Professor • Researcher • speaker • consultant
Dr. Ashley Jo George.
The science of being understood.
- PhD in Psychology
- Typography Lead at the largest private Christian university in the US
- 25 years in advertising and design
The origin
Getting hired out of 500 people was just the beginning.
In 2008, Young & Rubicam held an open portfolio night in San Francisco. Five hundred people showed up. One creative team got hired. That was Ashley Jo George (Art Director) and Krystha Barrera (Copywriter) — both fresh out of the University of Texas at Austin. Ashley held a dual MA in Advertising, a BS in Graphic Design from ASU, and a conviction that research and design were never two separate jobs.
What followed was decades years of proving it. Ad agencies across the country. Creative departments under real pressure, with real clients, real deadlines, and real consequences when the work didn’t land. Brands like Dell, NVIDIA, Nintendo, and the U.S. Navy. A Super Bowl campaign. ADDYs. A One Show nod. And the same lesson, learned over and over in every room: the work that worked was always the work built on knowing the audience first.
The design was never the decoration. It was the delivery mechanism for the research. Here we are years later with a PhD to prove it.
“The work that landed was always built on knowing the audience first. The design was just the delivery mechanism for that research.”
— Dr. Ashley Jo George, PhD
The ARC
From the agency to the academy.
The REceipts
Credentials, clients, and proof of concept.
Awards
Agencies
Young & Rubicam · R&R Partners · Moses · LAVIDGE · High Wide & Handsome
Clients
Dell · NVIDIA · Nintendo · U.S. Navy · Chevron · NCAA · Arizona State University
Research
PhD dissertation on typographic hierarchy, cognitive load, and LMS design
The Work Today
Six ways the research shows up.
Ready?
Ready to bring the science of being understood to your campus, conference, or organization?
Dr. Ashley Jo George is available for keynotes, workshops, and consulting engagements — helping education, corporate, and industry teams close the gap between what they’re saying and what people actually understand.