Title: Chief Design Officer and Founder
Company: Young Studio
Location: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Forest Young, chief design officer and founder of Young Studio, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Artists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in design and business.
Over the past 25 years, Mr. Young has established himself as a thought leader in design and brand transformation. He was encouraged in this direction during his youth, interacting with family members who showcased creative abilities even within professions like engineer, firefighter and police officer. While Mr. Young was passionate about the more artistic elements he saw in these jobs, he also recognized the value in their practicality. His understanding of the way these two sides could intersect would become a defining element of his career and his design philosophy, which balances aesthetic considerations with analytical thinking, curiosity and intuition.
Mr. Young’s first full-time role came in 2006, when he was hired as design director for Push, a Florida-based branding agency. After gaining experience there for several years, he contributed as an associate creative director at Frog and design director at Brand New School, where he assisted with Cartoon Network’s 2010 brand expansion. Mr. Young’s work history includes tenures as creative director and senior director at Interbrand and as executive creative director at West, an ad agency founded by former Apple marketing executive Allison Johnson. He also took up education in 2017 as an adjunct professor for the California College of the Arts, where he taught the school’s first-ever course in future design. He has also taught classes at Yale University and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Beginning 2016, Mr. Young embarked on a major milestone when he joined Wolff Olins as head of design. Across four years with the company, he was promoted to global principal and finally, chief creative officer. While affiliated with Wolff Olins, Mr. Young played a key part in developing revitalized branding for Uber during turbulent years for the company. His holistic approach to this branding effort included a new logo and updated app design. The redesign, which Mr. Young considers the greatest achievement of his professional life, marked a shift for the company from a period of depressed morale into a more engaged workforce. It also contributed to Uber’s valuation nearly doubling from $66 billion to $120 billion, which in turn led to a significant initial public offering for the company.
Though he left his full-time role at Wolf Olins in 2021, Mr. Young rejoined the company in 2025 as a global design and artificial intelligence (AI) resident. His most recent positions prior to that include board member with PlantLife, global head of brand for Rivian and executive director of design for FundamentalCo.
Alongside his business-focused design work, Mr. Young has owned and operated his own creative studio, Young Studio, since 2000. He views his studio as a means of staying connected to the broader artistic world. At his studio, Mr. Young has worked with such acclaimed artists as poet Dwayne Betts, artist Leslie Hewitt, conceptual artist Tavares Strachan, and painter and filmmaker Titus Kaphar. This ongoing endeavor also provides him with a more intimate space and an outlet where he can exercise full creative control.
Before venturing onto his vocational path, Mr. Young crafted a foundation in storytelling and design fundamentals through his education. He initially pursued psychology before shifting into design, which helped lend him a unique perspective on design that takes the human perspective into account. Mr. Young obtained a Bachelor of Science in human development from Cornell University in 2000. Subsequently, he earned a Master of Fine Arts in design from Yale University in 2006.
In addition to his professional and creative accomplishments, Mr. Young is a devoted husband and a loving father to one child. His favorite pastimes include powerlifting and collecting baseball cards. As he moves into the next chapter of his journey, Mr. Young is focused on finding more ways to empower young designers. He is heavily invested in exploring and helping others understand cutting-edge AI technology, which he views not as a threat but rather as a major opportunity for designers to take on larger roles in organizations.
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