Zykera Tucker is a multi-faceted creative in southeast Washington, DC whose work is fueled by a desire to challenge the spectres of gun violence and designed disconnection within her community. Zykera’s creations, including her flagship gum line called “Gums not Guns,” inspire neighbors and community members to stick around, stay connected, and create solutions to the challenges that fuel their discontent.
From being forced to leave art school before graduation, to jumping straight into freelance design with little to no experience, John Zabawa has taken anything but a traditional path. We talked with him recently about what prompted his move from the Midwest to California (he’d lived in Chicago for ten years before landing in LA); the realities of living and creating as a low-income artist; how point of view may be the great differentiator in the age of the ubiquitous image; and why place and space are everything.
Portland, Oregon-based designers Elsa and Tyler Lang, AKA Always With Honor, were an ideal match from the start. Though they grew up in seemingly disparate worlds—in Colombia and Florida, and in Vermont—they share a number of similar interests and experiences that continue to inform their lives and creative work today. Here, the duo talks with us about childhood afternoons spent perfecting their favorite sports-team logos, falling in love with the flora and fauna surrounding their homes, meeting in design school and where their path of collaboration has taken them since, and how they manage to remain balanced as a creative couple who lives, works, and enjoys downtime together pretty much 24/7.
Allan Yu has felt creatively and aesthetically driven his entire life. But it wasn’t until he had gone well down the path of predictability—an education and early career in accounting—that he found the courage to finally break away from the identity his parents, and culture, had prescribed. With a client portfolio that includes the likes of Google and The Line, the Brooklyn-based designer has also observed a daily sketch practice over the past two years in order to confront his fears and to continue pushing himself in new, riskier directions. We caught up with him recently to talk about how failure initially fed that daily practice, Mars Maiers; about straddling the line between stability and predictability as a freelancer; and why self-forgiveness and coming to terms with his identity are two of the hardest things he’s had to tackle as a creative.
Shawna X was born and raised at a cultural crossroads; her Chinese heritage on the one side, and a newly-formed Asian American identity on the other. When she moved to the US from China at the age of 7, she quickly realized that language was a barrier to connecting with other kids. So she learned to cultivate a different, more universal kind of language—drawing. Here, the Brooklyn-based artist/designer reflects on rejecting her family’s expectations for her future, and how she eventually reconnected with her roots through art. Touching on ethnicity, sexuality, tokenism, and cultural pride, Shawna gives us a glimpse into the backstory that’s informed her iconic illustrations and paintings.
Jessica Bellamy works with creatives at the local and national level to promote conscious and responsible design practices for social change through traveling workshops and motion graphics. Here, the Louisville-based designer discusses her mother’s early influence on her creative drive, the powerful effects of collaboration, and how she’s inspiring designers to join forces with their local communities through GRIDS, the Grassroots Informational Design Studio she founded in 2015.
As the child of designers behind one of Spain’s most well-known fashion brands in the ’80s, Paloma Lanna spent much of her youth traveling the world with her parents—learning the ins and outs of the industry by closely watching them work. Here, the Barcelona-based photographer and designer talks to us about both the rewards and challenges of growing up in the family business, what she learned by working alongside her mother before starting Paloma Wool, and why experimentation and collaboration with other artists has been critical to keeping the vision for this totally unique fashion project alive.
Gail Bichler’s tenure at the New York Times has seen her through a number of roles; from designer, to art director, to her current post as the Design Director of the New York Times Magazine. Here, she reflects on the creative path that led her there, including her early beginnings in fine art, and choosing what she loved to do, even if that was a job. She shares why working in a team is far more satisfying to her than working as a team of one, and the importance of taking risks in concept and form, even if they sometimes don’t work out.
Art director and designer, Robyn Kanner, took a circuitous path to her current work and it began in rural Maine where she grew up. Here, Robyn reflects on her personal journey of transitioning and how it influenced her career trajectory, what led her to cofound MyTransHealth as a resource for the transgender community, why good design should act as a roadblock for bad products, and why she hopes she’ll never be creatively satisfied.
Following an unconventional path, San Francisco-based designer, Christine Herrin, fought to stay true to her inner voice despite outside expectations and traditions rooted in her Manilan upbringing. Here, she opens up about finding her community by embracing her introversion, how she’s grown during her time as one of this year’s Adobe Creative Residents, and her desire to help people document their lives and engage with the world in fun and creative ways.
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