Juliana Castro Varón


Hi! I’m the Senior Design Editor of A.I. Initiatives at the New York Times. We make tools that leverage computational techniques to enhance reporting. Importantly, these tools assist journalists; all reporting is written and edited by humans. I also draw, and my cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker

I’m interested in connecting people with art and stories. I’ve done this through book publishing, writing, infographics, drawing, and various uses of technology. I founded Cita Press, a publisher of open-access books, in 2017. Alongside a small but mighty team and Educopia, we raised ≈$1M to create digital readers, eBooks, and ensure Cita remains free for everyone. I’m very proud this work; check it out

I’m an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. When I was a fellow there in 2022, I studied the history of image manipulation, from darkroom to GenAI. Previously, I wrote a book about art and artists (Papel sensible, published in Spanish by Planeta), was invited to a bunch of podcasts, gave some talks, and worked for art museums. 

Talk to me about jokes, memes, the literary line between poor memory and fiction, taking baths, crying at the movies, sunset or Times New Roman. Online: Insta, Ex Twit, Threads, Arena, Email. Offline: I’m around!
MISCELLANY (2018 - 2022)I've designed the visual identity and websites for various clients. For The Maintainers, I created a punch-card to help people say no! In early 2020, I created the ironic apology generator igotcancelled.club. After, around the onset of COVID-19, I developed a "hope" generator, still available on my Github. I also designed Rough Cut Collective’s website in 2020. In 2022, I designed the typographical environmental layout for Sarah Newman's interactive art installation at the Spencer Museum of Art. In 2023, I built the website for the History Design Studio, reviving Bruce Mau's 2013 rebranding for the Hutchins Center.