Dave Allwine

Communication Designer

Design is about the connection between people.

To play. To connect. To belong.

Pratt Institute
MFA, Communication Design
BFA, Digital Arts

Hey, Im Dave

My dad started CocoMats.com in our garage when I was 10, handcrafting floor mats for vintage cars. After school and every summer, I helped make mats, pack orders, attend car shows, deliver shipments, and talk with customers. Growing up in a small business taught me that understanding the customer is just as important as understanding the product.

That mindset led me to Pratt Institute, where I earned a BFA in Digital Arts and later an MFA in Communication Design. Throughout school, I continued working for CocoMats, gradually taking on advertising, web design, branding, photography, marketing, IT, and helping modernize nearly every part of the business.

Sports have always been a huge part of my life. I grew up watching Arsenal with my grandad, talking Mets with my grandmother, and finding lifelong friends on the field during pickup games. These experiences shaped my fascination with how sports bring people together, from family traditions to communities of strangers. That idea became the focus of my master's thesis on sports fandom and community.

These days, you'll usually find me hunting for movie and music easter eggs, exploring trails on AllTrails, or out for a run with Hamish & Andy or Pretending to be People in my headphones.