Speakers & Guests
The people shaping the future of design in New York City. Keynote speakers, panelists, lightning talk presenters, workshop leaders, judges, and mentors — from IBM, Duolingo, Cisco, PayPal, Google, AIGA, FIT, and beyond.
A distinguished three-decade career as an educator, creative consultant, and design director specializing in branding, UX/UI, digital product design, and typography. Full professor at SUNY FIT, Curriculum Committee Chair, and recipient of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.
Keynote
Creative director, educator, and author with 30+ years of experience in design. Founded Cynda Media Lab, an award-winning studio creating branding, AI-assisted design, and UX/UI/Product design for clients like MIT, Google, and Starbucks.
Keynote
By day, a Sr. Creative Lead at Duolingo focused on user growth — shipping initiatives that have scaled to over a million incremental daily active users. By night, Co-Founder & President of the Asian Creative Foundation, reaching 15k+ creatives globally.
Panelist
An award-winning inventor, one-man innovation studio, viral artist and TED speaker. The mind behind the groundbreaking Mixed Reality app "Pillow" and the viral webseries "Lucas Builds The Future" with over 100 million views. Featured at Sundance, Cannes, Newsweek, and IGN.
Panelist
An award-winning creative director at IBM, leading design and motion for its AI code assistant. 25+ years spanning creative direction, motion, 2D/3D, environmental design, branding, and film. "Asking Siddiq what kind of designer he is, it's like asking a rainbow to pick one color."
Panelist
Emmy Award-winning Principal Designer at Cisco leading design and strategy of AI-driven workplace experiences and Agentic UX. Previously defined the mobile vision for Google Drive and shaped products at IBM. Has mentored over 4,000 designers worldwide.
Lightning Talk
Senior product designer whose work has reached 3B+ users worldwide and driven $50M+ in revenue. Also a creative strategist in beauty and fashion, collaborating with Four Seasons, Marie Claire, and Mejuri. Speaking on "Designing at the Intersection of Fashion and Tech."
Lightning Talk
Co-executive director of learning and programs at AIGA, teaching at SVA and Parsons. His talk "Haunting Machines" explores a bizarre AI hallucination — a ChatGPT-fabricated book attributed to him — and what it revealed about the "ghosts" in generative AI.
Lightning Talk
Technical Design Manager at Google leading UX for Cloud Search & Agent products. Focused on the end-to-end AI application journey: Data Connectors, Vector Ingestion, Search Tuning, and Hallucination Management.
Lightning Talk
Leading the Portfolio / Interview Preparation workshop covering brand/visual design and product/UI/UX portfolio presentation and interview readiness.
Workshop
Co-leading the Portfolio / Interview Preparation workshop with Christie Shin, bringing 30+ years of design expertise to real-time portfolio feedback sessions.
Workshop
Making NYC the biggest startup ecosystem in the world. Throwing some of the coolest hackathons in NYC. Ex-Founder, Venture Scout, and Engineer leading the Design × Dev Hackathon.
Hackathon Lead
Senior Product Designer at EY and organizer with Friends of Figma NYC. Co-leading the Design × Dev Hackathon workshop experience.
Workshop
Moderating the Community Roundtable on organizations shaping NYC design. Graduate student with a background in criminal justice, passionate about international business and human rights. Driven to leverage strategy to create meaningful impact in global communities.
Roundtable
David is a seasoned developer with over a decade of experience building dynamic, data-driven applications. He began his career at Scholastic, creating educational games, before joining Code and Theory, where he led development on high-profile projects. He later transitioned to CNN full-time, where he specializes in real-time applications and interactive maps that power live news coverage and editorial storytelling. Outside of his full-time role, David has served as a contract senior developer at Cynda Media Lab in NYC, showcasing his versatility across a wide range of creative and technical projects. He also shares his expertise as a guest lecturer at the Fashion Institute of Technology, mentoring the next generation of designers.
Mentor
View Source is a multi-hyphenate creative studio delivering ideas (strategy), aesthetics (design), and code (technology) — wielding a full arsenal of creative implements to alter perception, build character, and create value for businesses and organizations.
Judge
A creative at heart and software engineer by trade. 25+ years coding, 15+ years in NYC tech, 10+ years in leadership. Serial founding/early engineer at Artsy, Octave, Cityblock, Kismet, Puzzmo, and SendingStone.
Judge
Multi-faceted designer with over 15 years of experience across disciplines. Notable clients include Grey Goose, Red Bull US, Tag Heuer, AMC, and DC Universe. Exploring the intersection of design practice and AI as a means to explore trauma.
Judge
Helps executives and brands elevate visibility and deepen customer engagement. Advances business growth through content, experiences, and AI-driven solutions. Equally comfortable in the boardroom and the studio, bridging strategy and execution.
Judge