Forest Young

Navigating a Career in Design: An Interview

Hear the personal story behind some of the world's most influential projects and companies, and join an exploration into the themes of shifting perspective between working inside and out; finding the courage to pivot in one's career, and ultimately, strategies for seeing yourself in your work. Forest Young was the first Chief Creative Officer at Wolff Olins — which was named Fast Company’s Most Innovative Company for Design during his tenure. There, he led design forward initiatives for the world’s most influential companies and cultural institutions, based in New York City. Before joining Wolff Olins, Forest was the Executive Creative Director at West, leading design across a portfolio of early stage companies alongside Allison Johnson. Forest is a Senior Critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art, where he is also a distinguished MFA alumnus, and recipient of the Mark Whistler Prize; he previously served as a MFA Thesis Critic at RISD. Forest has maintained a private design atelier – Young Studio for two decades to take on multi-dimensional projects — printed catalogs, bespoke typefaces, exhibition design and websites for the world's preeminent artists — such as painter Titus Kaphar and poet Reginald Dwayne Betts for the ongoing Redaction exhibition, Tavares Strachan's Arctic Ice Project, and McSweeney's The Future Dictionary of America. He is a founding advisor for MillerKnoll's Diversity in Design collaborative, and recently served on the Board of Directors for the AIGA's New York chapter. Forest was invited to join Fast Company's inaugural Impact Council and his work has been exhibited at MoMA, the ROM, the Royal College of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, and at numerous international biennials.He has received the industry's highest design accolades including the Gold Design Lion at Cannes and the Art Directors Club Black Cube. His passion lies at the intersection of storytelling, universal design and futurism. He was invited by the California Coll