Breaking the Grid
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This is a recording of an event with Rachel Gogel held online and in-person at St Bride Foundation on 14 May, 2026.
Every designer studies the grid before they learn to break it. For Rachel Gogel, that principle has guided more than layouts – it’s defined her career. After years managing creative departments across media and tech, Rachel stepped away from full-time employment in 2020 to launch her own independent practice. Since then, success manifests as a harmonious blend of consulting, teaching, mentoring, speaking, and advocacy – activities that allow her to spread optimism and create impact while making a living. Whether she’s partnering with clients or nurturing her students in the classroom, she focuses on craft and collaboration to shape the invisible systems that dictate how organizations evolve. Working with global companies and mission-driven initiatives in a fractional capacity, Rachel embeds deeply with teams to unlock human potential and navigate brands through seismic shifts in culture. Now she’s challenging another convention – the belief that growth always means scaling up. She recently left San Francisco at the height of the AI boom to return to her childhood city of Paris, trading the linear climb for something more cyclical: seasons of intensity balanced with intentional rest. If you question the expectations you’ve inherited, this honest talk explores what happens when you stop following someone else’s blueprint and start designing your time with purpose.
Rachel Gogel (she/her) is a Paris-based independent creative executive shaping design initiatives at the intersection of brand, culture, and technology. Since founding her consultancy five years ago, she has collaborated with global organizations (Airbnb, Dropbox, QuickBooks) and women-led ventures (Chicken & Egg Films, Anew, Pulse Fund). Operating as a fractional leader, Rachel loves designing how people work – guiding companies through creative inflection points. Named one of Creative Boom’s “20 graphic designers inspiring us the most in 2025”, she has influenced many energizing projects for her clients – from launching publications from scratch to scaling brand identity systems. Before starting her business, Rachel built teams at GQ, The New York Times’ award-winning T Brand Studio, Facebook, and Godfrey Dadich. A queer advocate championing marginalized voices, she addresses industry inequities through her mentorship commitments, speaking engagements, published writing, and active involvement in purpose-driven programs. Rachel is equally devoted to nurturing the next generation of creative talent as a passionate design educator – building curricula for institutions such as California College of the Arts, School of Visual Arts, and The School of The New York Times. Her insights have been featured in PRINT, Creative Review, Creative Boom, Fast Company, and Designfully. After hours, you can find Rachel museum hopping, playing basketball, or drinking chai with friends.
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