The GDUSA Podcast: Conversations About Graphic Des

Creative and marketing pay is shifting fast, and in 2026, it really pays to know where things are headed. In this episode, we’re joined by two experts from Robert Half, Lucy Marino and Amy Mangan, to break down the 2026 Salary Guide and what the latest trends mean for both creative professionals and hiring managers. We dive into: Why AI and digital expertise are earning top dollar How hiring managers are rethinking compensation strategies to stay competitive What creative pros can do to boost their value in a changing market The growing demand for contract talent, emerging roles, and flexible perks Whether you're building a team or building your career, this episode is packed with insight to help you move forward with clarity and confidence. Amy Mangan oversees the strategic direction of Robert Half's Technology and Marketing and Creative placement services, ensuring that they deliver exceptional solutions to their clients. She's responsible for managing a team of recruiters, client solutions managers, and other professionals, and is committed to developing their talent and helping them achieve their career goals. Lucy Marino is the Executive Director of the marketing and creative practice at global talent solutions firm Robert Half, which connects professionals with companies hiring in marketing, creative, digital, advertising, and public relations. In this role, she oversees strategy and operations for the company’s marketing and creative talent solutions teams across U.S. locations.  Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

Mike Perry is the founder and chief creative officer of Tavern, a Brooklyn-based global creative agency crafting timeless brands across food, beverage, hospitality, and beyond. With 15+ years at the forefront of brand building, Mike’s earned a reputation as a certified creative powerhouse. His career spans leading roles at top global studios like Stranger & Stranger, Design Bridge, and JKR, and media giants like NBC Sports and TikTok. He’s the creative mind behind some of the industry’s most recognizable rebrands for clients such as Budweiser, Burger King, and Diageo. Mike Perry Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mike_l_perry/ Mike Perry LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikelperry/ Tavern Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tavern.agency/ Tavern X - https://x.com/tavern_agency Tavern LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/tavernagency/ Drop us a line - cheers@tavern.agency Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

What if the most powerful kind of creativity isn’t about making things beautiful, but making them clear? Gordon Kaye never planned to work in design. He studied law, built a career in New York, and handled media and trademark cases before joining NBC as counsel, reviewing everything from late-night jokes to broadcast standards. But when his father’s health declined, he stepped away from law to take over the family publication, Graphic Design USA (GDUSA), a magazine his father had launched in the 1960s to celebrate the people behind design, not just the work itself. What began as a rescue mission became a lifelong calling. Gordon brought his legal mind and curiosity for communication to a creative field that thrives on clarity. Over the decades, he’s evolved GDUSA into more than a design magazine, it’s a respected voice for how ideas move through business, marketing, and culture. On this episode of Design Of, Gordon and Justin talk about what design can teach every leader: how to communicate simply, lead with empathy, and build trust through the way we share information. They discuss how his outsider’s view helped him see design not as decoration, but as direction. And how clarity, when done well, can turn creative thinking into real influence. For business and marketing leaders, this episode is about more than design. It’s about the responsibility of communication. About how we help people see what matters. And how legacy, when guided by purpose, can evolve without losing its truth. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

In this episode of The GDUSA Podcast, we welcome Paige Breedlove, Vice President and Senior Digital Recruiter at Robert Half’s Digital Talent Center, and Lucy Marino, Executive Director of Robert Half’s marketing and creative practice. Together, Paige and Lucy offer an expert perspective on the evolving nature of creative work—specifically, the accelerating shift from traditional graphic design to digital-first production and media. Drawing on their extensive experience guiding both companies and individuals, they explore how these changes are influencing hiring practices, skill requirements, and career development strategies across the industry. Topics Covered: The transformation of graphic design roles in a digital-first world What hiring managers are prioritizing in today’s creative candidates Strategies for job seekers to remain competitive and relevant Insights into workforce trends and the future of creative talent Featured Guests: Paige Breedlove — Vice President & Senior Digital Recruiter, Robert Half Digital Talent Center Lucy Marino — Executive Director, Marketing & Creative Practice, Robert Half Resources: Robert Half | Marketing & Creative Talent Solutions Lucy Marino’s career column in GDUSA Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

As executive director of Technology Staffing Services for Robert Half, Randi's primary responsibility is to develop and oversee programs that enable the company's Permanent Placement teams across North America. Robert Half connects employers with highly skilled technology, creative and legal professionals.   Throughout Randi's 20-year career with Robert Half, she's taken great pride in providing strategic staffing solutions and quality customer service to her clients and candidates. She's also had the opportunity to expand their business, develop their Robert Half teams and improve employee retention in her various leadership positions. You can find Randi on LinkedIn.   Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

Stephanie is a strategic, data-driven sustainability, ESG and communications leader who is currently Sr. Director, ESG at global talent solutions firm Robert Half.  She collaborates across the enterprise to find ways to continue and amplify the company's focus on ethics, integrity, innovation and inclusion, and she stands firm in the belief that she must learn and work each and every day on how to show up as a supporter and collaborator to act in allyship with historically excluded groups.  She is passionate about our planet, politics, and plant-based food (feminism doesn't start with a P but it's in there too), and she spends her free time outdoors on various modes of human and wind-powered conveyances and/or devouring books and puzzles of all kinds. You can find Stephanie on LinkedIn. You can find the Robert Half ESG Webpage here and ESG Report here. Lucy is Executive Director of the marketing and creative practice at Robert Half. In this role, she oversees strategy and operations for the company’s marketing and creative talent solutions teams across U.S. locations.  Since joining Robert Half in 1999, she has helped to advance Robert Half’s marketing and creative and technology practices throughout a number of geographies. With her passion for people and solutions, and a deep understanding of the industry, she has advised thousands of company leaders on talent solutions and guided thousands of individuals on the next steps in their careers.  She also serves in board-level roles for organizations and has contributed her time and expertise to many local design schools and other creative organizations. You can find Lucy on LinkedIn. You can find Robert Half Marketing & Creative here. Robert Half Marketing & Creative Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

Over the course of three decades, Debbie has built her Northern New Jersey-based firm into a hub that embraces the philosophy of great ideas that genuinely work. “When we meet with a client, we really tune in. We brainstorm, we collaborate, and we develop something that is wonderfully tailored to the client’s goals—a finished product that conveys why your company, brand or product is different—and why your own clients and customers should choose you and not the competition,” she says. Having honed her skills at Federal Paperboard, where she worked with brands such as Klondike, Nutella, Polly-O, and Dunlop, Debbie doesn’t turn off her designer’s instincts when she leaves the office. In fact, a trip to the grocery store is just as likely to be for product-packaging research as it is for stocking the pantry. As an entrepreneur, a wife, a mother, a frequent university lecturer and even a black belt, Debbie looks at every new opportunity as an exciting puzzle to be solved. You can find Debbie at: https://barnettdesign.com or follow her at: www.linkedin.com/in/debbiebarnettideasthatwork https://www.instagram.com/barnettdesigninc/ https://www.facebook.com/barnettdesigninc/ Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

Paper is Michele's world. With 25+ years in the industry, she's seen a lot of changes. Watching technology infiltrate every aspect of our lives, she believes paper and print has evolved to a point where it can be considered a new medium. People respond to beautiful print, unique substrates and tangible things more than ever before. The right paper can be the critical factor that not only elevates a brand but helps define it - increasing shelf presence, brand equity, and response rates while driving sales. As the Marketing Manager at Neenah, Michele works on strategies, new ideas and tactics that keep Designers, Brand Managers and others who specify paper confident in paper specification, connecting them with Neenah's sales team and resources to provide solutions for packaging, print collateral, label, gift cards, direct mail and digital printing. You can find Michele on LinkedIn and Neenah on Instagram and on their website. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

Studio on Fire is a Midwestern company based in St. Paul, Minnesota; owned by husband-and-wife-team Ben and Stacy Levitz. Their printing operation started in 1999, when Ben rebelled against the grind of designing behind a computer and bought his first printing press. This early basement studio stationed a Chandler & Price platen press between the boiler and the clothes dryer and just a step away from the cat box. Fast-forward twenty-one years— that basement hobby is now a truly unique commercial print shop with a battery of presses and a crew of talented people. That first press still sits  in the entryway of their shop. They proudly represent the best version of craft manufacturing here in the United States of America. They own the 19,000 square foot building that has been their home for the last five years.  Above all else, THEY LOVE MAKING THINGS. You can follow them on Instagram. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

Alex Moulton works with brands to inspire transformation and creativity through design, music, art, and technology. Since 2016, he has been Chief Creative Officer at branding and design studio Trollbäck+Company where he helps businesses communicate with purpose, shape culture, and become more sustainable.  Rosie Garschina recently returned to Trollbäck+Company as Creative Director, leading the studio's creative global branding and campaign initiatives. Garschina has been at the helm of many recent branding initiatives, including creative directing the 2021 reinvention of Paramount’s BET, the rebrand of A+E’s History Channel, the launch of streaming service AMC+, and the creation of Audible's content branding system. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Sign up to receive our monthly GDUSA Newsletter! https://gdusa.com/resources/newsletters/recent Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz

Paul Flaharty is executive director of the marketing and creative practice at global talent solutions firm Robert Half, which connects professionals with companies hiring in marketing, creative, digital, advertising and public relations. His primary responsibility is to develop and oversee the growth strategy for the company’s marketing and creative contract talent solutions teams across the United States. In this podcast, Paul shares his insights on the how 2023 is shaping up for both creative hiring managers and job seekers, what are key trends in hiring today, and why Robert Half is deeply committed to advancing inclusion and diversity in the workplace and the community – including its sponsorship of GDUSA’s inaugural “Designing For Good” category which is featured in our 59th annual graphic design awards annual showcase. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Podcast art by Maliya Naz.

Christine Gaspar is a designer and planner with over 15 years of experience in community engaged design practice. Since 2009, she has been CUP’s Executive Director. Before that, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and community planning services to low-income communities of color recovering from Hurricane Katrina. She is a founding member of the Design Futures Leadership Forum Advisory Board and holds Masters in Architecture and in Urban Planning from MIT and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Brown University. As a first generation American whose parents worked as a domestic worker and in a factory, she experienced some of the ways marginalized communities face barriers to accessing rights, services, and a political voice and deeply believes in CUP’s mission to change that. She is also deeply committed to expanding who has access to design and how it is used as a tool for community-led change. Follow CUP at: Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/welcometocup Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we_are_CUP/ Twitter:  https://www.instagram.com/we_are_CUP/ LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-center-for-urban-pedagogy-cup- Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

An update on our next series of interviews. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

An update on our next series of interviews. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Gordon talks to Diane Domeyer, Executive Director of The Creative Group, about in-demand design skills, the need women and minorities in creative leadership positions,, and why it's a job seeker's market. Diane Domeyer is the executive director at The Creative Group, a creative staffing firm. She has spent over 24 years at Robert Half, helping to connect interactive, design, marketing, and public relations professionals to the companies that want to hire them. Diane is called upon often to provide career and workplace advice and present on hiring and management topics. She is passionate about the creative industry and loves working with organizations and individuals alike on career and workplace trends and opportunities. Follow The Creative Group on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and Twitter. This episode was produced by Sasha Kaye-Walsh. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Gordon talks to Diane Domeyer, Executive Director of The Creative Group, about in-demand design skills, the need women and minorities in creative leadership positions,, and why it's a job seeker's market. Diane Domeyer is the executive director at The Creative Group, a creative staffing firm. She has spent over 24 years at Robert Half, helping to connect interactive, design, marketing, and public relations professionals to the companies that want to hire them. Diane is called upon often to provide career and workplace advice and present on hiring and management topics. She is passionate about the creative industry and loves working with organizations and individuals alike on career and workplace trends and opportunities. Follow The Creative Group on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and Twitter. This episode was produced by Sasha Kaye-Walsh. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Gordon talks to Robin Colangelo, Global Director of Creative Services at law firm White & Case, about creative leadership, design education, and the challenges of working inhouse. Robin is experienced in developing brand, marketing and creative strategy with extensive in-house leadership expertise building new teams and processes. She has led several rebrand efforts and also writes and speaks on creative leadership topics throughout the industry. In her current role, Robin leads a global in-house creative team for White & Case, where she manages the visual identity and oversees a diverse team across six offices and five countries. Robin's team of creative professionals design and produce all touch points to support the Firm's strategic goals; from marketing collateral, branding, digital, social media to video and animation. Learn more about Insource. This episode was produced by Sasha Kaye-Walsh. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Gordon talks to Robin Colangelo, Global Director of Creative Services at law firm White & Case, about creative leadership, design education, and the challenges of working inhouse. Robin is experienced in developing brand, marketing and creative strategy with extensive in-house leadership expertise building new teams and processes. She has led several rebrand efforts and also writes and speaks on creative leadership topics throughout the industry. In her current role, Robin leads a global in-house creative team for White & Case, where she manages the visual identity and oversees a diverse team across six offices and five countries. Robin's team of creative professionals design and produce all touch points to support the Firm's strategic goals; from marketing collateral, branding, digital, social media to video and animation. Learn more about Insource. This episode was produced by Sasha Kaye-Walsh. Listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Gordon talks to Brett Traylor, cofounder and senior partner at creative agency Thinkso, about growing up in a printing family, designing for good, and the derivation of his firm's name. Brett cofounded Thinkso and, as senior partner, provides creative leadership on every project. He has attracted a diverse clientele of corporate, cultural, and nonprofit organizations with his conceptual strength and bold execution. Throughout his career, Brett has worked on high-profile projects for a variety of clients. His work has been widely acclaimed in Communication Arts, Print, ID, Wired, Metropolis, and The New York Times. His work is included in the permanent collection of SF MoMA and has garnered an array of awards. He has been recognized by AIGA, SEGD, the New York Art Directors Club, Black Book AR100, REBRAND 100, and has twice been nominated for a British Design and Art Direction Award. Brett is a past GDUSA Person To Watch. Follow Brett on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Follow Thinkso on Twitter and Facebook.

Gordon talks to Brett Traylor, cofounder and senior partner at creative agency Thinkso, about growing up in a printing family, designing for good, and the derivation of his firm's name. Brett cofounded Thinkso and, as senior partner, provides creative leadership on every project. He has attracted a diverse clientele of corporate, cultural, and nonprofit organizations with his conceptual strength and bold execution. Throughout his career, Brett has worked on high-profile projects for a variety of clients. His work has been widely acclaimed in Communication Arts, Print, ID, Wired, Metropolis, and The New York Times. His work is included in the permanent collection of SF MoMA and has garnered an array of awards. He has been recognized by AIGA, SEGD, the New York Art Directors Club, Black Book AR100, REBRAND 100, and has twice been nominated for a British Design and Art Direction Award. Brett is a past GDUSA Person To Watch. Follow Brett on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Follow Thinkso on Twitter and Facebook.