AIGA/NY Board Spotlight: Shana Dressler

Shana Dressler uses design principles to teach startup founders how to create viable businesses. She’s lent her design thinking to places like Google, directing the 30 Weeks project, as well as institutions like Harvard, Columbia, Brown and SVA.

However, her work hasn’t always been design focused. Shana started her career in NYC as a temp at a major advertising agency. Educated as a filmmaker, she began gravitating toward design while creating PowerPoint presentations for Ogilvy. She realized that she was more interested in what the Art Department was doing than anything else. It was this first exposure to design — with the help of a generous Art Director — that got her excited about the possibilities of the craft.

Since those early days in advertising, Shana’s become more focused on expanding how businesses understand design: Showing that it’s not just aesthetics, but also strategy. AIGA/NY drew her in with the opportunity to work with other design professionals, and to explore how to scale design strategy and business for the greater good. Currently, she’s helping the Membership team with a focus on improving the chapter’s offerings and design strategy.

For Shana, business and design are symbiotic. When asked about the future of design, Shana replied “I think if designers start to understand how businesses work and how their job directly affects the bottom line of a company, they will be more likely to be kept on staff, rather than laid off when automation really starts to scale.” Our members face these business issues and Shana hopes her work will help them become successful, regardless of what their futures hold.