The craft of Graphic design is incorporating more hands-on elements, with things like Play-Doh, clay and Lego being used to create outstanding designs. Some designers are becoming more ‘crafty’ and taking the art of graphic design to a less digital place, and it is very well received. This blog looks at how graphic design is incorporating more analogues techniques.
Crafty Design
Interesting textures are one benefit of hand-made design methods. Craft and tactfulness frequently go hand in hand, and the latter is a popular trend for 2023. Hand-tooled design also appears heavily in 2023 graphic design. Craft-related disciplines are frequently incorrectly grouped with kid’s stuff, however, this assumption also has certain hidden benefits. Designers have the opportunity to experiment outside the parameters of accepted practice using analogue approaches. Additionally, perhaps this strategy can offer particularly significant advantages now that creative fatigue is so common. Moving ahead in 2023, we have already witnessed multiple craft-inspired designs, with hand-stitched branding and innovative hand-tooled styles frequently cropping up.
Clay – Laura Hilbert
Unusual techniques, experimentation, and a good amount of inventiveness are the three guiding ideas of Laura Hilbert’s work – a Frankfurt-based graphic designer who has recently produced exceptional clay design work.
Laura worked with designer Sarah Stendel to create an identity that you can ‘feel and build with your hands’ with the design ‘Hands On’. They used the technique of printing on clay. Screen-printed clay is used for every component of the visual identity, which is formed, photographed, and digitally altered. The end effect is brilliantly squished, squeezed, thumbed, and full of streaky ink.
Play-Doh – Emma Bers
The vibrant, juicy, type-filled posters this Chicago-based graphic designer created just two years after she taught herself how to use Photoshop during lockdown are in high demand.
Emma has now completed a number of contracts, and although having no formal experience in graphic design, she has naturally adapted to the industry. Her colourful, youthful, messy and fun fashion sense is instantly endearing. Emma’s lack of experience in this area may work to her advantage because it gives her a new perspective on compositions. She explores a wide range of visual references instead of looking to other graphic design work for inspiration, including abstract expressionist paintings, quirky furniture and architecture, and occasionally children’s book illustrations.
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Photo – “Spray paint collagen 4” by Laura Hilbert
