With visual identities for the City of Amsterdam, Power Station of Art in Shanghai, M+ Museum for Visual Culture in Hong Kong, Schiphol Airport and Dutch Design Week, Thonik connects important public institutions with new, younger and diverse audiences. Nikki’s work makes the values, ideas and social relevance of organizations visible through visual identities that become part of contemporary culture. She sees design not just as a tool for communication, but as a way to engage people, shape culture and create connections across society.

Alongside directing Thonik, Nikki works on individual artistic projects that address social themes. Her work is characterised by a clear visual language that seeks connections between people and organizations. She regularly lectures and leads workshops internationally.

Sponsored by The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Toronto.

Studio Safar is a dynamic and exploratory design and art direction studio whose name evokes just that: Safar being Arabic for travel. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal Safar and Al Hayya Magazine, two independent publications that position design as a critical cultural practice. Working across editorial design, publishing and visual identity, her practice investigates the relationship between graphic design, archives and the politics of representation. Her work spans a variety of media and design frameworks including publications, exhibitions, album artwork, editorial photoshoots and communication strategies. Her work has been displayed in various cities in Europe and the Middle East and featured in publications that include It’s Nice That, Monocle, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar Japan.

With over 20 years of experience, he has collaborated with such global brands as Adobe, Apple, Nike, Cirque du Soleil, Marc Jacobs, Universal Music and Wired. His work blends cultural heritage with contemporary visual language, creating unique images for advertising campaigns, magazine covers and editorial projects. Guillermo’s illustrations have been exhibited in Poland, London, Japan, Australia and across the Americas, earning recognition from the Society of Publication Designers, American Illustration and Lürzer’s Archive. In 2025, Adobe commissioned him to create the artwork for the Photoshop splash screen. He speaks internationally on creativity, cultural identity and hyperlocality and facilitates a participatory community-building workshop, Second Skin, which he has presented at events on three continents.

Finding his style by merging a love for photography and graphic design, he creates powerful experiences that move and challenge beauty standards. His work is a movement. His clients include Adobe, Apple, Google, HBO and the Oscars.

Other clients include Billboard Magazine, Conde Naste Traveler, Esquire, Fortune, Hyperion Books, Los Angeles Times, McGraw-Hill, MTV, New York Magazine, Nike, Pepsi, Rolling Stone, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, University of Chicago Press and Vibe. He is the recipient of three Gold and four Silver Medals for illustration from the Society of Illustrators.  He has illustrated fourteen children’s books, four of which he has written, including The Mango Tree, Two Worlds/Dos Mundos, Song for Jimi, a biopic about Jimi Hendrix, and Float Like a Butterfly, a story about Cassius Clay.  His 2023 memoir, Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey tells his story of migration and identity.

Sponsored by Porter

A recipient of the 2025 National Design Award (Emerging Designer), Nu is the Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Creative Director of Deem Journal and the Founder and Principal of ROOM FOR MAGIC. Nu is at the forefront of an emerging generation of designers who integrate design, culture, art, community and social practice. He has partnered with clients that include nonprofits such as the Art for Justice Fund, the Ford Foundation and the World Peace Foundation; cultural institutions such as the National Memorial for the Underground Railroad; and global brands like Nike and Google. His work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Wallpaper, Design Miami, Monocle, and The Architect’s Newspaper. Influenced by his Liberian heritage and passion for counter-culture, he presents keynotes globally on design as an invitation for communities to reclaim their futures.

After graduating, Jennifer worked at design studios focusing primarily on branding projects. In 2013, she began working on interior typesetting, which naturally evolved into full cover and interior book design. After several years freelancing, she joined Penguin Random House Canada in 2016, where she currently works as a senior book designer.

Having been in the industry for over a decade, Jennifer has designed covers and interiors across almost every genre imaginable. She has worked on covers for many prominent Canadian authors, including Michael Ondaatje, Anne Michaels, Michael Redhill and Madeleine Thien.

She works primarily with cultural clients, with a strong focus on typography. Her clients include Kunsthalle Zu Kiel, Museum for Communication Berlin, Phaidon, Washington Post and Wired. Ariane is also the creative director and co-editor of Fukt, a magazine for contemporary drawing. Her work has received numerous awards, including from TDC New York and Tokyo, D&AD, Graphis and ADC New York and Germany, and has been widely published in international design publications. She is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).