An award-winning freelance art director, designer, and illustrator, his clients include giants like Porsche, Target, Tesla, New York Magazine, and HarperCollins. Recent projects include branding a bioengineering research lab, designing packaging for Serenbe Foods, and illustrating a unique map of the city of New Orleans for AIGA’s 2015 Conference.

A New York Times best-selling book illustrator and designer, Shaw’s work has received PRINT Magazine’s “Best In Class” designation for hand-lettering, as well as PRINT’s Regional Design Awards, HOW Design’s Marketing and Promotion Awards, and recognition in AIGA, The Dieline, and the Social Good Design Awards.

Describing himself as a maker and a builder, Shaw aims to create brand identity systems through individualized attention and personal relationships that help clients create value in their communities and customers’ lives. According to Shaw, design work should be strong, unique, and ownable so that the personality of the brand is specific to the visual identity to fuel recognition.

At the same time, good design should also be simple enough to be a vessel of that message that others can fill in overtime. But more importantly: design should have a level of empathy—a way to convey the emotional traits of the brand’s personality, and to connect in a way that matters and sticks with the audience on a more personal level.

“Good design cannot fix bad content,” stresses Shaw. “Even if the design of a logo is excellent, if the company proves to be of poor quality or terrible service, over time, we will come to observe the brand’s mark as being representative of something negative.”

Aspiring designers should take note!

The post Russell Shaw’s Design Philosophy Includes a Healthy Dose of Empathy appeared first on MyTrendTales.

According to Christofferson, he’s interested in making stuff that stands out from the expected rectangle of screen printed posters. “Stuff that doesn’t necessarily need a frame,” he writes on his website. “Something with a unique outline- a silhouette that feels vaguely nostalgic, and reminds you of that time when Gramps brought out his box of old stuff from the war and got all twinkly-eyed with his stories.”

“My interest in the use and creation of symbols definitely started off as a way to tell religious stories,” he further explained in an interview with Juxtapoz. “They’re a great way to explore something abstract or unknown while giving the viewer space for their own interpretation.” As such, he draws his inspiration from the past: combing through old museum catalogs, sneaking into old churches, and smelling the spines of old books.

“My ancestors come from an exiled religious group that settled in the Salt Lake Valley,” he recalled. “These early Mormons used a mix of old biblical symbols, icons from freemasonry, and a sprinkling of their own arcane iconography to exchange sacred ideas within their community. It allowed them to talk openly about their beliefs, even proselytize to strangers, while keeping them personal, private, and bestowing the reverence they felt they deserved.” His modern take on iconography is a nod to the past in a world that moves too fast for Christofferson’s liking.

Scroll down to see some of his work.

The post Dan Christofferson Reinvents Ancient Symbols appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“It took me a while to define what my own style would look like,” admitted Griesinger in an interview with The Design Kids. According to Griesinger she has two distinct styles that she juggles between: one being more line-based and realistic; the other more of a geometric-based style of illustration. Her recommendation to other designers? “Try everything, stick to what most successfully illustrates your ideas and comes off more naturally to you.”

Her playful approach to design and illustration easily comes across when scrolling through her Instagram page. According to Griesinger, her strength as an illustrator comes from her grounding in classical academic drawing and painting which she learnt while living in Belarus.

“Drawing, painting, any kind of creativity were always encouraged in me since young age,” she explains. “Through my childhood, I distinctly remember drawing two kind of things – funny animals and characters (before I started to read) and words and letters (after learning how to read). I think it is only natural that after years of practicing both I became a greeting card graphic designer and illustrator.”

Show her some love on Instagram.

The post Olga Griesinger Combines Typography and Illustration—and the Result is Marvelous appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Based in New York, Archambault’s ongoing series began while living in Portland. “The whole series started with the Portland map,” he shared in an interview with the Ohh Deer blog. “Portland is a pretty geniusly designed city with very simple radial divisions. There were a few unclear things in my mind, so I made a map to help me explain the city as a whole. Just a few lines and some circles.”

According to Archambault, his original inspiration came from the book The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch, wherein Lynch describes elements that make up the experience of a city. |The aesthetic of the maps comes from my experience as a letterpress printer, using only type and lines,” he adds. “I actually have no formal graphic design training which shows when I try to do things like make a catalog or design a webpage. I would never get hired as a designer. Everything I learned is from type-setting in letterpress printing, which is a totally antiquated (went out of style in the 1950’s), and in hindsight, was probably a waste of time.”

His process includes traveling all over the world, meeting people, and exploring cities. After asking residents a lot of questions and thinking really really hard, he assembles to map, referencing current and past maps. “As much as I would love to think that I really get to ‘know’ a place after a week there, I really don’t,” admits Archambault. “It takes years to really unearth a mental map of a city. I still travel quite a bit and always learn about the design of the city. Almost every city has a museum that outlines its history and I usually go.”

Still, his maps are very pretty to look at. Something to hang in your office for inspiration, perhaps.

The post Travel Around the World Through Archie Archambault’s Maps appeared first on MyTrendTales.

But drawing also meant a lot of traveling in the actual world. Having wholly invested in having a career in a creative field, she studied fashion design at the European Institute of Design. When Fitz-James Stuart finished her studies she moved to New York. There she worked for the painter Paul Balmer and studied drawing and painting for a year at The Art Student League of New York.

When she returned to Madrid, she worked with the fashion brand La Casita de Wendy, where she has been part of the creative team for more than five years, creating and developing much of their prints. Later, in 2013, she launched together with her two partners their own brand Planet Palmer. Now a full-time illustrator and designer, she also works as a DJ, making her the ultimate it-girl and a force to be reckoned with.

“I draw for fashion brands, magazines, and fanzines,” Fitz-James Stuart writes on her website, “and DJing is my way of telling people about what inspires, moves and drives me.” Over the years, she has been habitually collaborating with brands as big as Vans, Sony, Bvlgari, and L’Oréal.

“To meet me, the best thing is to look at my work,” she notes on her website—and we absolutely recommend you do just that.

The post Brianda Fitz-James Stuart Will Charm You to Bits appeared first on MyTrendTales.

His messymod series (short for “Messy Modernism”) is a great example of his minimalist approach to design. Influenced by Bauhaus and Miró, Goldberg uses simple shapes and limited color to create stripped-down versions of plants and animals. His illustrations employ geometry, pattern, and white space, creating clever designs that are meant to be hung on your wall.

Goldberg’s messymod series is only one of his many projects. A creative director of TRÜF studio, located in Santa Monica, California, he has worked with clients as big as Adidas, Indiegogo, and DreamWorks. “We’ve been creating brand identities for clients for many years and finally decided to design some stuff for ourselves,” reads TRÜF’s website. “We had no idea that our little design experiment would blow up in the press and social media.”

Check out his successful “design experiment” in the gallery below.

The post Adam Goldberg Teaches Good Design appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Her tangible compositions are made by either following the natural shapes of the materials she collects or by carefully snipping some odds and ends, creating that seemingly perfect geometric shape. Amongst these materials, you can find anything from vegetables and crackers to broken mirrors and old keys.

“As far as how I find materials to experiment with, it varies a lot,” she told Colossal. “I generally work with what I can find around the house, inside or out. It begins as a scavenger hunt of sorts, and then a challenge as I begin to build.” These materials are placed on pastel backgrounds in tidy shapes.

The finished product is a thing of tangible beauty. Take a look for yourself:

The post Kristen Meyer Makes Tangible Geometric Art appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“The philosophy behind every collection comes from being an artist and having close and personal contact with the work that is created from start to finish,” Mardahl writes on her website. “When I design, I cherish working closely with talented craftsmen who understand my storytelling and aesthetics. Furthermore, I value quality at its very best.”

Having graduated in fashion design from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, Mardahl has exhibited her work around the world and has received several grants from the Danish Arts Council. Her website states that as a designer, she likes exploring “the contrast between organic shapes and hard materials.” Her bright and somewhat cheeky designs bring life to spaces and are equally capable of standing alone or blending in.

Take a look at some of her creations. Do you have a favorite?

The post These Hand Made Glass Creations Are Truly One of a Kind appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“Tattoo to me is the enhancement and adornment of what nature has already given us,” the LA-based artist said in an interview with Dazed & Confused. “It’s a talisman. Tattoo tells our personal narrative, and makes us feel empowered. Tattoo is also body armour, and then, in another way, tattoo also makes the wearer feel sexier and more attractive.”

“Tattoos have now evolved into a multi-dimensional art form, with styles that appeal to different tastes and sensibilities, from crude hand poke tattoos to heavy black, and everything in between. I also consider tattoo a sacred, cultural art steeped in the history of mankind. It tells the story of history and culture since the invention of fire. I see tattoo on a spectrum that has many facets. It can be so many things – art, ritual, primitive and modern.”

Check out her mesmerizing designs in the gallery below.

The post These Tattoos Are Officially Works of Art appeared first on MyTrendTales.

An award-winning freelance art director, designer, and illustrator, his clients include giants like Porsche, Target, Tesla, New York Magazine, and HarperCollins. Recent projects include branding a bioengineering research lab, designing packaging for Serenbe Foods, and illustrating a unique map of the city of New Orleans for AIGA’s 2015 Conference.

A New York Times best-selling book illustrator and designer, Shaw’s work has received PRINT Magazine’s “Best In Class” designation for hand-lettering, as well as PRINT’s Regional Design Awards, HOW Design’s Marketing and Promotion Awards, and recognition in AIGA, The Dieline, and the Social Good Design Awards.

Describing himself as a maker and a builder, Shaw aims to create brand identity systems through individualized attention and personal relationships that help clients create value in their communities and customers’ lives. According to Shaw, design work should be strong, unique, and ownable so that the personality of the brand is specific to the visual identity to fuel recognition.

At the same time, good design should also be simple enough to be a vessel of that message that others can fill in overtime. But more importantly: design should have a level of empathy—a way to convey the emotional traits of the brand’s personality, and to connect in a way that matters and sticks with the audience on a more personal level.

“Good design cannot fix bad content,” stresses Shaw. “Even if the design of a logo is excellent, if the company proves to be of poor quality or terrible service, over time, we will come to observe the brand’s mark as being representative of something negative.”

Aspiring designers should take note!

The post Russell Shaw’s Design Philosophy Includes a Healthy Dose of Empathy appeared first on MyTrendTales.

According to Christofferson, he’s interested in making stuff that stands out from the expected rectangle of screen printed posters. “Stuff that doesn’t necessarily need a frame,” he writes on his website. “Something with a unique outline- a silhouette that feels vaguely nostalgic, and reminds you of that time when Gramps brought out his box of old stuff from the war and got all twinkly-eyed with his stories.”

“My interest in the use and creation of symbols definitely started off as a way to tell religious stories,” he further explained in an interview with Juxtapoz. “They’re a great way to explore something abstract or unknown while giving the viewer space for their own interpretation.” As such, he draws his inspiration from the past: combing through old museum catalogs, sneaking into old churches, and smelling the spines of old books.

“My ancestors come from an exiled religious group that settled in the Salt Lake Valley,” he recalled. “These early Mormons used a mix of old biblical symbols, icons from freemasonry, and a sprinkling of their own arcane iconography to exchange sacred ideas within their community. It allowed them to talk openly about their beliefs, even proselytize to strangers, while keeping them personal, private, and bestowing the reverence they felt they deserved.” His modern take on iconography is a nod to the past in a world that moves too fast for Christofferson’s liking.

Scroll down to see some of his work.

The post Dan Christofferson Reinvents Ancient Symbols appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“It took me a while to define what my own style would look like,” admitted Griesinger in an interview with The Design Kids. According to Griesinger she has two distinct styles that she juggles between: one being more line-based and realistic; the other more of a geometric-based style of illustration. Her recommendation to other designers? “Try everything, stick to what most successfully illustrates your ideas and comes off more naturally to you.”

Her playful approach to design and illustration easily comes across when scrolling through her Instagram page. According to Griesinger, her strength as an illustrator comes from her grounding in classical academic drawing and painting which she learnt while living in Belarus.

“Drawing, painting, any kind of creativity were always encouraged in me since young age,” she explains. “Through my childhood, I distinctly remember drawing two kind of things – funny animals and characters (before I started to read) and words and letters (after learning how to read). I think it is only natural that after years of practicing both I became a greeting card graphic designer and illustrator.”

Show her some love on Instagram.

The post Olga Griesinger Combines Typography and Illustration—and the Result is Marvelous appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Based in New York, Archambault’s ongoing series began while living in Portland. “The whole series started with the Portland map,” he shared in an interview with the Ohh Deer blog. “Portland is a pretty geniusly designed city with very simple radial divisions. There were a few unclear things in my mind, so I made a map to help me explain the city as a whole. Just a few lines and some circles.”

According to Archambault, his original inspiration came from the book The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch, wherein Lynch describes elements that make up the experience of a city. |The aesthetic of the maps comes from my experience as a letterpress printer, using only type and lines,” he adds. “I actually have no formal graphic design training which shows when I try to do things like make a catalog or design a webpage. I would never get hired as a designer. Everything I learned is from type-setting in letterpress printing, which is a totally antiquated (went out of style in the 1950’s), and in hindsight, was probably a waste of time.”

His process includes traveling all over the world, meeting people, and exploring cities. After asking residents a lot of questions and thinking really really hard, he assembles to map, referencing current and past maps. “As much as I would love to think that I really get to ‘know’ a place after a week there, I really don’t,” admits Archambault. “It takes years to really unearth a mental map of a city. I still travel quite a bit and always learn about the design of the city. Almost every city has a museum that outlines its history and I usually go.”

Still, his maps are very pretty to look at. Something to hang in your office for inspiration, perhaps.

The post Travel Around the World Through Archie Archambault’s Maps appeared first on MyTrendTales.

But drawing also meant a lot of traveling in the actual world. Having wholly invested in having a career in a creative field, she studied fashion design at the European Institute of Design. When Fitz-James Stuart finished her studies she moved to New York. There she worked for the painter Paul Balmer and studied drawing and painting for a year at The Art Student League of New York.

When she returned to Madrid, she worked with the fashion brand La Casita de Wendy, where she has been part of the creative team for more than five years, creating and developing much of their prints. Later, in 2013, she launched together with her two partners their own brand Planet Palmer. Now a full-time illustrator and designer, she also works as a DJ, making her the ultimate it-girl and a force to be reckoned with.

“I draw for fashion brands, magazines, and fanzines,” Fitz-James Stuart writes on her website, “and DJing is my way of telling people about what inspires, moves and drives me.” Over the years, she has been habitually collaborating with brands as big as Vans, Sony, Bvlgari, and L’Oréal.

“To meet me, the best thing is to look at my work,” she notes on her website—and we absolutely recommend you do just that.

The post Brianda Fitz-James Stuart Will Charm You to Bits appeared first on MyTrendTales.

His messymod series (short for “Messy Modernism”) is a great example of his minimalist approach to design. Influenced by Bauhaus and Miró, Goldberg uses simple shapes and limited color to create stripped-down versions of plants and animals. His illustrations employ geometry, pattern, and white space, creating clever designs that are meant to be hung on your wall.

Goldberg’s messymod series is only one of his many projects. A creative director of TRÜF studio, located in Santa Monica, California, he has worked with clients as big as Adidas, Indiegogo, and DreamWorks. “We’ve been creating brand identities for clients for many years and finally decided to design some stuff for ourselves,” reads TRÜF’s website. “We had no idea that our little design experiment would blow up in the press and social media.”

Check out his successful “design experiment” in the gallery below.

The post Adam Goldberg Teaches Good Design appeared first on MyTrendTales.

Her tangible compositions are made by either following the natural shapes of the materials she collects or by carefully snipping some odds and ends, creating that seemingly perfect geometric shape. Amongst these materials, you can find anything from vegetables and crackers to broken mirrors and old keys.

“As far as how I find materials to experiment with, it varies a lot,” she told Colossal. “I generally work with what I can find around the house, inside or out. It begins as a scavenger hunt of sorts, and then a challenge as I begin to build.” These materials are placed on pastel backgrounds in tidy shapes.

The finished product is a thing of tangible beauty. Take a look for yourself:

The post Kristen Meyer Makes Tangible Geometric Art appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“The philosophy behind every collection comes from being an artist and having close and personal contact with the work that is created from start to finish,” Mardahl writes on her website. “When I design, I cherish working closely with talented craftsmen who understand my storytelling and aesthetics. Furthermore, I value quality at its very best.”

Having graduated in fashion design from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, Mardahl has exhibited her work around the world and has received several grants from the Danish Arts Council. Her website states that as a designer, she likes exploring “the contrast between organic shapes and hard materials.” Her bright and somewhat cheeky designs bring life to spaces and are equally capable of standing alone or blending in.

Take a look at some of her creations. Do you have a favorite?

The post These Hand Made Glass Creations Are Truly One of a Kind appeared first on MyTrendTales.

“Tattoo to me is the enhancement and adornment of what nature has already given us,” the LA-based artist said in an interview with Dazed & Confused. “It’s a talisman. Tattoo tells our personal narrative, and makes us feel empowered. Tattoo is also body armour, and then, in another way, tattoo also makes the wearer feel sexier and more attractive.”

“Tattoos have now evolved into a multi-dimensional art form, with styles that appeal to different tastes and sensibilities, from crude hand poke tattoos to heavy black, and everything in between. I also consider tattoo a sacred, cultural art steeped in the history of mankind. It tells the story of history and culture since the invention of fire. I see tattoo on a spectrum that has many facets. It can be so many things – art, ritual, primitive and modern.”

Check out her mesmerizing designs in the gallery below.

The post These Tattoos Are Officially Works of Art appeared first on MyTrendTales.