Pick #1 — Clay Boan

Multidisciplinary Designer, NYC 📎 clayboan.com

Where this pick came from: Featured in Muzli's 100 Best Designer Portfolio Websites — the annual list that's become a go-to shortlist for designers looking for portfolio inspiration. Clay also surfaces regularly in design community roundups for the caliber of his brand collaborations.

Clay Boan sits at the rare intersection of big-brand creative work and motion-forward craft. His portfolio shows Apple campaigns, the Gucci × Oura smart ring, Nike × NBA visuals, and Google hardware — each executed with a different aesthetic vocabulary but a consistent attention to how emotion and product coexist in a single frame.

What makes his site stand out isn't just the client list. It's the restraint. Each project gets a clean hero image and a case study that lets the work breathe. No overselling, no noise. The Gucci × Oura render alone — a black ring floating against a deep burgundy GG-monogram field — shows exactly what happens when industrial design meets brand-level visual direction.

If you admire emilkowal.ski's precision, Clay's portfolio is a natural next stop — just shifted from UI into the territory of identity, campaign, and product visual design.