Laura Carlin has a knack for creating the most interesting projects with a completely new sort of illustration. In fact, I wouldn’t even know how to relate her work to anyone else’s, since her style is so uniquely eccentric and lovely at the same time. I especially love her animals on ceramics, and the textures that she creates on paper with translucent paint and rough paper.
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Graphic designer & pattern maker Mansi Shah really has a wondeful grasp on what playful design really looks like. She manages to create a sunny outlook throughout her whole body of work—whether by using interesting, undulating lettering, or by creating bright and quirky vector-based compositions. Her latest venture is really inspiring—Shah Editions, where she creates limited edition products, turning them into small-run works of art. Keep up with the latest from Mansi by visiting her site and her amazing (& sort of secret!) illustration portfolio.
Raymond Biesinger, who was one of the first editorial illustrators that I learned about when I got out of college, has some lovely new work on his freshly updated website. One of my personal favorites, Raymond seems to take the most simple of concepts to an entirely new level by creating intricate, complex worlds by using minimal color palettes and impressive line work. You can see Raymond’s influence on many current editorial illustrators, which makes him an important part of the industry’s foundation. He also has several great side projects, including his band, The Famines, & a book which comes out in November called Black & White Illustrations.
Talented designer and illustrator Elena Giavaldi really knows how to make judging a book by its cover easy. As a book cover designer, she creates very cool, contemporary compositions for some of the best publishing houses in the business. She also manages to put very personal touches on each project, and add a bit of extra interest with unique type choices and very modern, experimental lettering. Other than her expansive covers archive, her portfolio runs the gamut of graphic design, making her an incredibly versatile designer. To keep up with Elena, look for her work in a bookstore near you!
While most Grain Edit readers know Lotta Nieminen for her extraordinary illustration styles, but she also has an incredibly rich and beautiful design portfolio. Her keen eye for typography and layout design is relatively unmatched, and each project somehow manages to out-do the last. Together, her two portfolios create an exciting mix of work & almost a perfect dichotomy of truly minimal vs. extremely detailed.
Typographer extraordinaire Marta Cerdà Alimbau brings new meaning to the idea of decorating type. With her modern and elegant letterforms, she creates compositions that put her at the top of her game. I love her penchant for creating 3 dimensional forms with letters that allow the work to extend past their natural 2D state. Marta also often collaborates with another extraordinary typographer and friend of Grain Edit, Alex Trochut. With an amazing roster of clients, this young and talented designer is sure to be one to watch going into 2012.
Self described as “Wayne and Garth meets Chermayeff & Geismar,” Post Typography, from Baltimore MD, was originally conceived and founded in 2001 as an avant garde anti-design movement by Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen. They specialize in graphic design, conceptual typography, and custom lettering/illustration with additional forays into art, apparel, music, curatorial work, design theory, and vandalism.
