Semi Permanent

Ethan builds happy design teams who create beautifully crafted products. Presently, Ethan leads an organization at Uber where they define the future of transportation and urban design. Specifically, his teams focus on projects that drive Uber's international growth, improve the lives for riders and partners, help city operations teams visualize and monitor the heart-beat of cities, and experiment with performance focused marketing experiences. 

Prior to Uber, Ethan headed up Google's Commerce UX organization, which included teams across Android Pay, Shopping, Travel, Offers, and Google's global Payment systems. 

Prior to Google, Ethan led teams at Adobe developing experiences for creative professionals. Over nine years at Adobe, he collaborated with teams across Digital Imaging, the Creative Suite, the Digital Publishing Suite, Adobe's AIR platform, and the Creative Cloud and Tablet Touch apps.

Ethan is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Jon Wiley is the Director of Immersive Design at Google, where he leads the user experience team for all things VR and AR.

Jon is a native of Austin, where he received a degree in Theatre from the University of Texas. While performing improv and sketch comedy on Austin's famous Sixth Street, instead of waiting tables he honed his web design skills. Eventually that paid the bills better than comedy and, following several years of professional design experience, he convinced Google to hire him in 2006.

He was the first designer for Google Autocomplete (predictive search queries), was the instigator for Google Instant (search results as you type), and led the Search UX team through three redesigns, the transition to mobile, and the addition of new features such as the Knowledge Graph and voice search. Jon was also the instigator for Material Design, Google's design language for all applications and the Android platform.

In 2014, Jon joined the Google Cardboard team. Initially a 20% project for two engineers, Google Cardboard is an accessible, lightweight (literally) mechanism which, when paired with a smartphone, creates a virtual reality display. Since its debut in 2014, Google Cardboard has won numerous awards: Cannes Lion Grand Prix for Mobile, Clio Gold, and a Red Dot for Product Design.

The team has been working hard to bring virtual reality to as many as possible with the creation of Google Expeditions (virtual field trips for schools), JUMP (stereo 360 video capture), and Cardboard Camera (3D 360 panoramic photos with your smartphone), with much more on the way.

Jon is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

At Facebook, Jon is responsible for designers in 3 offices, across a range of Facebook products including Profile, Events, Search and the Facebook Login. He is also known as the co-founder of the acclaimed product design firm Teehan+Lax which he ran for 12 years before joining Facebook in 2015. 

Over his 20 year career, Jon has worked with companies like Google, Medium, GM, YogaGlo, YouTube, Bell, Delta Airlines to design and build their digital products.

Jon was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, but is currently living in the Bay Area.  

Jon is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Pamela Shamshiri was born in Tehran, Iran, and raised in Los Angeles. Upon graduation from Smith College with a Bachelor of Arts in architecture and art history, she attended New York University where she earned her Master of Fine Arts in production design.

In 1998, Pam returned to Los Angeles and co-found Sham Interior Design & Events with her brother, Ramin. She travelled around the world working as a production designer on films and music videos with directors such as Lasse Hallström, Spike Lee and Phil Morrison and for commercial clients including Nike, Vogue, Sony, AT&T and the Bronx Zoo.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

Pamela is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016.

As the architect of Atelier Ace, Kelly Sawdon brokers a rejuvenating handshake between business and creativity — authenticating partners with creative substance and expanding platforms for expression to outliers and innovators. Sawdon began her career at Neverstop, a multi-disciplinary marketing agency for brands like Nike, Uniqlo, Target and MSN Music, where she produced and oversaw events globally.

She joined Alex Calderwood in developing and refining the Ace Hotel brand, as it grew from a former boardinghouse in Seattle, to an international hospitality brand and has been with the company for over a decade. As Ace’s Chief Brand Officer, Kelly oversees the entire creative studio, including graphic designers, the architecture and interiors team, PR, events, retail and marketing, and partnerships.

Ace Hotel reimagines urban hotels for people who make cities interesting. We crave experience more than hospitality clichés. We are curious about the history and geography of the buildings we inhabit, and let these guide us to someplace fresh and familiar. Ace is the low card and the high card.

Kelly is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

At the Seattle-based design consultancy, Steiner leads a large multidisciplinary creative team, responsible for defining next generation aircraft interiors, and shaping the future of travel. Over the past fifteen years Philipp has led creative and strategic teams working across a broad range of industries: transportation, consumer electronics, software/technology and healthcare/wellness; his past clients include Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Starbucks, Nike, Panasonic, Sunbeam and Samsung. A native of Switzerland now living in the United States, Philipp shares a common interest with his adopted hometown, a passion for all things travel and tech.

TEAGUE is the original design consultancy. Founded in 1926 by design pioneer Walter Dorwin Teague, TEAGUE’s portfolio spans many firsts: the Polaroid camera, the UPS truck, the Texaco service station, the Pringles canister, and the Xbox. Along the way, TEAGUE has designed the interior of every Boeing commercial airplane every produced—including the revolutionary 787 Dreamliner. Today, TEAGUE is 300+ thinkers and doers with talents spanning everything from industrial design and interaction design to branding and robotics. All of TEAGUE’s talents are focused specifically on travel and technology innovation, working on projects such as the NIKE + TEAGUE Athlete’s Plane, next-generation devices for Intel and Samsung, the DENNY e-bike, and the Boeing 777X.

Philipp is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Christopher Doyle is an internationally recognised designer with over fourteen years experience. He has worked at some of Australia’s leading brand and design agencies and his work has won numerous local and international awards.

His personal projects have been used as the basis for educational material in Europe and the United States and appeared in feature articles for Desktop, Creative Review and Grafik Magazine.

In 2009 he was named one of Indesign Magazine’s Top Ten Faces and Forces of Design and in 2011 his work was selected to be part of Graphic Design: Now in Production (GD:NIP) – a joint exhibition with Cooper-Hewitt and the National Design Museum in America.

Christopher started his studio, Christopher Doyle & Co., in 2013 and works for a diverse range of clients specialising in brand identity and art direction.

He has spoken at AGideas, Creative Mornings (Sydney), Analogue/Digital, Big Sound, UTS, Sex Drugs & Helvetica and Billy Blue College of Design (Sydney) and has sat on the New South Wales council for AGDA (the Australian Graphic Design Association).

He has also made written contributions to Desktop Magazine, Design Assembly, Australian Creative and Process Journal and has served as a judge at D&AD and AWARD.

He also once found a piece of Nutri-Grain that looked like E.T. and sold it on eBay for a thousand dollars. True story.

Christopher is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Robyn Holt is a Sydney born resident and started her career in the area of finance.

M/s Holt’s 35 years in Business and commerce enabled her to specialise in media, publishing, the fashion/ beauty and design industries where she held various senior executive roles in Australia, Russia and the United Kingdom. 

Her career culminated in being appointed CEO of a $300million + International company, Sanofi Pty Ltd a pharmaceutical company and CEO of Yves Saint Laurent Australia. Being offered the CEO of Conde Nast Australia she accepted the role she reverted the Australian company into a licence and was promoted to International Conde Nast and moved to Russia. 

During her tenure as President of Russia for Conde Nast she launched new titles like Architectural Digest, GQ and Glamour magazine as well one offs like Conde Nast Traveller. She opened the first international out of core business - Vogue Café and GQ Bar both highly successful licences still to today. 

Moving to the UK in 2006 she became the fundraiser and financial advisor also interim CEO for Tyler Brule's Global media brand Monocle.  Now known for it’s ground breaking digital identity and a round the clock audio service called Monocle 24, it’s retail arm and product offerings. Monocle has true global presence. 

In late 2009 M/s Holt established a management consulting practice in Sydney. She provides services in project management, leadership and strategic thinking to senior corporate clients and chief executives in the government and private sectors. 

She hosted a television show called The Renovators also had her own design segment for the daytime TV.

She was a guest lecturer on Branding for Macquarie University Museum Programme. A past Governor of Taronga and Western Plains Zoos and Trustee of Australian Museum. Until recently she was the Chairman of Northern Territory Tourism. She has just completed 6 years as a councillor for Australian National Maritime Museum and was recently appointed on the Board of University of New South Wales Arts and Design Faculty. A business advisor to Cameron Kimber Interior Design for the past 3 years the business has flourished under her strategic guidance. 

She recently accepted a board directorship of The Bradman Foundation, a non-profit charitable trust, established with the full support of Sir Donald Bradman AC to promote cricket as a valuable cultural and sporting force within the community. She is a published author of a children's book, she produced and launched globally Thomas Hamel's book, Residence, and Robyn is a member of Chief Executive Women (CEW) and also of Australian Institute of Company Directors (A.I.C.D.)

Robyn is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Josie Young is a Sydney-based graphic designer.

In 2015, she completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts majoring in Graphic Design at the University of Wollongong where she was awarded a Graduate Membership to AGDA for Outstanding Academic Achievement and Professional Practice.

Interning with Semi Permanent and Frost* Collective in 2015, have been two of Josie’s most career defining experiences. Networking with industry professionals from all over the globe opened up an array of opportunities and helped Josie land herself in the heart of the design industry, before she had even graduated. 

In 2014, she began practicing as a freelance graphic designer which kept her constantly engaged with a multitude of projects. Juggling freelance projects with a full-time uni schedule and internships kept her on her toes, but that's exactly where she likes to be.

At the beginning of 2016, she started working full time as a designer at Christopher Doyle & Co. 

Josie is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Gary Baseman crosses many lines of art as a painter, illustrator, video and performance artist, animator, TV/movie producer, curator, and toy designer.

His work has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, and Rolling Stone; and he designed the best-selling game “Cranium.”

He created the three-time Emmy and BAFTA award-winning animation series, “Teacher’s Pet,” earning him credit as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Entertainment named by Entertainment Weekly Magazine.

His fine art has been displayed in galleries and museums in Brazil, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, and all over the United States. His work has been described as humorously playful and dark, often featuring “disquietingly cute” characters.

In recent years,through art performances, his characters have been brought to life, engaging viewers to become active art agents by playing, singing, and dancing. The Door is Always Open, a 25-year retrospective of his work, with an accompanying exhibition catalogue published by Rizzoli, was showcased at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in 2013.

Gary is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016.

Jessica Hische is a lettering artist, illustrator, author, and self-described “avid internetter” working in San Francisco and Brooklyn. After graduating with a degree in Graphic and Interactive Design from Tyler School of Art (Temple University) in 2006, she worked for Headcase Design in Philadelphia before taking a position as Senior Designer at Louise Fili Ltd.

In 2009, after two and a half years, Jessica left to further her freelance career and embark on several fun personal projects. Jessica began Daily Drop Cap, a project in which every day she created a new illustrative letter, working through the alphabet a total of twelve times. The popularity of Daily Drop Cap really kickstarted her career as a letterer, and has inspired many other designers to start daily lettering projects. Daily Drop Cap concluded in 2011, but you can find the letters in all sorts of places, from postcard sets to iPhone cases.

Jessica has become as well known for her side projects as she has for her client work. While she doesn’t consider herself a web designer, many of her personal projects are web-centric. She’s created several educational micro-sites including Mom This is How Twitter Works, Should I Work for Free? and Don’t Fear the Internet (a collaborative project with Russ Maschmeyer). She coined the term “procrastiworking” to describe her tendency to procrastinate on client work by working on personal projects.

Jessica is actively involved in the design, illustration, and type communities (serving on the Type Directors Club board from 2012 to 2015) and is a prolific public speaker, appearing at colleges and conferences worldwide. She and her studio mate Erik Marinovich also host lettering workshops and events (though infrequently) at their San Francisco studio Title Case.

Jessica’s clients includes Wes Anderson, The United States Postal Service, Tiffany & Co., The New York Times, Penguin Books, Target, Starbucks, American Express, and Wired Magazine. She has also released several commercial typefaces which are available in her store.

Jessica has been named a Print Magazine New Visual Artist (20 under 30), one of Forbes 30 under 30 in Art and Design, an ADC Young Gun, and a “Person to Watch” by GD USA. She’s been personally profiled in many magazines including Eye Magazine (UK), Communication Arts, Grafik Magazine (UK), and Novum Magazine (Germany). Her first book, In Progress, is available through Chronicle Books.

Jessica is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Jack Mussett is Principal and Creative Director at Australian design studio Motherbird. The studio works with a diverse set of clients from all around the world including; MTV, Nickelodeon, Qantas, ABC, Warner Music, the Australian Government and Netball Victoria.

Motherbird was named a Top 10 Design Force in Australia by Design Quarterly magazine, as well as taking out the SOYA Award for best young creative in the country. Jack Mussett is Principal and Creative Director at Australian design studio Motherbird. 

With a passion for the industry, Jack has been the Victorian Chairman for the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) and is a member of the Desktop Magazine Advisory Board. Amongst giving regular lectures at Australia's leading universities, Jack's public speaking engagements include; Vivid Sydney, Creative Mornings, Sex, Drugs & Helvetica and Analogue Digital. He's had the honour of being an emcee at the internationally renowned agIdeas design conference as well as recently being on the judging panel for the Create Awards.

Jack has a love of brutalist architecture and cheeky wordplay, and concedes that this is a ridiculous juxtaposition.

Jack is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

After 13 years as an artist working in publishing, advertising, and games, Kevin Jenkins joined the VFX Industry on the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs series, before working on various shows as a Senior Digital Matte Painter and Lead Environment TD, including the Oscar ®-winning Golden Compass.

After working as a Digital Environment Supervisor for several years, it was Jenkin’s experience as Art Director on Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film, War Horse, which inspired his partnership with Rick Carter and much of the unit he would work with closely for the next several years.

As Art Director and Lead Concept Artist, Jenkins led this unit onto over 50 visual development projects, covering a huge range of work including the Zombie waves of World War Z, the intricate sets for Zero Dark Thirty, the creatures and characters of Dredd, the exo-suits and aliens for Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow and the environments of Marvel Studio’s Thor 2, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Jenkins now serves as Supervising Art Director at ILM London.

ILM Feature Films credits

2015    STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKES – Visual Effects Art Director

2015    AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON – Visual Effects Art Director

Prior 'Framestore' Credits:

2015    JUPITER ASCENDING – Concept Artist

2015    THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. – Concept Artist

2014    GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – Visual Effects Art Director

2014    EDGE OF TOMORROW – Visual Effects Art Director

2014    WINTERS TALE – Visual Effects Art Director

2014    DRACULA UNTOLD – Visual Effects Art Director/Concept Artist

2014    X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST – Visual Effects Art Director

2013    47 RONIN – Visual Effets Art Director

2013    R.I.P.D – Visual Effects Art Director

2013    WORLD WAR Z – Visual Effects Art Director

2013    THOR: THE DARK WORLD – Concept Artist

2012    WRATH OF THE TITANS – Visual Effects Art Director 

2012    LINCOLN - Illustrator

2012    DREDD – Concept Artist

2011    WAR HORSE – Visual Effects Art Director

2010    PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME – Digital Environment Supervisor/Visual Effects Art Director

2010    CLASH OF THE TITANS – Digital Environment Supervisor

2008    AUSTRALIA – Digital Environment Supervisor

2008    THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN – Environment Supervisor

2007    THE GOLDEN COMPASS – Digital Matte Painter

2006    SUPERMAN RETURNS – Matte Painter

2005    HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE – Creature Texture Painter

2004    AVP: ALIEN VS PREDATOR – Digital Matte Artist

Kevin is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Dantley Davis is the director of design at Netflix, where he has led the product design for Netflix across game consoles, smart TVs, web, and mobile devices. 

Prior to Netflix,  Dantley has also held leadership positions at Yahoo, PayPal, and SAP.  Dantley received his undergrad degree and MBA from the University of San Francisco.  When Dantley isn't working on apps, he is exploring the great outdoors with his wife and 3 year old son, flying planes, and tinkering with robots.

Dantley is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016. 

Hector was born in Mexico City, and has always been fascinated by the tension between technology, art, and design. His major focus is attempting to harness that tension to create products and experiences that make our lives more productive, enjoyable, and inspiring. Uncertain of his direction he graduated with a BS in Computer Science from the UDLAP, and a MA in Interaction Design from the Interaction Design Institute of Ivrea in Italy.

Between attaining his degrees he took on real jobs doing interface design for HP, among others. In 2007, he joined the MIT Mobile Experience lab and later found his way to Google, where he's worked on multiple products (Android, Android TV, Sky Map, Docs, Maps, etc) and led teams on multiple continents. Presently he leads UX for all Google search-related products. He now resides in California with his wife and daughter, bikes to work every day, and is still trying to answer that fundamental question: How can we make tech + art + design = happiness? 

Hector is a speaker at Semi Permanent 2016.