Meet the Team: Yonit Agron

Stephanie MorrisonNovember 25, 2024

The Ripples library has thousands of royalty-free designs created exclusively for the Ripple Maker. And thousands more custom illustrations have been created for individual brands and events.Yonit Agron, our Creative Studio Manager, is the linchpin of the entire operation, and she sat down with us for an in-depth interview about her work with major brands, her thoughts on AI, and her favorite Ripples prints.

What was your introduction to Ripples?

After twenty years in graphic design, I was looking for my next opportunity and Ripples came up in my job search. I’d vaguely heard of the company as some kind of tech startup, and it was in my neighborhood with an open position that matched my experience, so I booked an interview.When I visited the office, they asked me if I wanted a coffee. “No, thank you.” “No. Actually, you do.” “….Ok.”I was served a latte with my own name on it, and it blew my mind. By this point I’d of course seen pictures of drinks topped with a Ripples print, but nothing compares to seeing it in person.I felt like a princess, and I immediately took a picture and uploaded it to social media. In that moment I completely understood and experienced the value of this product and was so excited to become a part of the Ripples team.

You’re the in-house design expert for a lot of major brands that use Ripples for their activations. Can you talk about that process?

By the time a brand is connected to me, they already understand the impact Ripples can have on their event, and it’s my job to help bring that vision to life. Incorporating brand identity into drink designs requires both attention to detail and adaptability. We start with their vision and style guide, but often need to make adjustments to translate their brand book into stunning drink prints. We may need to adjust the distance between logo elements, simplify a pattern, or approximate a color match. It’s always a balance of creativity and Ripples design technical expertise, but at the end we always get to that wow factor.

What makes a perfect Ripples design?

When you’re creating a design for a coffee or cocktail, very high contrast graphics and thick lines work best – gradients tend to look muddled in single-color designs.The biggest thing to remember is that printing on milk foam or cocktail froth is very different from printing on paper. You need to treat it as a completely different medium and be sure to test out your designs on a drink.

Do you use AI in your work?

AI has become an important part of my design process. More than anything, it’s an incredible resource for generating ideas quickly. Instead of creating a sketch or scouring a stock photo site, I can describe what I want and get options almost instantly. Once we have a good idea, it also helps us quickly create variations. For our “Panda on Vacation” theme we were able to use AI to generate surfboards, sun umbrellas, and travel campers. That said, AI doesn’t replace expertise—it enhances it. I still rely on my “Ripples know-how” to craft effective prompts and refine the designs AI generates. It’s like having a collaborative partner: I use AI to explore concepts, ideate faster, and even create visuals that didn’t exist before, but you need an understanding of design fundamentals, and a grasp of the requirements in a Ripples print design in order to use this new tool.

What kind of reaction are you looking for when you create a new design?

I’m looking to give everyone the same experience I had the first time I had a Ripples-topped drink. I want to see their faces light up – you can’t fake that kind of reaction – and I want them to feel truly special, that a design was chosen just for them.

What’s your favorite design you’ve created for Ripples and why?

When US President Biden visited Israel in July 2022, I created a Ripples design featuring the Israeli and American flag on a cocktail and that image became a highlight in the media coverage of the reception.A lot of behind the scenes work went into that design. I collaborated with our friend Or Asulin at the mobile catering company Last Word Tel Aviv to create a cocktail at the perfect acidity level to showcase a red and blue flag. We were able to create a drink and a drink design that fully captured that moment’s significance and that symbolized innovation and partnership between our two countries.

What’s a favorite design that someone else created?

My favorite customer-created design is Lucky Tiki’s logo. The bold lines and high-contrast really makes it stand out, and I’m so happy they printed it with the GLOW extract. My favorite studio design is the Monsters in Love series from last Valentine’s Day. I think they’re adorable and it was a very popular series with our customers.

What advice would you give to someone looking to design for unique mediums like Ripples?

Be prepared for trial and error—and be sure to do tests on your medium. If you’re designing for Ripples, get ready to drink a lot of lattes and cocktails during the process!Designing for foam requires experimentation, but the results are so worth it.

While you’re doing these tests, what’s your favorite foam-topped drinks?

I love sweet lemony-flavored cocktails – especially when they come from Or Asulin’s team. It’s delicious and it also creates the most vibrant pinks and yellows with our Pod Blend Kits.