# Eric Hu

![Eric Hu](/resources/cognition/portraits/eric-hu.webp)

Principal, Member of Design Staff at Cognition (Devin, Windsurf); ex-Shopify, Cohere VP Design, Nike, SSENSE  
Cognition  
Brooklyn, New York, United States

## At Cognition

- Role: Member of Design Staff (Principal) (Design)
- Joined: Oct 2026
- How they joined: Directly
- Before Cognition: Principal Designer, Shopify

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu
- X: @_EricHu
- Website: https://erichu.info
- Domain: cognition.ai

## Notes
- Joined Cognition as Principal Designer (LinkedIn title 'Member of Design Staff (Principal)') in October 2026; his X announcement reads verbatim: "i'm joining @cognition as a principal designer. i left shopify in august. i spent september building evals and benchmarks at [REDACTED]. now i get to be part of an insane team already on a generational run". (https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2107108899081822248)
- LinkedIn announcement, verbatim: "I'm joining Cognition as a Principal Designer. Excited to work with a stupidly good team already on a generational run, and help shape where it goes from here." (626 reactions). (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_im-joining-cognition-as-a-principal-designer-activity-7512957178148859904-QbeT)
- Between leaving Shopify (August 2026) and joining Cognition he spent September 2026 'building evals and benchmarks' at an unnamed company, a hands-on AI-evaluation detour that bridges his design career and an AI-agent company like Cognition. (https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2107108899081822248)
- Joined Shopify in Dec 2025 as Principal Designer in a newly-formed group inside the brand design studio leading special projects across teams, under design leaders Carl Rivera and Maggie Fost; in his words, verbatim: "After a decade in leadership, I wanted to reconnect with the craft." (https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2000593984683725247)
- First VP of Design at Cohere (Dec 2024 - Nov 2025): built the product and brand design functions from scratch, founded an in-house brand studio and evolved the identity beyond the foundation set by Pentagram; his last day post (Nov 21, 2025) thanked 'some of the most amazing people I've met in my career'. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_today-was-my-last-day-at-cohere-its-been-activity-7397820848369258496-YX6R)
- His site describes the Shopify team as the Brand Systems team: "Previously, he was a Principal Designer on the Brand Systems team at Shopify, VP of Design at Cohere, Global Design Director at Nike and the Director of Design at SSENSE." (https://erichu.info/about)
- Cognition acquired Windsurf (the agentic IDE, formerly Codeium) in July 2025, including its IP, product and trademark; Eric joined over a year later, in Oct 2026. (https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf)
- Global Design Director, Nike Sportswear (Mar 2018 - Sep 2019, Portland): led creative for Air Force and Air Max campaigns and the rebrands of NikeLab and Nike Tech Pack. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- Inaugural Director of Design at SSENSE (May 2016 - Feb 2018, Montreal), reporting directly to the CEO; led the SSENSE rebrand and worked with David Chipperfield Architects on retail wayfinding. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- Founded Eric Hu Studio (2019-2024), a creative direction practice for Google, Chanel, Ambush and SSENSE; recent studio work includes the AMBUSH monograph (Rizzoli, 2025, with Joshua Abejo), the book 'All Media Is Training Data' by Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst (Serpentine, 2025) and a training-data illustration for a fine-tuned model with Google Creative Lab. (https://erichu.info)
- Inducted into AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) in 2024; AGI profile calls him a 'New York-based graphic designer and developer' with a Yale MFA (2013) and an ArtCenter BFA. (https://a-g-i.org/user/erichu/)
- First-ever speaker at It's Nice That's Nicer Tuesdays New York (June 2023), giving a talk on AI, pixels and originality. (https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/nicer-tuesdays-new-york-june-2023-eric-hu-100723)
- Public headline says "Principal Designer @ Cognition". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- Long-time collaborator of Mitch Paone (DIA Studio): his tribute thanks him for "the sixteen years of inspiration, for the thirteen years of friendship". (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_to-my-wonderful-friend-collaborator-and-activity-7476813237183799296-5FNC)
- TechCrunch: Cognition bought Windsurf days after Google DeepMind hired its CEO and research leads, and months after OpenAI's offer collapsed; this is the product estate Eric's design remit now covers. (https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/14/cognition-maker-of-the-ai-coding-agent-devin-acquires-windsurf/)
- Partner at the Brooklyn studio Nothing in Common LLC (2014-2016) with clients including Solange Knowles / Saint Heron, Verso Books, Braintree and Tri Angle Records; earlier Head of Design at OKFocus (2013-2014) working for Nike, Red Bull Music Academy and Tumblr. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- ADC Young Guns 8 winner (2010), listed as 'self-employed, Los Angeles' while still an ArtCenter student; also received Yale's Bradbury Thompson Memorial Prize (2013). (https://bustler.net/news/1758/adc-young-guns-8-winners)
- I’m a multidisciplinary design executive working across technology, fashion, and culture—currently VP of Design at Cohere, based in New York. I lead both the product and brand design functions, evolving our identity beyond its origins with Pentagram and helping scale design as the company grows in the AI space. Alongside this, I continue to run Eric Hu Studio, an independent creative direction and design practice.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve built an international profile by combining bold vis; this comes from the profile summary and preserves the person's own positioning. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- Publicly welcomed new Cognition colleagues on X, tagging @cognition and CEO @ScottWu46 ('welcome!!!'). (https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2113394631811740131)
- On the Ambush monograph, verbatim: "Some of my favorite briefs come from clients who know exactly what they don't want. Yoon didn't want another fashion monograph that took itself too seriously." (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_design-graphicdesign-branding-activity-7488663645770493952-HBKx)
- Spoke at AIGA NY 'Designers on Designers' with type designer Federico Parra Barrios; the event bio already listed him as Principal Brand Designer at Cognition. (https://www.aigany.org/event/designers-on-designers-federico-parra-barrios-and-eric-hu/)
- Taught Communication Graphic Design at SVA and Creative Computing at Parsons (2014-2016), evidence of a long-standing design-plus-code practice. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- Previous roles include Principal Designer at Shopify; Vice President of Design at Cohere; Founder and Creative Director at Eric Hu Studio; Global Design Director, Sportswear at Nike; Director of Design at SSENSE; Partner at Nothing in Common LLC; Adjunct Professor at School of Visual Arts / Parsons The New School for Design; Head of Design at OKFocus. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- Education history includes Master of Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Yale University; Bachelor of Fine Arts, Communication Design, Motion Graphics, ArtCenter College of Design; BA Honours- Study Abroad, Graphic Design, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design; ArtCenter College of Design. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)
- Credited alongside Jerald Aguilar and others on Cohere brand work ('North') built on Pentagram's core Cohere brand, a public trace of his Cohere brand team. (https://www.jeraldaguilar.com/work/north)
- A former SSENSE design lead lists the SSENSE rebrand as done 'With Eric Hu, Bryan Chang, Tony Wang, Joerg Koch', naming his SSENSE rebrand collaborators. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-cy-tsang)
- Location is Brooklyn, New York, United States. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu)

## Experience
- Member of Design Staff (Principal) at Cognition - New York, United States (Oct 2026 - Present)
- Principal Designer at Shopify - New York, United States (Dec 2025 - Sep 2026)
- Vice President of Design at Cohere - New York, United States (Dec 2024 - Nov 2025): As the first VP of Design at Cohere, I’ve built and led both the product and brand design functions from the ground up. My work spans:
	•	Scaling the product design team to support a fast-growing AI platform pivot towards an enterprise SaaS product
	•	Founding and growing the brand design function into a high-performing in-house creative studio
	•	Evolving the company’s visual identity beyond the foundation set by Pentagram
	•	Supporting the launch of global marketing campaigns across web, print, and experiential

I work closely with executive leadership to shape how Cohere shows up in the world—from product experience to brand expression.
- Founder and Creative Director at Eric Hu Studio - New York, New York, United States (Aug 2019 - Dec 2024): Eric Hu Studio is a multidisciplinary design and creative direction practice working at the intersection of brand, culture, and technology. We develop bold, idea-driven visual systems across brand identity, editorial, digital, motion, and type.

Our clients span fashion, music, architecture, and tech—including Google, Chanel, Ambush, SSENSE, and more—ranging from early-stage startups to global institutions. Whether launching a campaign or shaping a long-term brand system, we aim to create work that’s visually arresting, strategically grounded, and culturally resonant.
- Global Design Director, Sportswear at Nike - Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area (Mar 2018 - Sep 2019): Led global design for Nike Sportswear, one of the company’s largest and most culturally visible categories. Oversaw creative direction across seasonal campaigns, product storytelling, retail environments, and digital experiences—partnering closely with marketing, product, and category teams to define a cohesive and culturally relevant voice.

Managed internal and external teams across disciplines including art direction, motion, editorial, and typography. Played a key role in shaping the brand’s visual identity during a pivotal period of growth, innovation, and cross-category collaboration.
- Director of Design at SSENSE - Montreal, QC, Canada (May 2016 - Feb 2018): SSENSE is a global online retailer known for its selection of independent & luxury brands and cutting-edge editorial content. As a direct report to the CEO, I am the inaugural director of the company's design team where I lead and staff a group of designers and art directors to help visually articulate the company's ethos on all internal and outward-facing touch-points.
 
Responsibilities include:

Management:
— Manage and hire a growing team of designers and art directors.
— Commission and manage external agencies and vendors for special projects.
— Liaise with the CEO, Editor-in-Chief, and Dir. of Brand Strategy, and Dir. of Retail and the Dir. of Style, to ensure editorial, commercial, and strategic alignment as part of an interdepartmental project committee.
— Plan, organize and coordinate departmental project roadmaps.

Brand:
— Manage and creative direct the SSENSE rebrand (on-going).
— Lead art directors and designers in establishing a fluid typographic system that accommodates both Ecommerce and Editorial needs.
— Organize and coordinate design sprints.
— Establish a roadmap to transition into the new brand on editorial, ecommerce and physical retail touch-points while making leading incremental improvements on the current editorial art direction.
— Working with the Dir. of Retail and David Chipperfield Architects on developing a wayfinding system for retail.

Editorial:
— Making small iterative adjustments of the editorial voice and art direction to prepare for the upcoming rebrand while still maintaining the attitude and voice of the current design language.
— Ensure that the design team is staffed, trained, prepared to accommodate a 60% increase in editorial content publishing frequency (5x a week) effective October 2016.

Marketing:
— Creative direct biannual sales campaigns.
— Manage external agencies in the generation of all marketing assets.

Ecommerce:
 — Lead product designers in improving the online retail experience
- Partner at Nothing in Common LLC - Brooklyn, NY (Feb 2014 - Jun 2016): Clients include: The Avery Review (Columbia University GSAPP), CF. Goldman, Faux/Real, Solange Knowles / Saint Heron, Evian Christ / Tri Angle Records, Braintree, The Bug / Ninja Tune Records, Verso Books, Anki, West SF
- Adjunct Professor at School of Visual Arts / Parsons The New School for Design (Aug 2014 - May 2016): Communication Graphic Design I & II, Fall 2015, Spring 2016 — School of Visual Arts
Creative Computing, Fall 2014 — Parsons the New School of Design
- Head of Design at OKFocus (Jun 2013 - Feb 2014): Responsible for design, branding, typography and user interface elements for clients such as Nike,  Red Bull Music Academy, Bruno Mars/Atlantic Records, Tumblr, Phillips, Soylent, The Wolfsonian-FIU

Select Awards: Awards: Art Directors Club Young Guns 8, Creative Quarterly 21 Student Winner, Graphis New Talent Gold Award 2010.

Select Skills: Brand Design, Typography, Art Direction, Illustration, Adobe Design Suite, Frontend Development (HTML/CSS/jQuery/etc), Backend Prototyping ( PHP / Ruby on Rails)
- Design & Animation Intern at Buck Design (May 2009 - Aug 2009)

## Education
- Yale University - Master of Fine Arts, Graphic Design - (Jan 2011 - Jan 2013): Recipient of the Bradbury Thompson Memorial Prize for Continued Excellence in Graphic Design, 2013. Thesis explored the role of craft in digital contexts.
- ArtCenter College of Design - Bachelor of Fine Arts, Communication Design, Motion Graphics - (Jan 2007 - Jan 2011)
- Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design - BA Honours- Study Abroad, Graphic Design - (Jan 2009 - Jan 2010)
- ArtCenter College of Design

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu
- https://erichu.info/about
- https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2107108899081822248
- https://a-g-i.org/user/erichu/
- https://bustler.net/news/1758/adc-young-guns-8-winners
- https://x.com/_EricHu
- https://erichu.info
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_im-joining-cognition-as-a-principal-designer-activity-7512957178148859904-QbeT
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_to-my-wonderful-friend-collaborator-and-activity-7476813237183799296-5FNC
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/14/cognition-maker-of-the-ai-coding-agent-devin-acquires-windsurf/
- https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2000593984683725247
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-cy-tsang
- https://www.jeraldaguilar.com/work/north
- https://github.com/eric-hu
- https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf
- https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/nicer-tuesdays-new-york-june-2023-eric-hu-100723
- https://www.aigany.org/event/designers-on-designers-federico-parra-barrios-and-eric-hu/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/er1chu?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAN2VmUBg2anJLy8fotX38VCzsA6T8rM1Dw
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_today-was-my-last-day-at-cohere-its-been-activity-7397820848369258496-YX6R
- https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2115942194309693519
- https://x.com/_EricHu/status/2113394631811740131
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/er1chu_design-graphicdesign-branding-activity-7488663645770493952-HBKx


Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/eric-hu · Everyone at Cognition: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people