It's nice to have someone to look up to. For me, they're individuals whose skills and talents I hope to someday match up with. There have been many designers and developers I've stumbled on whose portfolio continues to amaze me. It's mainly thanks to social media I've found most designers I admire. When I find an amazing website, design or project, I look up who worked on it. After finding who they are, I look at their other works.
As you grow, whether as a designer or developer, it's good to have someone in the industry whose work inspires you. I'll share a few that do just that for me.
Let's Break It Down
The More the Merrier
I discovered these amazing people in 2019 and 2020, and I am shocked I hadn't sooner.
- Haruki Tominage. An Osaka, Japan-based graphic designer I found on Twitter. He is great with Adobe products, especially Photoshop. He creates short 1 to 5-minute tutorials in simple Japanese even I can understand for Photoshop. I have to admit I was excited to find both a designer to follow and a way to sneak in extra Japanese practice.
- LaTanya Beauregard. Creative Director and Visual Creative Lead. Funny story. My friend, from the Japanese Language Meetup I host, told me about a Creative Director who spoke at a GDSA event at the University of Central Florida, my alma mater. My friend recapped the speaker's career at Disney. She felt the speaker was genuine when asking those attending to reach out to her with any questions. I, at the time, was looking at the profiles and portfolio websites of designers, developers, photographers, and writers. I came across an impressive Creative Director working at Yellow Shoes Creative Group, Disney's internal marketing team. After reading her LinkedIn profile I became curious and found interviews she participated in through Google. She seemed active in partaking in mentorships (AIGA Mentorship Program, The One Club for Creativity's Creative Boot Camp, etc). Her name also kept appearing in the credit portion of other designers and photographer's portfolios. I excitedly told my friend about this person while she excitedly told me about the speaker. Once we made the connection, we realized we were talking about the same person.
- Laura Price. Animation Artist. I discovered Laura on my YouTube homepage and out of curiosity clicked her video. Though I'm not in the same industry, I found her videos provided great advice on professionalism, portfolio, and making connections. Past projects included Tangled the Series on Disney, Steven Universe on Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon.
Disclaimer: This list isn’t in any order of importance, skill level or popularity.
Thank You For Reading
Feel like this list is lacking some key people? Leave a comment with your choice. Their link would also be helpful.
*Since this is my word vomit dumping ground you can find my more refined written words on Medium. I love using this space to explore my journey as a designer and developer while not getting pressed to write in the most splendid manner. Proofreading, revising and consistently editing take up so much time personally. In the past, this has caused me to write less often something I to avoid. My aim is consistency. Added: March 5, 2018. Revised: February 15, 2020.
Updated: February 26, 2020
