Nu Goteh

Nu is a member of the 2024 SEGD Board.

Nu Goteh is a multi-disciplinary creative & designer who works in audio, visual, and written mediums. He is the co-founder of the strategy and design studio, Room for Magic, and co-founder and creative director of partner publication, Deem Journal. Additionally, Nu is a professor at Parsons School of Design, leading a course entitled Design Dichotomies which explores the intersection of design and society. Nu’s practice is informed by his love for counter/subculture(s), his background as a Liberian-born refugee, and a lifelong dedication to building platforms that enable communities to engage in shared experiences.

In 2005, Nu began working with brands just before completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. With a deeply informed understanding of sneaker culture, Nu transitioned from helping Puma develop content for this niche market to launching a full digital marketing strategy for the brand. This work laid the foundation for Nu’s exploration of how media platforms can help to shape and center lesser-heard narratives.

From here, Nu moved on to working in-house at RedBull and later to Sonos, where he further explored the ins and outs of building a brand. Skillfully, he created programming around music, art, and tech with a focus on adding real value and meaning to lifestyle branding.

Eventually, Nu found himself dispassionate with selling products. Disinterested in the idea of ‘cool,’ Nu decided to pivot to an analytical, research-driven approach to solving problems.

In 2016, Nu moved on to pursue a Masters Degree in Strategic Design Management at Parsons School of Design. He went from being a brand director, managing large teams and projects in Los Angeles to a grad student in New York, where he needed to re-acclimate to the learning environment. Parsons helped validate and resolve many of his ideas around human-centric design, problem-solving and its value for marginalized communities. It offered Nu a strong foundation and framework for approaching problem-solving, framing insights, and being able to articulate and communicate solutions. It was during this time that he worked as an Innovation Fellow at the design studio Openbox.

Shortly before finishing his Master’s, Nu joined the digital advertising agency AKQA as a strategist at their San Francisco office. He focused on using data to tell narratives that could be translated to creatives. It was here he realized he could be equal parts creative and a strategist, and that he didn’t fall squarely on either side. Nu began to understand that his process required autonomy and was most effective when he could fluctuate between the strategist and creative.

Evolving from his formative years in Massachusetts exploring Japanese Hip Hop magazines to a well-informed creative, Nu decided it was time to reimagined and reframe his relationship to work, and the type of projects he was interested in supporting. In 2018, he co-founded the independent design studio Room For Magic. His latest project is Deem Journal, which is the result of a decade of branding, research, strategic development, ideation, and production with the goal of creating equitable change into the way communities are being designed and represented. Deem Journal is a collaboration between Room for Magic and Openbox.