscape's web services. He co-founded Dubberly Design Office (2000), a software and service design consultancy. Hugh has served on AIGA's national board, the SIGGRAPH Conference Committee, and chaired ACD's "Design for the Internet" Conference. Hugh has taught design courses at San Jose State, Art Center, CMU, Stanford, IIT/ID, Northeastern, and CCA. He edited a column "On Modeling" for the Association of Computing Machinery's journal, Interactions, and has published more than 50 articles on design methods. He was elected to the ACM CHI Academy.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Financial Consultant at Sunrun Solar

Job Titles:

• Member of the Venture Committee
• Communication Co - Lead
• Communications Co - Lead
• Member of Committee

Jesus Chico is a Bay Area native and currently working in San Francisco as a senior graphic designer for Nuna. Nuna is a FinTech startup whose mission is to make high-quality healthcare affordable and accessible to everyone. Before working in tech, Jesus worked at the California Secretary of State's office in Sacramento as a designer to the Voter Outreach Team. He promoted new state programs and was a lead in the redesign of the Voter Registration Cards in 2018. He has also had the pleasure of working on projects with brands like Google, Starbucks, Third Culture Bakery, and Proxy. As a designer, Jesus believes that the stories we consume define our identity and define the community we become a part of. A responsibility he insists every designer has-to make sure the right stories are being told. As a proponent of narratives, Jesus is eternally curious about the contribution of visual design to human interaction in branding. Additionally, Jesus is fascinated with the study of semiotics and how symbolism contributes to our everyday life. Outside of design, he spends his time taking photographs, petting any and all dogs he can find, and discovering more meaningful stories through travel.

Jim Faris started his career using 15th Century technology as a typesetter and letterpress printer, most notably with his mentor and lifelong friend, Jack W. Stauffacher. In recent years, he has led design teams on the leading edge of technology for the 21st Century, such as the Android operating system (Google) and Skype (Microsoft). In the 1980s, Jim did print and exhibit design at CIBA-GEIGY and was Director of the graphic design department at MoMA in New York. He co-founded Alben+Faris with Lauralee Alben and relocated to Santa Cruz, California in 1990. Alben+Faris became one of the first firms to specialize in visual interface design, working on Macintosh operating system (OS 8), web sites including the 2000 Webby People's Voice winning design for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and collaborations on new technology for major companies and Silicon Valley startups. Jim has taught courses and given presentations at schools, corporations, and professional organizations in the United States, the U.K., Europe, Australia, and Asia. He served on the national board of the AIGA and on the Board of Advisors for the Carnegie Mellon School of Design. He was educated at UCSC and Basel School of Design.

Job Titles:

• Designer
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Founder, Joe Miller Co
• Programming Co - Chair, Silicon Valley

Joe Miller is a designer and design educator. His work has been widely published and exhibited, and is included in the AIGA Design Archives. He is principal of joe miller's company, a design office specializing in identity and brand development through graphic, typographic, and environmental design for clients ranging from regional cultural institutions to global technology corporations. Projects for screen, print, and environments include a wide range of material from symbols and icons to announcements and exhibits. Joe has long been active in the design community, organizing and facilitating numerous talks, exhibitions, and events, and has also spoken on design issues across the country. He is acknowledged as an influence on design in the books Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, and Graphic Design History. As well as publication in numerous annuals, his work is used in several books and periodicals as examples of experimentation, design principles, and work for social causes. Joe started his career as a designer at Atari and was then a senior designer at the international public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Joe has been a member of the graphic design faculty at San José State University since 1988. He has been a member of AIGA since 1986.

Job Titles:

• Event Coordinator
• Support Staff Member
• Member of Committee

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee

Job Titles:

• Executive Assistant
• Support Staff Member
• Member of Committee

Job Titles:

• Design
• Principal at Melanie Doherty Design

Melanie Doherty is Principal at Melanie Doherty Design, and a longtime design educator at CCA, since 1981. During her tenure on the chapter board of directors, she founded the AIGA SF Enrichment Scholarships, and was the driving force behind the original four-year $75,000 endowment fundraising effort. Her design studio's work focuses exclusively on international social change and education, with projects ranging from large scale brand development and strategy for the United Nations to print, web and media for organizations focusing on human rights, gender equality, literacy, nuclear non-proliferation and crisis and disaster management. Her work has been recognized in various publications including Communication Arts, Graphis, and Print.

Job Titles:

• Contributor to Chronicle Books
• Creative Director of Chronicle Books

a San Francisco based publisher where he leads a multi-faceted life in design. Early on in his tenure, he took on the job of establishing Chronicle's "spectacles" identity and applying it to a range of expressions from the business card to building architecture, including Chronicle-branded retail stores. In addition to taking part in evaluating proposals for Chronicle's art and design titles, Michael has instituted the Design Fellowship program, a post-graduate internship that has produced a number of full-time Chronicle designers and a host of new products developed through his weekly Design Lab seminar with the Fellows. Michael is an occasional contributor to Chronicle Books' blog, Design Desk, where he has written about subjects such as Chronicle's South Park neighborhood, Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, and the legacy of designer Paul Rand. He successfully lobbied Chronicle to reissue Rand's book, Thoughts On Design. Decades out of print, this seminal work is now in its third printing and been translated into seven languages. In acknowledgment of Rand's contribution to design, Michael also organized a series of panel discussions on Rand for Design Within Reach in their studios across the country. Michael has conducted design workshops and lectured at

Job Titles:

• Member of the Venture Committee
• Member of Committee

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Director of the School of Graphic Design
• Director, School of Graphic Design, Academy of Art U / past President

Phil Hamlett is the Director of the School of Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, one of the largest private art and design schools in the country. In this setting, he teaches classes, develops curriculum, recruits and manages instructors, advises students, manages the graduate thesis development process, conducts outreach and establishes the strategic agenda for the School. His students emerge as advanced design practitioners and go on to acquire positions at leading studios and companies around the world. Phil joined the Academy in 2004 and served for thirteen years as the Graduate Director for the School of Graphic Design, building the nascent MFA program from scratch. Phil is a past president of the AIGA San Francisco chapter and continues to serve on the executive board. He is also a former AIGA national board member, founder of Compostmodern and co-author of the Living Principles for Design - the means by which he guides the development of sustainable business practice within the design community As a charter member of the Winterhouse Institute Founder's Circle, he helps articulate the value of design education for social impact.

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Founder, Rachel Gogel LLC & Educator, CCA

Rachel Gogel (she/her/hers) is a Paris-born, SF-based queer creative director and designer whose skills range from branding, strategy, and design management to art direction, editorial, and product design. She runs her own small consultancy as an independent creative culture officer where her approach is informed by experiences both in-house and agency side. As a passionate design leader and experienced people manager, Rachel believes in fostering inclusive spaces that unlock human potential. She is committed to building teams that build brands - with a focus on creative culture, design, and technology. Over the last fifteen years, Rachel has continued to use design as a tool for change - from building multidisciplinary teams at The New York Times' award-winning T Brand, GQ Magazine, and Meta to launching story-driven experiences at Departures and Godfrey Dadich Partners. She has led projects ranging from developing global brand systems to scaling creative operations. In 2022, Rachel influenced many exciting initiatives, including internal brand programs at Airbnb, a new magazine called MYLES, and a brand identity system for Jacqueline Novogratz's latest passion project, Anew. Beyond this, she seeks to influence the next creative generation as a design educator at the California College of the Arts (CCA) and the School of The New York Times (NYTEdu). At CCA specifically, she teaches courses called "Leadership by Design" and "Designing Your Career" for graduate students completing their Master's in Interaction Design. Before moving to California, she was also an instructor at the School of Visual Arts (2012 - 16). Outside of teaching, she is the Women in Leadership & Design (WILD) Chair on the AIGA SF Board of Directors, an active member of Queer Design Club, and previously served on the board of The Society of Publication Designers. Rachel is also an avid public speaker and workshop facilitator. These platforms amplify her commitment to supporting women- and nonbinary-led causes and addressing gender-based disparities in the design industry. Throughout her career, she's come to care deeply about using her voice and privilege to help create connected communities, especially for queer people. Beyond being featured in several design publications, including PRINT, she was also nominated for a 2022 Webby for her work on Departures, and has been recognized by Inc. as one of 2016's "30 under 30 Movers and Shakers" and by Forbes as one of 2015's "30 under 30" in media. Check out more of her work on her website and feel free to follow her at @rgogel on Instagram and Twitter.

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee
• Product Design Leader
• WILD Committee Co - Lead

Shuang is a product design leader based in the San Francisco bay area. She is currently supporting product design for Meta's Commerce buyer experience. Prior to Meta, Shuang has spent time across a variety of companies, including GoodRx, Yelp, and EA where she was leading product design, content, user research, and behavioral science for a variety of product verticals. Prior to joining the tech space, she spent the majority of her early career in consulting, where she led large-scale digital transformations for a global portfolio of clients across different industries including healthcare, fintech, retail, industrial, education, to name a few. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, eating, outdoor activities, and spending time with her husband and dog (shiba inu), who is named after her favorite food - Noodle.

Job Titles:

• Graphic Designer

Steve Jones is an award-winning graphic designer and educator, with over 30 years of experience in professional practice and design education. He earned his BFA (Graphic Design) from the California College of Arts and Crafts; and MFA (Graphic Design), with honors, from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He is the principal of plantain studio (Oakland, CA). He was an AIGA SF Executive Board Member (Education Co-Chair,) 2014-2016, where he helped to organize AIGA SF's Enrichment Scholarship program, annual Portfolio Day, and other mentoring and education opportunities. He served on the AIGA Design Journeys Advisory Board to help choose the first 25 BIPOC designers to be featured-his story has been featured, as well. Additionally, Steve served for eight years on the Alameda County Public Arts Advisory Committee. Steve has taught at San Francisco State University, RISD, and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (Kingston, Jamaica). He has taught at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as pre-college (high school) students for over twenty summers. Currently, he is an adjunct professor in the Critical Ethnic Studies Program at CCA. In 2001, he founded the NEA (Negro Emancipation Association)-a loose collective of Black graphic designers, interior designers, and architects. His interests focus on Black icons, and their representation in mass media and popular culture. He recently contributed an essay to The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection (Allworth Press). For the Letterform Archives' "The Black Experience in Graphic Design: 1968 and 2020," he was among the designers interviewed. Since 2015, Steve has been a mentor for CCA's Alumni/Student Mentorship Program (formerly Designers of Color Mentor Program at CCA), offering one-to-one mentoring to students.

Job Titles:

• Member of Committee
• Series Lead