Grab A Slice Of Inspiration From These 10 Masters Of Design

I’m a huge admirer of great design and extremely envious of those who can do it so well.

Yeah sure, it’d be easy for me to sit here and share a collection of designs that I think look cool (it’s just not that exciting). So I want to go further than that…

I want to celebrate the designers who inspire us at onTap everyday. After all, who better to take inspiration from than the people who do it for a living, right?

There’s a real mixture of talent in this collection; from illustrators to animators, public speakers to UI developers, even a potter and an indie-game developer – but one thing they all have in common is their ability to create a truly beautiful design.

These designers will really get your pulse racing:

 Jon Contino

Jon is creative director of Jon Contino Studio, New York. I’m honoured to include his name on this list, and if you haven’t already, go check out the rest of his work. He’s worked with some massive companies such as Lacoste, Nike, New Balance, Coca-Cola (who?), Kellogg’s, Harley Davidson, Microsoft and MTV. I love Jon’s street inspired style, influenced by his native New York, and frequent use of hand drawn type. Our designers are in awe at pretty much everything he does.

Matt Stevens

Matt is a designer, illustrator and speaker from North Carolina. His impressive client list includes the likes of Dunkin Donuts, Nike, Facebook, Sony Music and Google (pretty small-time eh?). I love Matt’s use of colour and texture, evident in the example below, with which he manages to bring new life to a rather tired typographic style, something he’s so good at. The typography choices and balance in his iconography give real authority to his work. Go ahead, check out his site.

 Ryan Putnam

Ryan is a designer, illustrator and potter living in San Francisco. He currently runs his own design company, Rype Arts, though in the past he’s worked with the likes of Dropbox and founded VectorMill. The symmetry of Ryan’s work is truly stunning and the neatness of his paths with their varying weight makes for a beautiful illustration style. We’re very frequent visitors to his Dribbble page.

Tim Van Damme

Not the brother of Jean Claude*. Originally a freelance designer from Belgium, Tim now lives in San Francisco working as an interface designer for Dropbox. If this isn’t impressive enough, he’s also worked with Instagram and Gowalla. I love Tim’s ability to combine the beauty of minimal design with brightly coloured gradients. The rich colour palettes he uses are truly inspiring. In the example below, the vibrance of his blues keeps his quite textured work clean and fresh. Find more of his work here.

Dan Cassaro

Dan runs his own studio in Brooklyn, where he creates the most beautiful designs which focus largely on type, lettering and logos.  His work has been used by the likes of Nike, Ford, MTV, VH1, New York Times and Carhartt – for good reason too! I’m a big fan of the noisy textures Dan uses on much of his work and the energy incited by his choice in lettering. Take a bow, Dan.

Meg Robichaud

Meg is a UI designer and illustrator based in Vancouver. Oculus VR, Trello, Aveeno and New Relic are just a few companies who have recognised the beauty in her work. For me personally, her detailed and elegant line drawings partnered with great colours make her a favourite here. Meg manages to add depth to her work, while keeping her illustrations beautifully flat, by using unfeathered shadows and highlights. Go now, see more of her stuff!

 Dave Chenell

An indie-game developer, as well as an animator and a designer, Dave has a real variety of work. He is also co-founder of Enormous, a company he shares with Eric Cleckner, featuring all the awesome work the pair create. I don’t know how he does it, but the marriage of futuristic, cutting edge digital techniques with a nod to more traditional woodcutting techniques make Dave’s work truly awe inspiring. The balance between new and old is simply perfect.

Jay Fletcher

A graphic designer and illustrator living in Charleston (he also makes logos…very well). Jay uses negative space and minimal gradients so imaginatively. I also love the typography in the New York piece below. Check out Jay’s awesome website.

Ryan Doggendorf

Ryan is an art director, graphic designer and illustrator working in Missouri. He splits his work between digital agency HLK and his own design company Dog and Dwarf. You can see from his work that he has sharp Adobe Illustrator skills as well as traditional, pencil and paper approach (something we adore). Mmmm, just look at that retro feel that resonates throughout his work.

Lars Lundberg

Based in Umea, Sweden, Lars is co-founder and designer at Molijox – developers of mobile and web applications. Lars passive work has a real calming feel to it. Somewhat a master of polygonal designs, his use of colour coverts his 2d images into gentle 3d masterpieces. Check out his Dribbble page.

*UPDATE 03/08/15

Jessica Hische

Yes, I know this makes 11 (I haven’t gone mad). But I couldn’t resist adding Jessica to this list of designers, her work is just too good for you to miss!

Jessica is a letterer, illustrator and type designer based in San Francisco. We absolutely adore her work here at onTap, her beautiful type designs provide a constant source of inspiration for us. Apparently we’re not alone in thinking this, as her impressive client list includes the likes of Wes Anderson, Nike, Samsung, Penguin Books, Victoria’s Secret, American Express and The New York Times, (not too shabby). Jessica is a master of type, with specialities in hand-crafted scripts, as seen in Wes Anderson “Moonrise Kingdom” and Art Deco styled San Serifs. She compliments her designs with masterful choice of colour. Check out the rest of her work.