How did you get started in design and advertising and learn the skills necessary for the industry? I got hooked on design in sixth grade after seeing a special on TV about Harmut Esslinger’s design consultancy frog and a motorcycle its team created for Yamaha. I couldn’t believe people got paid to design something that cool. That was it for me.

I didn’t study graphic design in college. My degree is in clothing, textiles, and interiors. During my senior year, a professor told me to look into something new called the World Wide Web. I didn’t get it, but I took the advice and started teaching myself interface and user experience design. This was around 1995, just as web design was starting to take shape.

My background turned out to be a great fit—human factors, universal design and a focus on how people interact with environments. After graduation, I moved to San Francisco to chase design work. I had solid UX instincts but knew nothing about graphic design. Luckily, I met someone who helped me level up in typography and visual communication.

Over the years, I’ve learned that design isn’t a straight path. It’s a lifelong process of understanding people and creating things that make their lives better. And honestly, I hope I never feel “done” learning because that’s the best part.

What led you to cofound the New York–based creative agency Applied Design Works with creative director Craig Dobie? I’ve always had the entrepreneurial itch. As a kid, I was hustling—paper routes, selling wrapping paper and doing odd jobs. So, owning a business felt inevitable. But straight out of school, I knew I wasn’t ready. I needed to learn how great studios actually ran.

I was lucky to cross paths with Craig Dobie at a previous job. We hit it off through our shared values and complementary skills, and we even picked up a few awards for our work. We realized we didn’t just want to think big—we wanted to build big.

The idea for Applied started while we worked on the identity and environmental graphics for the new World Trade Center. We saw how much got lost between design and execution, and we thought: ‘What if we could do both?’ So, we started a studio that wasn’t just about ideas but about applying them. That’s how Applied Design Works was born.

Tell us about Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, a font optimized for people with low vision that you created with the Braille Institute. How did you expand the font, and what has it been like to see it adopted by institutions such as Google and the Smithsonian? Atkinson Hyperlegible was a dream project with the Braille Institute, which has spent over a century advocating for people with vision loss. In recent decades, they’ve shifted focus to the growing population with low vision—people who aren’t fully blind but struggle with reduced vision, especially as we all live longer.

When we designed Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, we zeroed in on letter differentiation—making sure similar characters like i, l and 1 were unmistakably distinct. That tiny tweak makes a huge difference in reading speed and comprehension.

Watching the font take off has been incredible. People are hacking it into Kindles and Minecraft, and companies like Google, Microsoft and even Blue Origin have adopted it. It’s wild to think a typeface can have that kind of reach and real-world impact.

With Applied, what was your creative process behind the historic rebrand of the World Trade Center? Creating the identity for the new World Trade Center was one of the most meaningful and humbling projects of my career. It is a long-term project that our team has been involved with even before we started Applied. We knew from the beginning that this wasn’t just a branding assignment. The World Trade Center is a place layered with memory, loss, resilience and rebirth. It’s both a site of unimaginable tragedy and a symbol of perseverance. We walked in ready to listen.

We quickly realized that our role wasn’t to define what the World Trade Center meant—it was to reflect what it already meant to so many. Through conversations with the 9/11 community, first responders, commuters, architects and everyday New Yorkers, we saw just how personal the site still is. Our early design ideas were put aside. The identity had to be flexible, open and grounded in the stories of the people who interacted with it every day.

What emerged was a modular, living identity system. Instead of a single mark or message, we created a design language that could evolve and respond to the complex layers of the site. The brand had to honor remembrance while also looking forward to the energy of Lower Manhattan, the diversity of its community and the promise of its future. We aimed to hold space for memory while making room for momentum.

We were also deeply aware of our responsibility to treat this work with care and dignity. The identity needed to acknowledge the emotional gravity of the past without freezing the site in time. It had to invite reflection without limiting progress. That balance between remembrance and renewal became the foundation of our creative process.

But design is only as powerful as its implementation. One of our biggest takeaways was the importance of staying involved beyond concept. We worked hand in hand with the Port Authority to bring the brand to life across signage, digital platforms and the built environment, ensuring consistency and honoring the integrity of the space.

Ultimately, this project shaped how we work at Applied. It taught us that the most powerful design starts with empathy, serves a community and honors the stories that came before. Branding the World Trade Center wasn’t about making history—it was about remembering it, respecting it and helping shape what comes next.

Other than the aforementioned work, what are some of your favorite projects that Applied Design has worked on? One of my all-time favorite projects is our ongoing work with the New York–based hospital NYU Langone Health over the past decade. We’ve had the rare opportunity to help shape nearly every part of its brand—naming, design systems, forms, digital tools, environmental graphics and even textiles. NYU Langone has consistently challenged us to push the boundaries of our creative thinking. It’s been a masterclass in how thoughtful branding and design don’t just shape perception—they tangibly improve people’s lives.

What makes this work so rewarding isn’t just the scale but the purpose. Every design decision supports real-world outcomes. We’ve seen firsthand how thoughtful design can make a hospital feel more human; how a well-crafted form can ease someone’s stress on a tough day; and how clear, unified communication can build trust in a healthcare setting. It made branding feel less like a marketing function and more like a vital part of the care experience.

It also changed the way I think about collaboration. NYU Langone’s team is deeply mission-driven and creative in ways that go beyond aesthetic—they’re strategic, curious and fearless. That kind of partnership inspires you to push. It’s made me believe that when the right people come together around a shared mission, branding isn’t just powerful—it’s transformative.

What is one challenge currently facing creative agencies that they must address to stay relevant? Right now, it’s figuring out their relationship with generative AI. AI an incredibly powerful tool that can accelerate the design process, but it’s not a replacement for critical thinking or craft. At Applied, we use AI to speed up research and expand our ideation, not to replace it. It helps us explore more and bring in broader influences and sharper insights. The agencies that stay relevant will be the ones that treat AI as a creative partner, not as a shortcut or even something to fight off.

Do you have any advice for creatives starting out in the field today? Stay curious. Curiosity is the engine of great design—the drive to understand people’s needs and the openness to explore new ways to meet them. If you stay curious, you’ll stay relevant. It’s how real change happens. ca