letterspace Nr.51— Julian Williams – Let’s Get Personal

About letterspace Nr.51— Julian Williams – Let’s Get Personal

Drawing design inspiration from experiences, conversations, and unseen influences. Julian Williams was recruited as meme-magician to lead the Democrats’ opposition campaign against Donald Trump. Next to his bold propaganda statements, he also creates type driven work, that range from minimalist to experimental futurist aesthetics. But that is far from all that Julian has to offer, his portfolio and instagram feed is full of surprising identities, that bring up the question, where does the personal end and branding start? A division that seems to blur increasingly these days, and in the case of Julian, this friction is his main source of inspiration.

Julian Williams is an American-German graphic designer who has lived and worked in the Netherlands for 8 years. He has a varied body of work, linked by bold, impactful statements and graphics. He values maintaining a steady personal design practice, inspired by his political activism, subcultures he finds himself a part of, and his relationships with people and the world. This has led him to professional opportunities in the fashion, design, and political world, including designing for Nike, &Walsh, and proudly, a role as a lead designer on Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for President of the United States. His greatest dream is to make good things with good people. — Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to maintain a regular personal design practice. I use the word “fortunate,” because I realise that this is not the case for all creatives. Professional work often consumes our creative energy, and it can be difficult to become inspired to create work just for the sake of creating. Many older creatives have told me that I won’t always have the energy to make personal work. These conversations have stuck with me, and led me to be very conscious in the way I gather inspiration, inject my personal life into the designs I create, and reflect this in my professional life. By sharing the ways I create this work, I hope other creatives can be more conscious about becoming inspired. Take snippets from conversations. Laugh at a stupid sentence your mate said. Write down something clever you saw on a street sign. Be enraged by the news. Take pictures of pretty things and ugly things. React, and allow your initial emotions to be your inspiration.

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Related Topics

• Graphic Design
• typography
• October
• 2024