We ask the world’s top designers and illustrators to answer 13 questions and create a visual response to one of their choice.
Shawna X is an artist and visual designer based in New York, making the sort of psychedelic, swirlingly wild scenes that we could only previously have dreamed of. If her social is anything to go by, she seems like a hell of a lot of fun, too. Do yourself a favor and follow her on Instagram @shawnax.
Describe what you do in four words or less: Illustrator idk artist wtf.
When did you know you wanted to be an illustrator? In high school I created a character named Smudge, this little gray blob I drew in situations about heartbreak, depression, first kiss, etc. He helped me land my first gig designing my college literary magazine; it was the first time I’d ever designed anything for a purpose. I had no idea that design was a career option, and I loved it without knowing what the hell I was doing.
If you weren’t a designer, you’d be: A journalist who gets to interview and understand people from all walks of life.
The typeface you love/hate/love to hate: I really love to hate and hate to love Aperçu. I’ll still use it, though.
Your dream design (or redesign) project is: It would be really fun to revive Oui, a porno mag from the ’70s. I love the typography, photography, layout, illustration, content—everything.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received (and who said it)? Lately I’ve been asking myself: “What would six-year-old me do?” I believe my inner child is my purest self: vulnerable, sincere, curious, and open-minded. Often, I should stop focusing on the outside and just do my damn six-year-old me.
The quality in others you most admire is: Kindness, not to be confused with niceness.
You’re secretly really good at: Flying in my dreams.
The biggest design cliché right now is: Design clichés were once something new and exciting, created by someone who put meaning behind it, but then got overly used without any attribution or context. I’m not going to call that out.
What keeps you awake at night? All the personal projects I haven’t started but want to get to, tomorrow…
What contribution will you make to the creative community in the next 10 years? I want to be transparent and discuss topics important to me: race, gender, class, feelings of failure, happiness—everything that is not design. It’s important for us to get outside of our design bubble.
What question are you dying to answer that we haven’t asked? “What does it all mean? Seriously, why are we even doing any of this?”
What’s the answer? What would the six-year-old you say?
