About & contact

Black-and-white portrait of Max Pfennighaus

I’m a senior creative and design leader with more than 25 years of experience helping complex organizations become clearer—across brand systems, campaigns, digital products, editorial experiences, and enterprise communications. I’ve held creative leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, The New York Times, VSA Partners, Synchrony, and NPR.

I work between strategy and execution: clarifying the problem, establishing a strong creative direction, aligning senior stakeholders, and building the teams and systems that carry the work forward. I’m most interested in work where brand, communications, product, and organizational complexity intersect.

I’m drawn to work that feels simple without being simplistic—clear enough to understand, flexible enough to use, and distinctive enough to remember. I value thoughtful collaboration, direct communication, and design that continues to work after the presentation is over.

I’m based in Katonah, New York. Away from work, I read, write, draw, make things, and spend an unreasonable amount of time thinking about tabletop games.