AIGA Philadelphia is proud to announce the recipient of the 2026 AIGA Alina Wheeler Memorial Scholarship: Riley Perry of Washington University in St. Louis.

Riley will be awarded $2,500 in recognition of her outstanding creative vision, personal storytelling, and dedication to exploring themes of identity, emotion, and mental health through graphic design.

The AIGA Philadelphia Scholarship is an annual opportunity that supports local Graphic Design students through the award of financial assistance to pursue their education. We hope to build upon the foundation of community in the Philadelphia Chapter to provide young designers the opportunity to share their vision with the world. Recipients are chosen based on the strength of their application and demonstration of need.

Learn more about the award recipient below:

Riley Perry is a designer and creative from the Greater Philadelphia region. She studies Communication Design and Environmental Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. Riley often works somewhere between artboards and ecosystems, and thrives where creativity meets diverse disciplines, using art to make research clearer, stories stronger, and impact greater. Driven by curiosity and collaboration, she is committed to using design as a tool for understanding, advocacy, and positive environmental change.

Would you like to share more about your family or personal story, or an edited selection from your essay?

Growing up, the highlight of every play-date at my house was the “craft room.” What traditionally would have been our dining room, was occupied with construction paper, paints, and markers. It was where I spent my free time crafting ideas into masterpieces and my mom was always ready to help collect materials to support my next artistic endeavor.

At night, I stood behind my father watching him finish design work well past my bedtime. I watched over his shoulder as he experimented with layouts and typography. He introduced me to the grid and color theory, and taught me how visuals communicate emotions through conceptual thinking. Our father-daughter relationship shares a love for design. 

Looking back, it is clear that pursuing design was a natural progression for me. I am grateful to have grown up in a home where creativity was always present in my life. Those experiences shaped the way I understand creativity and the role it plays in how I make sense of the world. It taught me to see design not just as art, but as a powerful form of communication and a means of connection that I hope to continue exploring throughout my personal and professional life.

What are some challenges you’ve faced in pursuing your education?

I see the world through both art and science, facts and sentiments, data and stories. These disciplines aren’t opposites, but complementary lenses that shape how I connect with people, values, and the environments around us. Juggling two seemingly distinct majors can be challenging in academic spaces which often pressure students to make a choice to pursue one passion, rather than encourage interdisciplinary exploration. I often find myself faced with difficult decisions: do I take the three-hour studio course I’ve been looking forward to since my first year, or the upper-level ecology lab that aligns directly with my interests, when they run at the same time?

However, as I’ve grown older, the questions began to shift from “which major will you pick?” to “how will you combine the two?” I love to find opportunities for my interests to overlap and support one another, and my detail-oriented, and visual perspectives are a necessary counterpart to my very organized, analytical, and curious research mindset. Navigating an academic path that embraces this intersection has required persistence, but it has also reinforced my belief that the most meaningful insights come from cross-disciplinary thinking and unexpected combinations of passion and perspective. 

What inspires you about the field of Graphic Design?

The field of graphic design inspires me because it is where creativity meets concept, acting as a powerful tool for communication, advocacy, and storytelling. Storytelling is crucial; our lives, behavior, feelings, and plans are all shaped by stories, and design is visual storytelling. When done well, I have found it to be the way I not only appreciate the world, but come to understand it. 

Graphic design has rules, but we can break them. It solves problems, but creates new ones. It has intentionality, but it’s adaptable. It’s more than just a job or a skill; it’s a visual display of thinking. Every day I am grateful for how the field of graphic design allows me to use letterforms, images, and composition to go beyond aesthetics and solve problems.

What are your professional goals after graduation?

Post-grad, I see myself working at the intersection of science and design, using visuals to communicate ideas in accessible and engaging ways. I will continue to seek professional opportunities to design with organizations focused on topics such as biology, ecology, space exploration, or in an agency space on projects committed to environmental work. While I do not have a specific title or role that I hope to hold, what I do know is that I want to create thoughtful visual work that helps people better understand the world around them, building a career grounded in creativity, curiosity, and interdisciplinary thinking.

2026 AIGA Philadelphia Scholarship Judges

• Melanie Uribe – Venezuelan Creative Director and Associate Professor; In her private practice, she collaborates with FC Barcelona and Real Madrid; Serves as the President of AIGA Connecticut.
• Alberto Rigau – San Juan–based designer, educator, and storyteller with 20+ years’ experience spanning branding, publications, exhibits, wayfinding, & environmental graphics. Leads Estudio Interlínea and serves in national AIGA leadership.
• Alyson Gant – Senior UX Designer at Think Company, leading design efforts for Comcast’s XM360 platform. Specialize in user research, design systems, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Lee-Sean Huang – Multi-hyphenate artist, designer, activist, & educator. Leads programs at AIGA, co-founded Foossa, a design consultancy, and serves on the Executive Board of UAW Local 7902.
• Twinkle Mohan – Lead Product Designer specializing in scalable platforms and enterprise design systems for financial products. Currently leading end-to-end design initiatives at Freedom Mortgage, including complex mobile payment experiences.
• Lauren Yanko – Experience designer and strategic leader who has directed complex, multidisciplinary engagements across hospitality, cybersecurity, and humanitarian organizations.
• Shijia Luo – Award-winning visual designer between the realms of 2D and 3D design. Focus lies in branding, typography, and motion graphics.
• Saloni Marathe – With over 5 years of experience in advertising, I use my commerce-driven creativity, storytelling and design eye to create award-winning ads for global brands.