Design Direction, etc.
Pacific Northwest, USA, Earth
hi.donica@gmail.com
RoleAI Art Direction, Design
Made withGoogle Creative Lab
Google DeepMind
Primordial Soup
PressKeyword
Variety
IndieWire
Tribeca Film Festival
RecognitionCiclope Gold Award for Innovation
Art Directors Club, AI Film/Moving Image, Gold Cube
Art Directors Club, Ad Innovation, Merit
Art Directors Club, Craft in Video SFX, Merit
One Show, AI Craft in Motion, Gold Pencil
One Show, AI Craft in Storytelling, Silver Pencil
One Show, Use of Technology: AI, Bronze Pencil
One Show, Use of AI: Visuals, Merit
Webby’s, Ad, Media & PR, Best Use of AI, Nominee
As generative AI becomes ubiquitous, Ancestra explores technology’s role in the future of filmmaking. Directed by Eliza McNitt and executive produced by Darren Aronofsky, this short film pioneered a novel hybrid production approach, combining live-action footage with AI visuals from DeepMind's Veo. We built new tools and workflows leveraging AI to push creative boundaries and overcome storytelling challenges.
Ancestra has helped drive the global AI filmmaking conversation, serving as a vehicle for dialogue at film festivals and events worldwide. Premiering at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, the film sparked conversations on the ethics of AI-based creative tooling that ultimately evolved our approach to these kinds of projects moving forward.
Watch the film
Watch the Behind the Scenes
RoleCreative Direction
Made withKate LaRue
Greg Veis
Rachel Morris
Gladeye
RecognitionSociety of Publication Design, Silver Medal
Online Journalism Awards, Finalist
A two-part series about suicide in America. The first, by Jason Cherkis, explores why suicide rates are continuing to increase across demographics and what can be done about it. The second, by Clancy Martin, examines his own life in the immediate aftermath of his sixth suicide attempt. His is a rare story about what it feels like to battle the urge to die over the course of decades.
These two pieces, taken together, offer us what’s so badly missing in the discussion over suicide: a way forward.
Read Jason’s article
Read Clancy’s article
RoleCreative Direction, Design
Made with Google Brand Studio
Google Creative Lab
Google Design
PressKeyword
The Verge
Creative Bloq
Google Design Blog
With such rapid momentum in the AI space, Gemini’s brand was in constant evolution, making it increasingly difficult to recognize as a part of the Google family. In 2024, we co-led a cross-company sprint to redefine what both brands should look and feel like in this new era of AI, creating a refreshed visual language that reflects the energy of the time while bringing both brands closer together.
The resulting work has expanded beyond brand marketing to inform our product experiences. In 2026, we launched the first update to Google’s logo, wordmark, and color palette in 10 years, creating a system that feels fresh and modern while remaining rooted in Google’s brand heritage. This new language is currently being adopted across the company’s vast landscape, methodically reshaping the way people experience Google today.
RoleArt Direction, Design Direction
Made withJillian Goodman
Leonor Mamanna
PressNew York Times
Stack Magazines
RecognitionLibrary of Congress Archives, 2016
Mary Review is a magazine of news and ideas written and produced entirely by women. Its goal was to bring gender parity to the wider journalistic conversation. Initially funded by Kickstarter, Mary grew from print and online content to events and fundraisers supporting women's rights affected by the political climate at the time. In 2016, MaryReview.com was selected for permanent inclusion in the Library of Congress Web Archives.
RoleIdentity, UX, Design
Made withGoogle Creative Lab
Google Labs
RecognitionWebby Awards, Honoree
Google Labs is the home for Google's latest AI experiments where the public can play with emerging AI tools, provide direct feedback to development teams, and help responsibly shape the future of AI technology before it scales into everyday Google products. Labs fosters an active community, collaborating with experts in various fields and engaging creative technologists from all over through events and dedicated channels.
Visit the site
RoleDesign, Copy
Made withLouise Richards
| Creative Lab Run Club was reestablished after a long hiatus as a way to connect offscreen and a reminder to prioritize endorphins over algorithms. The identity featured Creative Lab’s crab mascot and copy that nods to tech culture. |
RoleDesign
A tiny passion project born of my love for hiking. Outdoor Index started as an archive of hikes I completed in 2020 during my 52-hike challenge. It’s evolved to become a handy resource of ultra-curated trails for my friends in New York and beyond.
Visit the site
RoleArt Direction, Design Direction, UX, Accessibility
Made withGoogle Brand Studio
Google Creative Lab
Google DEI
john a. powell
R/GA
Siberia
The Search for Belonging Project was a year-long initiative dedicated to exploring a singular question: What does it mean to belong? In partnership with Google’s DEI team and civil rights activist john a. powell, we developed a multisensory experience based on powell’s five pillars of belonging. Our research—which involved interviewing over 300 Googlers across 25 countries and eight languages—happened to coincide with a global inflection point: the beginning of the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. As a result, the 2,500 audio stories we captured became an unintentional but vital archive of a tumultuous, emotional time in our world’s history.
Each story was tagged using a custom semantic API and paired with meticulously crafted type animations, live-coded particle animations, and generative music. Depending on a person’s own reflections on identity, the platform surfaced a handful of stories designed to either validate their lived experience or reveal a shared emotional landscape with those seemingly different from them. This approach ensured that no two paths through the archive were the same, leading every individual on their own unique journey.
RoleArt & Design Direction
Made withAntfood
Google Creative Lab
Heard City
Imaginary Forces
Lucky Day
Mixtape Club
Moxie Pictures
Selman Design
PressKeyword
Android Authority
Forbes
Recognition Museum of Modern Art, Dept. of Film Archives
AICP, Honoree: Design
D&AD Awards, Wooden Pencil
Webby Awards, Honoree: Art Direction in Film & Video
For over a decade, Google’s most important security work happened out of public view. This six-part docuseries pulls back the curtain on the elite teams who keep the world safe. The story begins with Operation Aurora in 2010—a massive cyberattack that forced Google to completely reinvent its approach to security. The series reveals a human story of innovation and grit, celebrating the heroes behind the scenes doing the real work and reinforcing Google’s commitment to keeping billions of users safe every day.
The docuseries garnered over six million views, an 8.4 on IMDB, and was recognized by the Webby Awards, D&AD Awards, AICP and the Museum of Modern Art.
Watch the trailer
Watch the series
RoleArt & Design Direction
Made withAntfood
Google Creative Lab
Google Security
Hacking.Art
Imaginary Forces
PressKeyword
Antfood case study
RecognitionAMP Awards for Music & Sound: Most Innovative Process & Execution
While global cyber threats continue to rise, the number of engineers protecting the internet remains stagnant. To bridge this talent gap, we created the H4CK1NG G00GL3 Challenge—a global Capture The Flag (CTF) event—to kickoff the launch of our Hacking Google docuseries.
Thousands of hackers, hobbyists, and students were invited to solve complex engineering puzzles to unlock each episode in sequence. Clues were embedded in the series using tactics such as Morse code, coded fonts, encrypted audio tracks, and live action shots and animations. The challenge extended into the physical world, taking coders on a global scavenger hunt that concluded at the peak of a mountain in Switzerland. High-ranking participants were rewarded with swag, custom ASCII art badges and a coveted H4CK1NG G00GL3 challenge coin.
In 48 hours, the challenge engaged over 50,000 unique hackers from 150 countries, serving as a powerful recruitment engine and a definitive call to action for the next generation of cybersecurity experts.
Watch the trailer
Visit the site