Once-Future Office

We work closely with civic, cultural, and mission-driven organizations to communicate clearly to broad audiences.

Founded in 2012, we bring clarity to complex information across integrated brand identities, campaigns, information design, digital products, and environments. Our process is built upon a commitment to research, a love for systems, and a dedication to making smart, elegant design that brings ideas to life.

Once–Future Office is an award-winning, 100% MWBE-certified studio.

 

Services

Art Direction
Strategy
Branding
Campaign
Content Development
Environmental Design
Illustration
Publications
Signage and Wayfinding
Website Design
User Experience 

Like us, our clients and collaborators are passionate about what they do.

  • AIANY/Center for Architecture
  • AIGA/NY
  • AlexAllen Studio
  • Animal Care Centers of NYC
  • Bernheimer Architecture
  • Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation
  • The Bronx Museum of Art
  • Brookfield Properties
  • The Buffalo AKG Art Museum
  • Cape Cod Modern House Trust
  • The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
  • Christies
  • Code Green
  • Datadog
  • Eponymous Practice
  • Galaxy Digital
  • GreeNYC
  • Harvard University
  • Herzog & de Meuron
  • Historics Districts Council
  • International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF)
  • LEVER Architecture
  • Manaow
  • Marvel Architects
  • Metropolis Magazine
  • The Mash-Up Americans
  • Metropolis Magazine
  • Michael Maltzan Architecture
  • Museum of the City of New York
  • National Park Service
  • New York City Campaign Finance Board
  • New York Comedy Festival
  • NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC)
  • NYC Department of Economic Development (EDC)
  • NYC Department of Health
  • NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ)
  • NYC Mural Arts Project
  • NYC Votes
  • New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
  • The New York Times Magazine
  • OMA
  • Parsons The New School for Design
  • The Portland Museum of Art
  • Portland State University
  • The Preservation Society of Newport County
  • Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
  • Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
  • Smith-Miller+Hawkinson
  • SOM
  • Studio Gang
  • Storefront for Art and Architecture
  • Sustainable Northwest
  • TANKHOUSE
  • Times Square Alliance
  • Tishman Speyer
  • Travel+Leisure Magazine
  • The World Science Festival
  • Weiss Turkus Projects
  • Worrell Yeung
  • Young Projects
  • Van Alen Institute
  • Vancouver Art Gallery
  • ZGF

Meet our team.

Elijah Bobo, Environmental Designer

Elijah Bobo

Environmental Designer

Show member bio

Elijah has a strong interest in the relationship between design and people and prioritizes social responsibilities in his work. Before joining Once–Future, Elijah brought that passion to his work with cultural and non-profit institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA, and The Center for Urban Pedagogy, creating graphic, environmental, exhibition, motion, sound, and digital design. As an Environmental Designer at Once–Future, his work draws on his love for wayfinding, conceptual thinking, and experimentation to ensure the development of compelling and scalable creative spatial solutions. Though most of Elijah’s projects at Once–Future are environmentally focused, he also supports the team on projects at various scales. Recent work at Once–Future includes signage and wayfinding for the David Rubenstein Treehouse conference center and Portland State University’s new School of Art, Art History, and Design building. He received his BFA from Eastern Michigan University and has a dog, Gerald, whom he loves very much.

Hover image
Nikki Chung

Nikki Chung

Principal

Show member bio

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.

Hover image
Gilda Gross

Gilda Gross

Senior Project Manager

Show member bio

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 she manages at Once–Future Office. She prioritizes client satisfaction and ensures projects of all scopes and scales run smoothly, on schedule, and within budget. Recently managed projects include signage and wayfinding for the expanding campus of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, a multi-channel voter engagement campaign for NYC, and signage and wayfinding for Brookfield’s two ground-up mixed-use towers in the Bronx. 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.

Hover image
Taylor Hale

Taylor Hale

Senior Designer

Show member bio

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 in-progress website for the Capital Jewish Museum and identity system and website for Alda Ly Architecture. When OOO, Taylor loves being places he doesn’t understand and fueling park walks with instant coffee.

Hover image
Dungjai Pungauthaikan

Dungjai Pungauthaikan

Principal

Show member bio

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.

Hover image
Helen Sywalski

Helen Sywalski Prisco

Creative Design Lead

Show member bio

Helen works on a range of projects including identity, signage, exhibitions, print, and websites. In keeping with her interest in materiality, typography, and experimentation, Helen takes a multidisciplinary approach to each project she works on, creating powerful, concept-driven work. Her favorite parts of the design process are research, exploration, and strategy. Helen has worked on projects such as the NYC Votes Primary and General Election campaigns, signage and environmental graphics for Galaxy Digital’s New York office space, and a strategic brand refresh and citywide campaign for NYC climate and environmental justice. 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. Helen loves when letterforms are large, dimensional, and something you can interact with.

Hover image
Joseph Wulf

Joseph Wulf

Designer

Show member bio

With an interest in identity design and typography, Joseph is passionate about finding creative solutions that bring graphic elements into physical spaces. Most recently at Once–Future Future, Joseph worked on an exhibition at the Center for Architecture featuring Fairy Tale Architecture and a 35th Year Anniversary logo for the New York Immigration Coalition. Previously, he worked on the identity and art direction for Utopia, an exhibition at WantedDesign Manhattan. He studied graphic design and industrial design at Rhode Island School of Design. Having grown up in California, Joseph enjoys road trips, hiking, exploring new places, and photographing all the exciting things he sees along the way.

Hover image

Collaborators

Emma Howcroft
Corey Di Stasio
Sarah Wang

 

 

Past Staff and Collaborators

Damini Agrawal
Anthony Aurrichio
Arnau Bosc
Franklin Canales
Ben DuVall
Nick Fogarty
Sara Gong
Keggen Griffith
Trevor Grove
Carli Heggen
Andrea Hu
Nicolas Kubail Kalousdian
Hanna Kim
Stella Kim
Lily Kim
Drianne Laliberte
Phoebe Morrison
Scott Sanders
Rachel Shim
Ashley Stevens
Sun Ho Lee
Xinyi Zhao
Karen Zhou

We are always looking for great people to work with. If you’d like to join our nimble and dynamic team, have a look at the open positions below.

Design Intern

We’re seeking exceptionally creative and motivated interns to participate in client and internal projects ranging from identity roll-outs to websites and environmental design work. Our mentorship-based internships are an opportunity to work closely with and learn from our design team while making impactful work. You’ll engage with projects in all phases, from concepts through production. 

 

We accept applications throughout the year, but our internships are typically placed seasonally: summer, fall, and winter/spring. Application reviews begin in April, July, and November, respectively. We’re always on the lookout for talented designers!

 

The Role

  • Support our design team in projects from concept through production.
  • Collaborate with team members to launch and deliver projects on schedule.
  • Attend client and internal meetings.
  • Work independently across mediums (print, digital, and environments).
  • Interact, communicate, and present ideas in internal meetings.
  • Hybrid in-person/remote at our studio in Brooklyn.

 

You

  • Conceptual thinker and skilled form-maker with an interest in systems who enjoys working across mediums.
  • Have a keen eye for detail.
  • Possess solid communication, time management, and multitasking skills.
  • Curious, flexible, and positive.
  • Wildly creative and enjoy a design challenge.

 

Skills/Qualifications

  • 2+ years of design education or equivalent experience.
  • Eligible to work in the US.
  • Strong typographic and form-making skills.
  • Experience with front-end development or motion is a bonus, not a necessity.
  • Fluent in InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
  • Knowledge of After Effects, Figma, photography, and/or basic front-end development will be given preference.

 

Stipend

  • $17/hour, up to 30 hours a week.

 

Apply

To apply, send your CV and cover letter to jobs@once-future.com (subject line: Internship). We apologize in advance that we can’t respond to all individual inquiries. Thanks for your understanding.

Reach out and say hi!

34 35th Street
Building #4, Space B513
Brooklyn, New York 11232

hello@once-future.com
917-524-8187

O–FFICE_Studio