Jessie McGuire

Jessie McGuire is a communication designer, educator, and managing partner of Thought Matter, an independent design studio based in New York City. Her work sits at the intersection of design and civic life, exploring how visual systems, narrative, and public-facing design shape trust, belonging, and participation in culture and cities. Through branding, campaigns, installations, and civic projects in public space, she has collaborated with consumer-facing brands, cultural institutions, nonprofits, and communities to address questions of free expression and public meaning.

Jessie is a visiting instructor at Pratt Institute, where she teaches entrepreneurship and regularly lectures on the role of design as civic infrastructure. Across practice and teaching, she advocates for communication design as a public tool, shaping how brands and institutions show up, how power is questioned, and how collective futures are imagined.