Jess Boonstra is a designer with an adventurous side.

She has done outstanding work for Rhinegeist Brewery, The Writer’s Market, Miami University in Ohio, and The People’s Improv Theater in New York City, just to name a fun few. She has a wild range of experience in editorial publishing, responsive web design and motion graphics. She balances big challenges with the small, down-to-the-pixel details.

Her main focus at the moment has been with a tech startup that she co-founded, called Garageio, an Internet of Things product that essentially makes your garage door smart, and integrates with other technologies like Amazon Echo.

When not working, she reads a ton of books, travels, and loves spending time outdoors. Recently, (right after this interview) she climbed Mount freaking Kilimanjaro. (more…)

Say Howdy to Mr. Jeff Rogers, a master multidisciplinary designer and illustrator specializing in custom lettering of all shapes and sizes.

He keeps his Brooklyn studio stocked to the brim with paint brushes, pens, markers, and a couple of humongous computers. He creates unique and joyful work for a wide range of smart clients, including Nike, Google, McDonald’s, Conde Nast, Wells Fargo, and Diet Coke, just to name a solid, select few.

Jeff hales from Texas, but lives in Queens, New York with his wife and daughter, and a baby boy on the way. With very busy work and life schedules, we appreciate the time Jeff took to answer our Dumb Questions. (more…)

What does one say about someone as esteemed as Chip Kidd? If, for some reason, you don’t recognize his name, surely you will recognize (and be in awe) of his work.

Chip Kidd is an icon. His work in book packaging and design has revolutionized the game. As a graphic designer for Alfred A. Knopf since 1986, Kidd has designed shelves full of books, including classics you can picture in a snap: Jurassic Park, Naked by David Sedaris, No Country for Old Men, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, and that is only listing a fraction of his portfolio. (more…)

Jason Kernevich and Dustin Summers are self-made designers in the truest sense of the word. They have been combining crackpot ideas, dreaming and drawing up things as The Heads of State for a very, very long time.

They have created award-winning posters, book covers, as well as branding and illustration for clients such as Nike, the New York Times, Starbucks, the School of Visual Arts, the United States Postal Service, and many, many musicians and artists.

Dusty and Jason are teachers, at Tyler School of Art, where they both studied. The duo have their own apparel collection, called Pilot & Captain. What started out as an experiment between friends has grown into a stately design empire. (more…)

Scott Allen Hill draws. Yes, he is a designer and an illustrator, but all that comes from his lifelong love of drawing, forever championed by his grandmother.

A native of Oklahoma, currently living, working and playing in Denver, Colorado, Scott Allen Hill was the Art Director and co-founder of Foundry Collective, as well as the principal of his own Studio Mast, which is now galloping at full gate in a great direction.

Scott Allen Hill (SAH) and Mast have done some amazing design and branding work for everything from coffee roasters to commercial film studios. His clients include Huddle Collective in Sydney, Australia, the record-keeping ROAR Group, Winston/ Realty in Beverly Hills, AMM Designs, NautixLabs, and trust us, that is naming just a few of his illustrious clients.

SAH has a dog named Eames, a wife named Ashlee, and a daughter named Sylva. We thank him for participating in our Dumb Questions for Smart Designers. (more…)

Timothy Goodman is an outstanding designer, illustrator & art director based in New York City, where he runs his own studio.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Tim is a proud design troublemaker who began his career as a book jacket designer at Simon & Schuster after graduating from the School of Visual Arts, where he now molds young minds.

His clients include Airbnb, Google, Ford, J.Crew, Target, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and many more. Previously, Timothy worked in-house at Apple Inc. and with the experiential design firm Collins. He has received awards from most major design and illustration publications including the ADC Young Guns, GDUSA’s “People To Watch” and Print’s “New Visual Artist.”

Timothy co-created the blog and book, 40 Days of Dating, with Jessica Walsh, that has received 15 million unique visitors and whose film rights were optioned by Warner Bros. His Instagram writing series, Memories of a Girl I Never Knew, exhibited in Paris. His second book, Sharpie Art Workshop, is out now. (more…)

James Victore was recently called an existential cowboy, in so many words, by Print Magazine. He is a designer, an art director, an author, an activist and a teacher. He runs an independent studio hell-bent on world domination.

James likes to work on instinct and inspiration. He is the type of designer to get more kismet from a delicious meal or an adventure with family than from sitting in front of his computer. He is a spirited renegade in the world of design. His smile lights up the world from under his signature mustache. (more…)

Veerle Pieters is an outstanding, mystical designer. She started her career on her own, before photoshop and illustrator. She is a mostly self-taught enterprise with the desire of heart.

Her career began in 1992 as a one-woman business focusing on logos and print. In 1995, she added website design, user interfaces, and multimedia development to her arsenal.

Her company, Duoh! became an official legal entity in 2000, and is now the studio of Veerle and Geert Leyseele, who are partners in work and life. (more…)

Our good friend Gui Borchert is a dapper designer and art director, originally from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, now residing in Los Angeles. However, he has made interesting stops in Utah, London, and New York. He is one of the most recognizable designers in the world, and has done tremendous work for the likes of Nike, Adidas, Google, MTV, The World Cup, and even President Obama, just to name a select few.

Gui is passionate about all forms of visual communication as means to express an idea; a thought, a concept, an emotion, a message or even a visual experiment. He wields art and design as a weapon of the world, working across several mediums, including typography, photography, and illustration.

It was an honor to honor our good friend, and ask him some dumb questions. Obrigado, Keith!

(more…)

Don Clark is one half of the amazing design duo, Invisible Creature, an awesome name for a firm, because designers are supposed to be invisible creatures, striking emotions from shapes and colors.

Don has always been creative, embracing his passions. He and his brother started a punk rock band in the 1990s. And in the year 2000, Don and his brother turned to design, developing album covers, posters, and logos for many of the acts they’d met through music.

Don is now a husband, a father and a farmer, still doing work on music packaging—even having earned a few Grammy nominations along the way— but that’s just part of the focus of Invisible Creature.

The creative firm’s clients include Target, Nike, Hasbro, Google, Nordstrom, The New York Times, and dozens of other heavy hitters. For Don, the coolest perk of his work is the diversity of his clients and the variety of projects, from toys to tunes. (more…)