We are a group of creative professionals artists and designers who practice design thinking. We design for print, digital media, and environments. Since 1997, we have completed hundreds of commissions in a broad range of industries. We work with clients in a direct, open-minded, collaborative manner, refined by research, business acumen and rare creative intuition.
Nicole Misiti graduated Magna Cum Laude from Oregon State University. In 1994, after working as an outside design consultant for Wieden + Kennedy, she co-founded the Felt Hat. | During the past two decades Nicole has led strategic design and brand efforts for lucy activewear, Rejuvenation Lighting and House Parts, Stanford University, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, PacifiCorp, Pacific Northwest College of Art and Mario’s. | She led the design team for all signage and storytelling at Austin Hall, College of Business at Oregon State University. She sits on the OSU College of Business SDHE Advisory Committee, providing guidance on integrating of Design Thinking into the CoB curriculum. | Nicole led all creative direction and design in visioning, brand, web design and custom furnishings for the lumber room, an artist residence and exhibition space for the Miller-Meigs Art Collection. | She is currently designing all signage and historic interpretive storytelling at the $180 M renovation of the Washington Park Reservoir in Portland. | Her work for the lumber room and Nike are represented in The Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Museum of Design permanent collection. | Nicole is the mother of two, an avid traveler and sailor.
Don Rood is a founding partner of The Felt Hat, a strategic design office serving best in class businesses since 1994. A Northwest native and Cooper Union alumnus, Don is passionate about Design Thinking and its ability to transform brands, organizations and communities. | He has worked on a myriad of projects in brand strategy, experience narrative, packaging, exhibits and digital media. Recent and current clients include Stanford University, Mercy Corps, W Hotels and Mario’s. | While Nicole was styling and directing brand building photography for Rejuvenation, Don rebuilt all their catalogue and collateral systems to complete the brand transformation, thus setting it up for a successful purchase by Williams Sonoma that was completed in 2013. | TCM Mechanical Contractors brand grew from $57m to over $100m in their first year after a re-branding effort lead by Don. In 2014, TCM closed a sale to Southland Industries for an undisclosed amount. | More recently, Don and Nicole co-directed creative work for signage, art and storytelling at Oregon State University College of Business Austin Hall, and the Columbia Building for The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. | He is the father of a twenty-two year-old aspiring writer and fashion editor. | He is an avid fly fisher and studies Italian.
A native Portlander with a keen interest in Pacific Northwest history. His father and grandfather helped operate Binford & Mort Publishing, which specialized in Northwest history and literature. | Paul joined Don in 1992 to form Rood Mort Design. Paul graduated in 1983 from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and met Don while working at Principia Graphica. During his nine year tenure at Principia, Paul also led design efforts on key corporate identities and brands, book design, consumer packaging, retail signage and illustration. Several of his logos have been featured in Graphis’ International Survey of Logo Design. At the Felt Hat, he has created identities and branding materials for non-profits such as Friends of Opal Creek, ONRC, and the Contemporary Crafts Gallery, among others. | At Austin Hall, Paul was responsible for recreating the inlaid wood murals of Bexel Hall into new glass art illustrations at the both ancillary. He also designed and illustrated the five monumental, five-story mural and thirty-four glass art murals at the Shriram Center for Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at Stanford University.