Talia Cotton is the founder and creative director of Cotton. She is a globally recognized leading expert in the intersection of branding and technology.

Her work uses computation as a strategic and expressive tool to express brand values, systems, and narratives—often translating complex data, behaviors, or sound into expressive visual languages.

A sought-after speaker at design and technology conferences worldwide, Talia explores themes of algorithmic authorship, craft in the age of automation, and the evolving role of designers as system builders. At Cotton, she leads a multidisciplinary team working across brand identity, digital experiences, custom tools, and experimental systems, guided by a research-driven process that balances intellectual depth with visual impact.

Prior to founding Cotton, Talia led projects on two teams at Pentagram, focusing on the design and development of data-driven and algorithmic brand identities and websites. During this time, she worked closely with Michael Bierut and Giorgia Lupi. Her clients have included The New York Times, MIT Media Lab, Google Arts & Culture, Verizon, Carnegie Hall, the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab, Emerson Collective, the 92nd Street Y, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Talia attended Carnegie Mellon University for business and psychology, and graduated with honors from Parsons School of Design, where she began her study of applied programming simultaneously with design.

Talia also teaches intro and advanced coding classes at Parsons School of Design and Harvard Graduate School of Design.