Once-Future Office

Nikki is a founding Principal at Once–Future Office. She sets the stage for successful projects by aligning client objectives with creative potential. Her purpose-driven approach comes from her appreciation for community engagement, clarity, and inspiring new ideas. A Portland, OR native, Nikki excels at helping large groups find common ground on their objectives through her laid back but direct style. Nikki loves color, typography, details, and Dungjai’s mom’s cooking. A lifelong learner, she enjoys listening to podcasts (from geopolitical wonkery to The Bachelor analysis), knitting, traveling, and watching her young children grow. She looks forward to a day when she can explore the world with her kids.

Nikki’s experience spans nearly 20 years across design studios, large agencies, fashion houses, magazines, and architecture firms. She has lectured and taught at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), Rhode Island School of Design, and the California College of the Arts. Nikki holds a BA in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA in Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design.

Dungjai is a founding Principal and Creative Director of Once–Future Office. A big picture systems-thinker who loves connecting design, people, and the built environment, she sees potential in all things and brings unmatched creative vision to the studio. As a first-generation Thai-Chinese American and native Californian (LBC!), she leads our teams and projects with warmth and patience while getting shit done. Dungjai is an award winning designer whose work has been recognized by the Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, Print Regional Design Annual, the Society of Publication Designers, and the Van Alen Institute. With her hands-on approach, she has led multi-channel campaigns for NYC, branding and wayfinding for world-class buildings and museums, identity systems for leading practices within the architecture and design industry, and exhibitions for renowned cultural institutions.

Dungjai was previously the Art Director at Metropolis magazine where she led the art department staff in all aspects of the magazine’s publication and subsidiary brands. She holds a BA in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA in Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design. Dungjai has taught at Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts (SVA). When she’s OOO, she enjoys being a mama bear for her two sassy girls, eating good food with good company, and anything that sparkles.

A Brooklyn native, coming from a background in architectural conservation, and with a master’s from Columbia University’s GSAPP, Gilda brings her love for research, design, and the built environment to the projects and relationships she manages at Once–Future Office. Prioritizing client satisfaction, she ensures projects of all scopes and scales run smoothly, on schedule, and within budget and leads business development with grace. Recently projects include signage and wayfinding for the expanding campus of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, three multi-channel, city-wide campaigns for NYC, and an identity and signage and wayfinding system for the David Rubenstein Treehouse Conference Center at Harvard University. When she’s not making spreadsheets and firing off emails at the O–FFICE, Gilda enjoys spending summers in Fire Island and being an auntie to three nieces and nephews.

Helen leads the design team at Once–Future Office, where she works at the intersection of physical and digital spaces, spanning signage, websites, brands, typefaces, exhibitions, and print. With a passion for experimentation and research-driven systems, she brings a multidisciplinary approach to each project she works on, creating impactful, concept-driven design. Helen has led projects such as a mass timber web tool with LEVER Architecture, Sustainable Northwest, and Ecotrust, signage and environmental graphics for Galaxy Digital’s New York office space, and an in-progress comprehensive reinstallation of the Toledo Museum of Art. She received her BFA from The Cooper Union and was a recipient of the Rhoda Lubalin Fellowship for Type High: Experiments in Dimensional Design and Typography. Her work has been featured in AIGA Eye on Design, It’s Nice That and awarded by Core77 and Graphis. Helen loves when letterforms are large, dimensional, and something you can interact with.

Emma believes even the smallest design choices shape the world around us, and she loves teaming up with creative, mission-driven organizations. A systems thinker with a background in content creation, she brings a close understanding of the creative process to her management of projects across Once–Future’s portfolio. Emma’s recently managed projects include Green-Wood Cemetery’s first-ever marketing campaign, as well as a refresh and production of Rhode Island School of Design’s Alumni Magazine. She has B.A. in Creative Writing and French from Bennington College. Outside of the O–FFICE, Emma is often scheming get-togethers with friends and trying to thrive as an analog girl in a digital world.

With a background in designing identity systems, editorial work, motion graphics, and iconography in both agency and freelance environments, Taylor loves learning about clients and finding ways that stories can become accessible at every corner of a project. He brings a research and systems-based approach to the experiential, interactive, and identity work at Once–Future. Recent projects include an identity and website for ALA (previously Alda Ly Architecture), two issues of the RISD Alumni Magazine, and an in-progress website for the Princeton School of Architecture. When OOO, Taylor loves being places he doesn’t understand and fueling park walks with instant coffee.

Emily is passionate about work that is in dialogue with its community. With a background in working with museums and cultural institutions, her interests are anchored in design’s ability to facilitate an audience’s journey and comprehension through space. Recent work at Once–Future includes wayfinding for Portland State University’s new School of Art + Art History + Design and a full museum reinstallation and signage and wayfinding project for the Toledo Museum of Art.

Prior to joining Once–Future Office, Emily collaborated with institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sydney Opera House, and Rizzoli. When she’s not typesetting, she enjoys taking ballet classes, learning new recipes, and biking around the city to discover new spots on two wheels or two feet.

Ryan loves typography, print, and physical spaces, especially when they hold meaning through narratives, concepts, and research. He uses various disciplines to create engaging visuals that balance functional systems and playfulness. Ryan grew up in Taiwan and acquired a BFA in Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design. His recent contributions at Once–Future include signage and wayfinding for the Brooklyn Public Library and a fun project in sunny Orlando. When he’s away from his computer, he is learning to improvise jazz on guitar, visiting the latest art exhibitions, and making frequent stops on his commute to photograph scenic streets.