KEVIN DANKO

VICE PRESIDENT, Design
Design@gothamgators.com

Kevin is a partial Gator, having stitched together enough credits to earn nearly half a master’s degree in urban planning at UF while working as a graphic designer in the Business Services, Warrington Creative Services, and TAPS departments over several years in Gainesville.

Life afforded him the opportunity to move back closer to home in the New York area (having lived in Florida for the past 14 years, he’s originally from Easton, Pa., home of Crayola), where he continues to work as a graphic designer and pursue one-off writing projects while transferring into the MS in Urban Policy program at Hunter College in the fall of 2024. He is excited to be joining the Gotham Gators as VP of Design this year.

Having graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2010, Kevin married into the Gator Nation shortly after, trading Carolina Blue for Blue and Orange and the Dean Dome for the Swamp. His fondest memory as a Gator is watching Kyle Trask toss balloon balls in the rain against South Carolina that somehow kept connecting, and realizing: this isn’t beginner’s luck, this is my guy!

Perhaps his favorite memory of being a student at UF was during COVID, when a small group of students in his program formed a book club, and from that book club, formed an even smaller, Secret Break-Out Book Club—he learned more from, and looked more forward too, those weekly clandestine Zoom meetings than any formal class on campus.

Back in the northeast, Kevin is overjoyed to be riding trains and taking advantage of every free panel and lecture in and around the city, showing up to varied events in journalism, urban planning and policy, graphic design, and writing.

The three books he’s read most: The Essential Kafka, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Ishmael, and Frindle; movies most watched: Wreck-it Ralph, The Matrix (sometimes even the sequels), Metropolis, and Miracle in Milan: TV: any workplace or buddies comedy.

He can write in any direction with either or both hands and simultaneously. He likes to think this reflects his unique ability to see things from diverse perspectives. He’s writing a book on college con man.