Rachel Hess takes an experimental method to her designs
About nine years ago, Ohio-born creative Rachel Hess studied fine arts at the University of Cincinnati. While she enjoyed playing with mixed media and creating things from scratch, she soon became interested in learning more about typography and working in the digital space. “That's why I turned to graphic communication design the following year and, in addition to my design courses, also completed drawing, screen printing, ceramics and painting,” explains Hess.
By changing her studies with internships, this led to a long and fruitful time of creative research. "I had the space to find out what I liked and didn't like," she says. "It was only after I graduated and offered an appearance for part illustrations and part design that I saw it as a viable option to be both an illustrator and a designer."
Different articles
Hess lives in Brooklyn, New York, and works for an advertising agency. She directs and illustrates art mainly for the online food services Seamless and Grubhub. But she also takes the time to work on personal projects.
"When it comes to a customer, I try to separate my personal style from work and allow the product or service to provide the visual elements directly," explains Hess. “When I illustrate and design my personal work, it is more intuitive and more experimental. I usually get issues from friends and family or from recent experiences. "
Man in motion
Objects in motion
Hess has a number of creative minds that have inspired her to drive her work into new areas, such as Bill Rebholz, Julien Gobled, Thomas Hedger, María Medem and many, many others. These references indicate that Hess prefers clear, sharp lines with pops of color, but what looks good in her portfolio is that there is still a sense of experimentation.
Regardless of whether it's a change in color palette, level of detail or perspective, Hess still seems interested in merging elements of graphic design and illustration in her work. "The combination of design and illustration can be a difficult push / pull situation," she says. "You have to consider each other to work well together, and I enjoy the challenge of finding that balance."
Allergy season
To work from home
When working on a customer project, Hess & # 39; s typical process begins by trying to absorb and learn everything about them before something is created. However, this is much looser with their own projects.
"Personal work is about sketching, sketching, sketching and leaning against what inspires." This also fits with Hess’s experimental approach and it alternates between digital and analog techniques and different media in order to strike a balance between “high concept and high energy”.
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