Based in New York City, New York, USA

Partner at Pentagram — the world's largest independent design consultancy — for over four decades, and the most influential graphic designer working today by virtually any measure. Creator of iconic identities for The Public Theater, Citibank, Microsoft Windows, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and hundreds of others, Scher's typographic sensibility has shaped the visual landscape of American culture. Author of Make It Bigger, subject of the Netflix documentary Abstract: The Art of Design, Skillshare teacher, and throughout 2025-2026 one of the most actively discussed and studied designers in the world as AI design tools prompted the creative community to ask what irreplaceable human creative vision actually looks like. Paula Scher is the answer to that question.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Founder and CEO of &Walsh — one of the few major female-owned independent creative agencies in the world — creator of Ladies, Wine & Design (a global initiative now active in over 300 cities supporting women in creative industries), D&AD President's Award winner 2024, Forbes 30 Under 30 alumna, and one of the most commercially successful and publicly engaged creative directors of her generation. Throughout 2025-2026, Walsh's agency work for clients including Adobe, Levi's, and The Jewish Museum, combined with her Type of Feeling typography project and her continued advocacy through Ladies, Wine & Design, made her the most visible and practically influential active creative director building both a practice and a public platform simultaneously. The defining example of what a modern creative agency founder looks like.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Designer, author, educator, host of Design Matters — the longest-running design podcast in history and one of the most widely listened-to creative industry podcasts globally — co-founder and chair of the Masters in Branding programme at the School of Visual Arts, Harvard Business School Executive Fellow (from 2024), and one of the most intellectually generous and widely respected voices in the creative profession. Throughout 2025-2026, Design Matters continued its extraordinary run of conversations with the most important creative voices in the world, and Millman's writing, teaching, and public advocacy for the value of design continued to make her the most culturally connected and educationally impactful figure in the creative industry. Nobody has done more to give the design profession a public voice and a sense of its own intellectual seriousness.

Based in Pasadena, California, USA

Founder of The Futur — the creative education platform that has reached over 2 million YouTube subscribers and millions more across social media with content on design, branding, business strategy, and what it means to build a sustainable creative career — Emmy Award-winning director, and one of the most practically useful voices in the creative industry for designers and creative professionals trying to understand the business side of their craft. Throughout 2025-2026, The Futur's content on pricing creative work, navigating AI, building a personal brand as a designer, and running a creative business continued to be among the most widely consumed creative industry education available. His willingness to discuss money, pricing, and business strategy openly in a profession that traditionally avoids these conversations makes him genuinely distinctive.

Based in Portland, Oregon, USA

Founder of Draplin Design Co., creator of Field Notes memo books, author of Pretty Much Everything — the most entertaining and practically useful design career book ever written — and the most beloved and democratically accessible design personality in American graphic design. His clients include Nike, Patagonia, Ford, Obama campaign, and the US government, but his voice is that of a working designer from the midwest who loves thick lines, bold colours, and honest craft. Throughout 2025-2026, Draplin's speaking engagements, social media presence, and continuing work continued to make him the most human and relatable figure in a profession that can take itself too seriously. His down-to-earth personality and genuine love of design — communicated with extraordinary energy — make him one of the most widely followed creative voices in the world.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Partner at Pentagram New York, author of How to and 79 Short Essays on Design, co-founder of the influential design criticism blog Design Observer, and one of the most articulate and intellectually rigorous voices on what design means, how it works, and why it matters. Creator of iconic identities for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, New York Jets, MIT Media Lab, and Yale School of Architecture, among hundreds of others. Throughout 2025-2026, Bierut's writing, teaching at Yale, and public speaking continued to make him the most intellectually substantial voice on design history, design criticism, and design practice in the world. His ability to explain why a design decision works — or doesn't — in terms that non-designers can understand makes him a uniquely valuable public intellectual for the profession.

Based in Oakland, California, USA

Lettering artist, illustrator, author of In Progress and Tomorrow I'll Be Brave, designer of title sequences for films including Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch, creator of Should I Work for Free? — the most widely shared resource on creative pricing in design history — and one of the most admired and practically useful voices for independent creative practitioners. Throughout 2025-2026, Hische's Instagram, speaking, and client work for major brands and publishing clients continued to make her one of the most consistently excellent and publicly engaged letterers working today. Her advocacy for fair pay, her generosity in sharing her process, and her extraordinary technical craft make her one of the most complete creative professionals in the industry.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Partner at Pentagram New York, six-time National Design Award nominee, and one of the most intellectually challenging voices in contemporary graphic design — best known among design professionals for her 2017 Zig Zag Zine talk at AIGA Design Conference, which became one of the most discussed design criticism moments of the decade, arguing that design thinking as a methodology was largely vacuous. Born in Taipei and based in New York, her work for cultural institutions, luxury brands, and editorial clients is characterised by genuine conceptual rigour over surface aesthetics. Throughout 2025-2026, Jen's work and public voice continued to make her one of the most respected and intellectually stimulating figures in the profession.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Co-founder of Sagmeister & Walsh (now dissolved), founder of Sagmeister Inc., two-time Grammy Award winner, AIGA Medal recipient, author of Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far and Beauty (co-authored with Jessica Walsh), and one of the most celebrated and intellectually serious designers in the world — known for work that consistently blurs the boundary between design, art, and philosophy. Throughout 2025-2026, Sagmeister's continued public work, speaking, and writing on beauty, happiness, and what design can do beyond solving problems continued to make him one of the most distinctive and genuinely original voices in the profession. His practice of taking a year-long sabbatical every seven years to renew his creative perspective has itself become one of the most widely discussed creative working methodologies in the industry.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Associate Art Director at Knopf, the most celebrated book cover designer in American publishing — creator of covers for Cormac McCarthy, John Updike, Bret Easton Ellis, and hundreds of other major literary authors — author of Go: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design and The Learners, TED Talk speaker, and the most publicly visible voice on what book design is and why it matters. Throughout 2025-2026, as the publishing industry continued to navigate digital disruption, Kidd's continued work at Knopf and his public advocacy for the importance of physical book design as a cultural artefact made him one of the most important voices on craft and intentionality in visual communication. His combination of extraordinary professional output and accessible, entertaining public communication makes him the rare design figure who reaches a general audience.

Based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Distinguished Professor at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and the most prolific and widely read design educator and author working today — with titles including Thinking with Type, Graphic Design: The New Basics, Extra Bold, and many others that have introduced millions of students to design principles. Throughout 2025-2026, Lupton's continued publishing, teaching, and curatorial work at Cooper Hewitt continued to make her the most important bridge between professional design practice and design education globally. Her books are the most widely used design textbooks in the world, and her curatorial work shapes how design is understood by a general cultural audience.

Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Creative Director of KesselsKramer — the Amsterdam agency responsible for some of the most inventive and culturally intelligent advertising of the past three decades — author of multiple books on photography and visual culture including the Failed It! series, curator, artist, and one of the most intellectually playful and genuinely original creative directors in global advertising. Throughout 2025-2026, Kessels's agency work, his ongoing photography and art projects, and his published books on failure, imperfection, and found imagery continued to make him the most important European voice on what creative courage actually looks like in advertising. His embrace of failure as a creative methodology is one of the most widely discussed frameworks in the creative industry.

Based in Berlin, Germany

Illustrator, author, New Yorker cover artist, and one of the most technically accomplished and conceptually inventive illustrators working today — known for his ability to find visual wit in everyday objects and situations that makes his work instantly recognisable and globally shared. Subject of the Netflix Abstract documentary series, author of Abstract City and multiple other books, and throughout 2025-2026 one of the most widely followed and genuinely beloved illustrators on social media — his Instagram a masterclass in conceptual illustration delivered with deceptive simplicity. The illustrator whose work most consistently demonstrates that the strongest ideas are always the simplest ones.

Based in Dallas, Texas, USA

Nigerian-American visual artist and graphic designer whose vibrant, Afrocentric compositions — blending photography, graphic design, and 3D graphics to celebrate African diaspora culture — have made him one of the most distinctive and widely discussed young designers in the world. Adobe Creative Resident alumnus, with work appearing in brand campaigns and cultural publications globally. Named one of the 20 graphic designers inspiring the most in 2025 by Creative Boom. Throughout 2025-2026, Coker's rising profile, his social media presence, and his work's cultural specificity and visual boldness made him the most exciting new voice in global graphic design — a figure whose work signals what the next decade of visual communication will look like when it centres voices and aesthetics previously underrepresented in mainstream design.

Based in Barcelona, Spain

Founder of Hey Studio — one of the most celebrated independent design studios in Europe — known for a friendly, inclusive approach combining bold colours, geometric shapes, and a warmth that is unusual in a profession that often prizes coolness over accessibility. Throughout 2025-2026, Hey Studio's continued output for clients across culture, publishing, and brand identity — combined with Fuerte's public voice on running an independent studio with community values rather than growth-at-all-costs ambitions — continued to make her one of the most admired and frequently cited studio founders in European design. Her model for building a design practice around genuine values rather than maximum scale is increasingly influential as designers question what success in the creative industry actually means.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Graphic designer, illustrator, muralist, author of I Always Think It's Forever and co-creator of 40 Days of Dating (alongside Jessica Walsh) — one of the most viral design projects in internet history — and one of the most publicly engaged and emotionally honest creative voices working today. Throughout 2025-2026, Goodman's large-scale mural work across the US, his writing, and his social media presence continued to make him one of the most genuinely popular and widely followed designers among both industry peers and general audiences. His willingness to bring emotional honesty and personal narrative into his creative work distinguishes him from the more corporate-oriented voices that dominate the design industry's public conversation.

Based in Richmond, North Yorkshire, UK

Graphic designer, lettering artist, and YouTube educator with one of the most widely followed graphic design channels in the world — focused on branding, logo design, and lettering — and one of the most practically useful voices for independent designers and design students trying to build skills and careers in the current era. Throughout 2025-2026, Paterson's YouTube content, online courses, and social media presence continued to reach hundreds of thousands of designers who need accessible, high-quality practical education rather than academic theory. His combination of genuine professional skill and talent for teaching makes him one of the most impactful design educators working outside formal institutions.

Based in London, UK

Graphic designer, author of How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul — one of the most widely read career guides for designers globally — co-founder of Unit Editions (the independent design publisher), senior tutor at the Royal College of Art, and one of the most thoughtful and practically grounded voices on what it means to build an ethical, meaningful career in graphic design. Throughout 2025-2026, Shaughnessy's writing, teaching, and Unit Editions publications continued to make him the most important British voice on design as a humanistic practice rather than a commercial service. His insistence that designers should think critically about the work they make and the clients they serve is increasingly relevant in a profession under pressure from AI commoditisation.

Based in Rye, UK

Graphic artist, printmaker, and author of Make It Now! — whose bold, optimistic typographic prints have been reproduced millions of times and whose work occupies the rare intersection between popular art and serious graphic design. Throughout 2025-2026, Burrill's continued print work, collaborative projects, and public voice on creativity, making, and the value of handmade work in a digital world continued to make him one of the most beloved and widely shared British creative voices globally. His work for clients alongside his self-initiated projects demonstrates a model of creative practice that many designers aspire to but few achieve — commercially viable, personally meaningful, and widely shared.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Founder of Louise Fili Ltd., former Art Director at Pantheon Books (where she designed nearly 2,000 book jackets between 1978 and 1989), master of letterpress, Italian vernacular typography, and food and beverage branding, and one of the most accomplished and deeply knowledgeable typographers working in the world today. Author of multiple books on Italian graphic design and typography, and throughout 2025-2026 one of the most respected voices on the history of design and the importance of historical knowledge in contemporary practice. Her work demonstrating that deeply learned, historically rooted design is not antiquarian but urgently contemporary makes her one of the most important counterweights to trend-chasing in the profession.

Based in Salem, Oregon, USA

Illustrative designer, author of Vector Basic Training and multiple other widely used design education books, founder of Glitschka Studios, and one of the most prolific and practically generous design educators working in the digital space — with online courses, tutorials, and social media content reaching hundreds of thousands of designers globally. Throughout 2025-2026, Glitschka's continued output of educational content and client work continued to make him one of the most consistently useful voices for working designers trying to improve their illustration and vector skills. His combination of extraordinary technical accomplishment and genuine commitment to sharing what he knows makes him one of the most practically impactful design educators in the industry.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

The most influential graphic designer of the 1990s — whose work as Art Director of Ray Gun magazine essentially invented the visual language of contemporary alternative culture — and a continuing force in design whose rejection of readability in favour of expression, emotion, and raw visual energy remains one of the most important provocations in the history of the profession. Throughout 2025-2026, Carson's continued speaking engagements, commercial work, and public presence continued to make him the most studied and debated figure in design history for a generation of designers asking whether rules exist to be followed or broken. His influence on everything from social media visual language to contemporary brand identity work continues to be felt decades after his most famous work.

Based in Georgetown, Texas, USA

Designer, artist, author of Feck Perfuction: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life and Victore: or, Who Died and Made You Boss?, educator, and one of the most direct, morally serious, and creatively courageous voices in the design profession — known for work that challenges social norms, confronts injustice, and refuses the comfortable. Throughout 2025-2026, Victore's YouTube channel, speaking, and writing continued to make him the most inspirational voice for designers who want their work to mean something beyond aesthetics and client satisfaction. His central argument — that your weirdness is your greatest asset — has become one of the most widely shared creative career philosophies in the industry.

Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Visual artist and digital filmmaker who creates extraordinarily compelling time-lapse and digital composite works from NASA and ESA space imagery — making the cosmos accessible and emotionally resonant to millions of people who would never engage with raw scientific data. Throughout 2025-2026, Doran's social media presence and continued output of space imagery and digital art continued to make him the most widely shared science-meets-art creative voice on the internet — a genuinely original figure whose work occupies a category that barely existed before he created it. The most compelling example in the creative industry of what happens when scientific data and artistic vision combine to create something neither could produce alone.

Based in New York City, New York, USA

Chief Creative Officer of Collins — one of the most celebrated independent brand design consultancies in the world, responsible for transformations of Spotify, Slack, Dropbox, and many other major brands — and one of the most articulate and publicly engaged voices on what brand design at the highest level actually requires. Throughout 2025-2026, Collins's continued output of landmark brand work and Maschmeyer's public writing, speaking, and social media presence on design strategy, brand building, and the intersection of business and creativity continued to make him one of the most respected active creative directors in the industry. His framework for thinking about brand as a system of meaning rather than a visual identity document is among the most practically useful in contemporary brand design practice.