Reese Okonkwo
Founder · ECD
THE STUDIO · 12 PEOPLE · ONE ROOM
The Studio.
Reese Okonkwo studied design at Pratt, spent five years at Wieden+Kennedy, two more at Pentagram, and founded Aperture & Ink in 2022 to run smaller, sharper engagements with senior people in the room. Twelve people. One studio in DUMBO. No offshoring.
The Manifesto
Type is the artwork.
Senior in the room — every revision.
One portal. One thread. One source of truth.
Read the regulatory back panel before you sign.
The People in the Room
A small, deliberately senior bench.
Reese leads every engagement personally, supported by four discipline leads who own their craft end-to-end. No mid-weight handoffs, no offshore production.
Priya Anand
Brand Strategy Lead
James Whitlock
Senior Designer · Type
Sarah Hoover
Producer · Campaigns
David Mensah
Motion & Digital Lead
The bench
Seven additional senior makers
Origin
From critique wall to client-of-record.
Pratt ’14. Senior thesis on regional packaging vernacular. Still references the same Tschichold lecture in studio crits.
2014–2019 · W+K NY. Five years as Senior Art Director. Led campaigns for an outdoor footwear brand, a beverage major, and one financial services account she still won’t name.
2019–2021 · Pentagram. Two years as Associate Partner. Brand identity systems for a children’s book imprint and a regional grocery chain. Learned how to write a guidelines doc.
2022 · Aperture & Ink. Quietly stood up a 12-person studio in DUMBO, with a portal-first operating model and a deliberately small client roster.
Aperture & Ink is a member of AIGA, the Type Directors Club, and The One Club for Creativity. Brand New “Notable Identity” 2024. Clockless “Built With Care” partner 2025.
Pratt
Wieden+Kennedy
Pentagram
DUMBO
Talk
Let’s talk about what you’re launching.
Whether you’re nine months out or shipping next quarter, it starts with a conversation.