Categories: Editorial design
Nicola Hamilton RGD
Editorial Designer & Art Director
Part connector, part cheerleader, part community builder, Nicola Hamilton RGD (she/her)’s career revolves around championing creative industries and people.
As President of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) from 2020 to 2026, and now in the role of Past-President, she’s worked hard to advocate for the value of design. As host of DesignThinkers throughout her Presidency, she’s shared the stage with design legends who include Paula Scher, Michael Beirut and Meg Lewis, guiding them through both silly and serious Q&A sessions. As a designer, Nicola’s magazine work has been recognized by the D&AD, the Society of Publication Designers and the National Magazine Awards, among others. She’s also the founder of Issues Magazine Shop, a bricks-and-mortar magazine retailer dedicated to celebrating the people and projects keeping print alive.
Maya Moumne
Co-Founder, Creative Director at Studio Safar
Maya Moumne is a designer, publisher and co-founder of the design and art direction agency Studio Safar, working between Beirut and Montreal.
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.
Kenjiro Kirton
Co-Founder & Creative Director of HATO
Kenjiro leads the creative vision at HATO—a publishing house, design studio and concept store with locations in London and Hong Kong.
HATO develops design through a playful approach grounded in research, concept and participation. Working within culture—and collaborating with artists, organisations, and brands who share these values—has driven the studio’s practice for over a decade. HATO’s goal is to connect a genuine community, leaving a legacy that adds value and provides a strong foundation for growth.
Kenjiro’s experience has evolved to focus on digital products and branding, with a specialism in co-creation and creative strategy. He has applied this approach across a range of client projects, including On, the Barbican, the V&A, District Vision, BAO, and New Contemporaries.
Ariane Spanier
Founder of Ariane Spanier Design
Ariane studied visual communication at the Art Academy Berlin-Weißensee and, after a stay in New York, founded her own studio in Berlin.
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).
Dalit Shalom
Director of Product Design at The New York Times
Dalit oversees the creation of new formats, spaces and tools that advance the future of storytelling at The New York Times.
She also leads design and strategy for various workstreams for the company’s AI Initiatives. Previously Dalit focused on trust and credibility, collaborating with newsroom desks and the masthead to develop features that clarify The Times’ journalism for its readers. An educator as well as a practitioner, she teaches design thinking classes at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering and ITP.