Members

Executive Director Minneapolis, USA http://designcue.com Alan Colvin has worked within branding and design companies, on the client-side, as an independent consultant, and as a business owner. Working with some of the best creative talents in the world, across design and communication disciplines, and including two AIGA medalists, Alan has created and led the creation of award-winning work in brand identity, print, packaging, digital and environmental design. Alan’s strength lies in his ability to answer complex problems with simple, powerful solutions. His breadth of experience and approachable style foster a high level of collaboration and focus.

President Emeritus Executive Director Seoul, Korea UDA President Emeritus (2020-present)United Designs Biennial Chief Director (2004-present)UDA President (2014-2019)Professor, Hanyang University (Korea)Honorary Professor, Shanghai Normal University (China)Assistant Professor, University of North Texas (USA)Owner, C&C Design (Los Angeles, USA)Designer, COY Los Angeles (USA) www.albertyoungchoi.com Albert Young Choi is the founder and president emeritus of the United Designs Alliance (UDA), an international design association. He is a professor of brand design and experience design at Hanyang University’s ERICA campus. He taught brand design and experience design as a professor at Hanyang University. He held significant administrative positions, including the associate vice president of the… Read More »Albert Young Choi

Executive Director Saint Petersburg, Russia https://aleksandrashi.tumblr.com/ My way is never easy but as I walk further, I see that everything that I did had a reason. I want to be known for my designs and future teaching programs in art. I always try to do my best. I want to join UDA because I see it as a perfect opportunity for me, as a junior designer, to become a better specialist.

Executive Director New Orleans, USA http://www.desigNERDmarx.com Daniela Marx is a Full Professor of Graphic Design at Loyola University New Orleans.  She looks to Loyola’s Jesuit mission of social justice to shape Loyola’s design students. In the past she worked at Fabrica, an international research center for design located in Treviso, Italy. Fabrica participants pursue research through creating and producing groundbreaking projects in collaboration with commercial clients to governments, NGOs and the cultural sector. Fabrica’s ultimate desire is to positively impact upon social and cultural change.  Daniela has also worked as a designer for George Magazine in New York City. George,  a… Read More »Daniela Marx

Executive Director Raleigh, USA I am a UX-driven visual designer with twenty years of combined design experience with enterprise and consumer brands. Most recently, I was a part of a cloud-based enterprise SaaS company that serves the audit, risk, and management needs of Fortune 500 companies. I currently teach graphic and experience design at NC State University.

Executive Director Lanzhou, China Lecturer, School of art and design, Lanzhou Institute of technology Doctoral student, Pukyong National UniversityDesign director, Joko cultural design studioIn addition to design teaching, I am also involved in the creation of experimental music, as well as recording sampling and video installation design.Research direction: cross border design, cultural creativity and brand design

Executive Director Hyngary https://www.behance.net/sarkanylatvany Ferenc Kiss was born in Szeged in 1972. He is a graphic designer, artist, and lecturer. Graduated from the University of Szeged and University of Pécs. Since 1996 He has been taking part in exhibitions both individually and as a member of an artist group called »In Memoriam Geriub Gepleki«. He has been a member of the Society of the Hungarian Young Fine Artist’s Studio between 1999–2008, the Association of Hungarian Creative Artists since 2003, and the Association of Hungarian Typography Artists since 2005. He is one of the executive directors of the United Designs Alliance… Read More »Ferenc Kiss

Executive Director Sofia, Bulgaria http://www.behance.net/kashlak Ivan Kashlakov was born in Sliven 1993, Bulgaria. He graduated from the National Academy of Arts, Sofia in the specialty “Poster and visual communication”. Right now he is doing his Master’s program “Visual communication”. At the moment works in the field of UI, web, and digital. He works in the field of provocative design. When he wants to take a break from design, he goes to his atelier and makes paintings. In a way, he frees himself from the rest of the world for getting it exist. For a short time, he is in a… Read More »Ivan Kashlakov

Executive Director Seoul, Korea Jaeeun Paek is an Associate Professor of Fashion Design at Shingu College. She has a Bachelor of Science from Yonsei University, Korea, and a Master of Art in Fashion Design and a Ph.D. in Fashion & Textile from Texas Woman’s University. She worked at Russell-Newman, an apparel corporation, as a designer. In Texas, she had successfully researched and patented a Special Gown for Post-Mastectomy Patients. She was a researcher and author with the Korean National Competency Standard (NCS) for developing the education contents of the fashion industry. She firmly believes that education for the fashion industry… Read More »Jaeeun Paek

Executive Director Umkirch, Germany http://www.kamedesign.com Joachim’s capabilities span across information design, logos and identity design, illustration and character creation, typography and typeface design, offering 31 years of experience in print media and 21 years in web, interface and type design. He has taught and lectured on information design and type design in over 10 countries. His work is characterized by an expressive, direct visual language that always comes to the point. The diverse background and interest in Asia and Europe make him quintessentially cross-cultural, between modernist and experimental.

Executive Director Orange, California, USA John T. Drew is The Design Innovation Project Director and Professor of Graphic Design at California State University, Fullerton. His university has recognized him on ten occasions for his teaching, research, and writing. He is the co-author of Color Management: A Comprehensive Guide for Graphic Designers (Rotovison 2005, Allworth Press 2012); Choosing Color for Logos & Packaging: Solutions for 2D & 3D Designs (Rotovision 2009); Color Management for Packaging: A Comprehensive Guide for Graphic Designers (Rotovision 2008); Color Management for Logos (Rotovision 2006); Acuity Color Matching System (Rotovision 2005), and the coeditor and contributing author to Design Education in Progress: Process and Methodology (Virginia Commonwealth University Communication Arts… Read More »John T. Drew

VP of Design Ethics Executive Director Portugal http://iamjorgepereira.wordpress.com UDA Vice President of Design Ethics (2020-present) Ph.D. University of Porto 2015, MA University of Porto 2007.Lecturer, School of Design, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Portugal.Researcher, ID+ Research Institute for Design, Media, and Culture. Currently working in two EU-financed projects within Horizon 2020.Research coordinator, “The Mediated City” project, part of AMPS – Architecture, Media, Politics and Society, UCL. Develops its research and praxis discussing design, communication, participatory digital media, local cultures, and creativity.

VP of Design Practice Executive Director Augsburg, Germany http://www.juergenhefele.com UDA Vice President of Design Practice (2016-present) Jürgen Hefele works as a graphic designer specializing in visual communication and brand identity design. He also teaches at the Faculty of Design at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He holds a master’s degree from the Academy of Art and Design in Basel, Switzerland. In 2004 he established an ongoing Erasmus student exchange program with the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul. He has curated several exhibitions on visual arts and design. Over the years he has run design workshops in… Read More »Juergen Hefele

Executive Director Cincinnati, USA http://jukyoung.com Ms. Jukyoung Ham is a Senior Designer at LPK, Inc. She started as a member of LPK’s Femcare team and since then she mainly concentrated on developing beauty brands. She has a solid understanding of the brand’s meaning and she is able to create design solutions that support the brand’s strategies—and challenge the expected.

Past President Executive Director Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA UDA Past President (2022-present)UDA President (2020-2021)UDA Vice President of Design Research (2016-2019) http://elevatedesign.org Kelly Salchow MacArthur is a Professor of Studio Art and Co-Coordinator of Graphic Design at Michigan State University. She received her MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Before joining the faculty at MSU, she was Program Head of Graphic Design and Assistant Professor at Kansas City Art Institute. Other previous teaching experiences include RISD… Read More »Kelly Salchow MacArthur

Executive Director Dallas, Texas, USA http://www.coroflot.com/lisagraham Lisa M. Graham, MFA, is an award-winning visual communicator, artist, author, and a Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. She has exhibited her digital art prints in 125 regional, national, and international exhibitions including in Dallas, Honolulu, Savannah, Los Angeles; Tehran, Iran; Limassol, Cyprus; Cheonan, South Korea; and Tokyo, Japan. She has produced a visual communication industry work for regional, national, and international clients. Her publications include the books Sustainability Research by Designers (2011), Basics of Design: Layout and Typography for Beginners 2e in English and Japanese (2005, 2008), Basics of Design: Layout and Typography for Beginners (2002), Principles… Read More »Lisa Graham

Executive Director Blacksburg, USA Meaghan A. Dee is both a practicing graphic designer and a design educator. She is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Creativity, Arts, and Technology at Virginia Tech. Meaghan also serves as a docent for the Letterform Archive in San Francisco. She served for seven years as the Chair of the Graphic Design program at Virginia Tech and six years (two as Co-Chair) on the AIGA Design Educators Community (AIGA DEC) Executive Board. Meaghan received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, with a focus in Graphic Design, and… Read More »Meaghan Dee

Executive Director Jedlicze, Poland https://www.facebook.com/patrycja.longawa Patrycja Longawa was born in 1988 in Sanok, Poland. In 2012, she obtained the Master of Fine Arts majoring in Art Education with a specialization in painting at the University of Rzeszow. In 2013 completed her second studies in the faculty of Graphics and graduated with distinction in the Digital Printing Studio under the academic supervision of dr hab. Joanna Janowska-Augustyn in the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Rzeszow and obtained a diploma of design in the Design Studio II under the guidance of prof. Wiesław Grzegorczyk. Patrycja works with drawings, graphics,… Read More »Patrycja Longawa

Executive Director Associate Professor of Graphic DesignThe University of Texas Rio Grande Valley http://www.pxstudio.us Ping Xu was born and raised in Shanghai. He began his professional career and served as an Art Director, a Creative Director, and a Production Director in the Shanghai advertising industry since 1988. He began teaching at Kansas State University in 2003, continued his teaching career through the University of Southern Mississippi from the Fall semester of 2005, then through Truman State University in January 2010. Ping joined The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Fall 2015. Ping’s expertise includes identity design, poster design, advertising… Read More »Ping Xu

VP of Design Technology Executive Director Milwaukee, USA http://uwm.edu/arts/directory/grame-robert/ Robert Grame received his Master of Fine Arts from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas. Robert has worked on numerous regional and national design activities that include the following organizations: Keweenaw Land Trust; National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA); Jentel Artist Residency Program; U.S. National Parks Service; Prairie Gateway Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects; Kansas Artist Craftsmen Association; and University of Wyoming Department of Theatre & Dance. Robert has exhibited his work in numerous national and international venues. These include exhibitions at The Smithsonian Institute –… Read More »Robert Grame

Past President Executive Director Dallas, Texas, USA UDA Past President (2024-Present)UDA President (2022-2023)UDA Vice President of Design Education (2016-2021) https://mentis.uta.edu/explore/profile/robert-hower Personal insight through careful consideration of the essence of a design problem to be solved is critical to developing meaningful visual solutions.Research, design thinking, and my personal problem-solving methodology are constantly assessed to address their viability and effectiveness. I hope always to find a solution that reaches the essential core and purpose and employs simplicity in the final form. A quote by Charles and Ray Eames… “The details are not the details. They make the design” has encouraged me to… Read More »Robert Hower

VP of Design Education Executive Director Orange, California, USA Sarah A. Meyer is a Professor and Program Coordinator of Visual Communication Design at California State Polytechnic University Pomona (CPP). Sarah has acted at CPP as Chair of the Art Department and Interim Associate Dean of the College of Environmental Design, comprised of Architecture, Art, Art History, Visual Communication Design, Landscape Architecture, Regenerative Studies, and Urban & Regional Planning. She has previously held faculty positions at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, The University of Utah, and California State University Fullerton. She has been a visiting professor of visual communications and motion… Read More »Sarah A. Meyer

Executive Director Los Angeles, USA https://www.scotthutchinson.com/ Scott Hutchinson is the Program Director of the Visual Arts at UCLA Extension. Currently, he is organizing TEDx UCLA. Scott works for the design, studio, photography, and art history programs at UCLA Extension, in addition to consulting and teaching in the area of commercial design. His training is as a designer, with a BA and MFA from UCLA’s Design Media Arts program, and he specializes in identity work for a variety of non-profits, mainly in branding, identity systems, social media, and web development. Board activity includes National AIGA Design Educators Committee, AIGA Los Angeles Education advisor, United Designs,… Read More »Scott Hutchinson

Executive Director Los Angeles, USA http://sooyunin.info Sooyun Im is an Associate Professor at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She teaches a wide range of graphic design courses including Web design, Motion graphics, Environmental Graphic Design, Typography, Branding, and Package Design.  Prior to Cal Poly Pomona, She had taught at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire for 7 years.  Her research concerns include a variety of topics in design for human interaction with interest in UI/UX design, branding, and generative arts.

Executive Director Plymouth, UK https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/victoria-squire Victoria is an educator, researcher and designer with over 25 years of academic experience. She holds an MA Communication Design degree from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design, London, a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from Oxford Brookes University, and a BA Hons Graphic Design from the University of Wales. Victoria is a lecturer on the BA Hons Graphic Design with Typography programme at the University of Plymouth, UK, specialising in typography and editorial design. Alongside this Victoria coordinates the University of Plymouth’s Art, Design and Architecture partnerships across the UK southwest peninsular coordinating… Read More »Victoria Squire

Executive Director Wuhan, China YANSHU WANG graduated from Wuhan Textile University with a major in advertising. During her time at university, she won several national visual design awards. In 2022, she received an MFA in communication design from Hanyang University, Korea. She likes to pay attention to social phenomena daily and is good at discovering social problems. Through her studies and extracurricular activities, she hopes to devote herself to designing projects with communication power and influence in the Internet industry to help solve social problems. Observing her own life, she found that the number of people keeping pets has increased… Read More »Yanshu Wang

VP of Design Research Executive Director Jinan, China UDA Vice President of Design Research (2024-present) https://www.facebook.com/syprain.yao Yao Xupeng is an associate professor at the Institute of Brand and Communication, Shandong University. Member of China Arts and Crafts Society. Since 2014, I have participated in many academic and design exchanges organized by the San Jose Art City Hall in California, USA, and have served as a talented member of the San Jose US Beacon Artists Association. I have been engaged in visual communication design research for a long time, have designed the brand image for the government and many enterprises, and… Read More »Yao Xupeng

President Executive Director Shanghai, China UDA President (2024-2025)UDA Vice President of Design Research (2020-2023)UDA Senior Vice President of Design Research (2016-2019) Zhiyong Zhao is an Associate Professor at Fine Arts College at Shanghai Normal University, Dean’s assistant, and Director Head of the Graphic Design Department. Visiting scholar of China University; Design director of Shanghai Sheng Xing Culture and Communication Co., Ltd; Design director of magazine Pudong Culture. Zhiyong Zhao’s research field consists of Visual Communication Design, Art Anthropology, and Design By Metaphors in the context of visual cultures. Zhiyong Zhao’s design thesis was published by Decorating, Industrial Engineering, and Management,… Read More »Zhiyong Zhao