The graphic design field is ever-changing, yet the rock stars of the graphic design industry are still, mainly, men.
Meanwhile, the purchasing power of the globe is in the hands of individual women… it’s time to see more women like these eight, making a mark with their work that reflects their own vision.
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Get inspired by these rockin’ female graphic designers!
8 Top Female Graphic Designers
- Paula Scher: The Dame of Grande Design
- Louise Fili: Elegant Romance
- Marian Bantjes: Step Away From the Computer!
- Kristen Nikosey: The Art and Craft of Communication
- Janet Allinger: With Tongue Planted Firmly in Cheek
- Laura Smith: Reinventing Retro
- Deborah Sussman: Urban Legend
- Debbie Millman: Modern Design Discourse’s Chief
Paula Scher: The Dame of Grande Design
Bigger is definitely better. Bold words wrap you up and pull you in. You’re hooked! New York-based senior designer Paula Scher, one of only two female partners at mighty Pentagram, is a graphic design rock star of the highest order.
She’s also an author, a superb lecturer, and her work is in the permanent collections of several museums. Her clean, bold, and inventive use of typography editorial design has influenced a generation of young designers.
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Louise Fili: Elegant Romance
Louise Fili has a special way with food packaging and restaurant identity graphic design the world over: the old-fashioned way. Her intricate illustrations and hand-lettered type grace brands from the most familiar, like Williams-Sonoma’s, to the most exclusive.
As a former illustrator based book jacket designer previous to opening her New York City firm, she designed over 2000 covers and learned the intimate art of connecting with an audience visually within a very small frame. Today she is also the author of several excellent books on graphic design, showcasing her expertise as a female graphic designer.
Marian Bantjes: Step Away From the Computer!
Based near Vancouver, British Columbia, Marian Bantjes‘ extraordinary way with communication begs to be called “graphic art,” in the finest sense of the term. Fabulous hand lettering is her trademark, demonstrating the power of a fine pen in a plugged-in world.
A 2006 installation created with female designer Stefan Sagmeister shows off her handwork in an ultra-modern context. Her spam email centerfold for print magazine the Vancouver Review will make you tear your hair out with jealousy. This is one hard-working lady, even when she’s riffing on a bit of junk mail!
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Kristen Nikosey: The Art and Craft of Communication
Illustrator and woman graphic designer Kristen Nikosey’s work evokes Impressionist painting and Arts & Crafts style, with a distinctly California vibe. Her book illustrations are rich.
Her pattern designs women graphic designers are meticulously casual, if such a thing is possible, with deep color that jumps off the page. In graphic design world her packaging and identity work she blends today’s digital design techniques with her old-world sensibilities.
Janet Allinger: With Tongue Planted Firmly in Cheek
Irreverent humor in identity design? If you’ve got Janet Allinger to inspire you, why not? If the market can take it, this designer dishes it out. While she’s been known to do more traditional design, it’s her post-feminist comic stylings that will grab and hold your attention. Fun, funky, and a little bit in-your-face—this lady’s not afraid of being known as “edgy.”
Laura Smith: Reinventing Retro
While award-winning graphic and freelance print designer Laura Smith is at work, Art Deco will always find fresh interpretations. She’s done work for heavy hitters from Time Magazine to Major League Baseball to the U.S. Postal Service and that’s just for starters. Classic, colorful, and edited to only the necessary detail, her graphic images are nostalgic but never stuffy.
Deborah Sussman: Urban Legend
Art, creative director and environmental women graphic designer Deborah Sussman has been creating legendary work for public spaces for decades. Deborah and her firm, Sussman/Prejza, have won numerous awards and done interior and exterior wayfinding and signage systems for Apple, Hasbro, the city of Los Angeles, and numerous others.
She may be most famous for her comprehensive graphics program for the 1984 Summer Olympics. As an art director, she has a keen eye for both client and community needs, art direction, creating work that is imaginative, spare, and crystal clear.
Debbie Millman: Modern Design Discourse’s Chief
Debbie Millman is undoubtedly a multi-talented woman: graphic designer, author, educator, and the respected host of the popular podcast “Design Matters.” Throughout a career of more than three decades, she has left an impressive imprint in the design world. Her client portfolio consisting of big brands like Burger King, Hershey’s, and Star Wars is quite impressive.
Millman’s portfolio is as diverse as impressive, from branding to packaging, book design as well as illustration. Being an already-established writer, as the first female principal, she has authored multiple books about design and creativity. However, via projects such “Design Matters,” her influential podcast, Millman has participated in insightful conversations with world-class creative talent, which has rendered her the great voice of the design community.
Female Graphic Designers Summary
Barriers? Sure. Glass ceiling? Maybe. These ladies have their eyes on the prize, not the ceiling. As a result, these female graphic designers have busted right through it — rock on!
What other female graphic designers would you add to this list?
nice work, and an even nicer comment from Yana.
Kelly -“Less well known” IS the point here. Talent is talent. Good is good. And gender is only a part of what goes into our vision. We can use it or not. But we all know certain fields, ahem, are not known for giving top spot status to females…still. Quick, name three top female internationally renown architects. Thanks for bringing these talented graphic artists to my attention. I’ll have to come back later and look longer.
Marian Bantjes is pretty well know I would say.
I don’t even know if I could really name three architects period — except maybe Frank Lloyd Wright. That’s not really a fair comparison if it’s not a field you really follow.
Kelly- Back again for another quick read and to check out a couple more links.
Clint- Gender has little to do with ability, very true. We would all prefer to just say oh, look at these great graphic artists and they are that. That part has nothing to do with gender.
But gender bias does exist. When you are standing right there and the guys are discussing, “but what would we do with a woman on the team?” Hello I can hear you. Standing right here. You have to face it. It exists. So it is nice every once and awhile to see some notable women pulled out and highlighted like this.
Though I would never deny that the designers listed here are truly inspirational and leaders in their field, I don’t understand what being a woman has to do with it. Having those kinds of skills requires a certain… vision, for lack of a better word, a different way of seeing and thinking about things, but it is absolutely unrelated to the gender of the designer.
I’d rather spend less time worrying about the male to female ratio in the field and more on how to become a designer as radical and moving as the ones you’ve listed.
Woman are paid far less than men in every field. These artists have done prolific works for prolific companies and I have never heard of them nor are they featured anywhere else during my three months of research into the topic. Lesser known and quite frankly, lesser male visionaries top the list. If you haven’t known the feeling of being oppressed and then being told sex has nothing to do with anything, then you can see the plight of invisible discrimination. Rather unvisionary.
G’day, JCD readers!
If you’re interested, follow the link in this comment to my blog, friends, because the link Jacob has up in the post hasn’t been updated since my move last month. The hazards of filling in for a world-traveller and doing major renos at the blog at the same time. 🙂
Yana,
Thanks for your comment. I agree completely that being spectacularly talented is not related to being a woman. At this point, however, being less-well-known is, hence this post. If you’d never heard of them before, I hope this was radical and moving inspiration for you.
Skout,
Thank you. Glad you liked it!
Regards,
Kelly
I jumped over here from Kelly’s blog (hi Kelly! Great post!) – my socks weren’t knocked off as I wasn’t wearing any (long story), so instead I will say:
I am impressed. Awesome work, all.
-Brett
Brett Legrees last blog post..a cog.
Janice,
Thanks! I follow architecture very, very closely, and yet when you say “quick,” only one woman jumps to mind. (Fine arts has that issue, too. Ahem.) Writing this article was a chance to have these terrific designers jump to the minds of a few more folks.
Brett,
Glad you could pop in. Awesome ladies, doing work anyone would be proud to call their own. Gotta love that.
D,
Yes, she is well known in some circles (as are each of these designers). To “rank” them, which I wasn’t trying to do, the last three ladies are legendary, and many designers know at least a bit about each of them. The rest are, in my opinion, on their way to being legends. 🙂
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..Road Trip: Guest Post at Just Creative Design v 2.0
I couldn’t agree more that the gender of these artists is 100% irrelevant and should stay that way. I respect that you want to bring attention to their work, and there is no question it is exemplary design work. But it seems to me that articles like this, which focus on a gender bias (perceived or otherwise), tend to exacerbate the problem.
Why not just write an article about “7 Great Designers You’ve Never Heard Of”. It just feels like a self-fulfilling prophesy when its presented this way.
That said, the work is great!
Clints last blog post..Google Maps Strike Again
Clint,
Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed the work.
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..Road Trip: Guest Post at Just Creative Design v 2.0
Ok before I comment – my disclaimer is that I’m not one of those women who “bang on” about equal rights for women…I firmly beleive it’s the right person for the job because of talent, not because of gender…that said though in so many professions still today, women get the raw end of the deal. Things like unequal pay are an issue even today, so I think it was right to head this post up as a woman “thing” rather than a “talent” thing. It brings it home quite neatly that sometimes we definately out strip the boys and kick ass!! Yeay – go female graphic designers with MAJOR talent!! 🙂 Really good post – I enjoyed it and I’m not even in the industry.
http://www.freyasykes.com
Freya Sykess last blog post..blogging to make a (bad?) reputation:
Freya,
Thanks for having your say.
I’m glad to stir up the pot a bit, because somehow the posts I think will, never do, so this is fun. Glad you liked it.
I think most of you Just Creative Design folks read my first guest post for Jacob last month (link’s at the top of today’s article). You may have noticed I was talking gender there, too.
There’s a reason for this, and it’s not what you think. When Jacob asked for guest posts, I wanted to find a way to add to his body of work, but with Perspective that Jacob may not have. As an Experience Designer I could have done this in quite a few ways, but I thought there’s one thing for sure that Jacob can’t do, and that’s stand in a woman’s shoes. (Without looking silly.)
I have no axe to grind and no need to either keep the status quo or get militant about pushing for change, which is, IS, happening. Just shedding light on things in a different way, until Jacob gets back and kicks me out for drinking his beer. (Cheers, mate.)
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..Road Trip: Guest Post at Just Creative Design v 2.0
I have an affinity for vintage type and design and the work of Louise Fili is simply stunning.
Great article Kelly!
I’ve been curious about the amount of girls in design for a while, and always wondered where they were. It’s nice to be introduced to a few new ones who have some talent.
I would love to see a posting on female web designers… I’m just a starting web designer, and while I’m still not very good, some of the websites of these talented ladies leave a lot to be desired. I was impressed by their work samples, but the websites seemed poorly executed (I hate to use the same old adage, but Janet Allinger used a very bad drop shadow on her name at the top and the way she had the images loading meant I had to wait for all images to load to see the last one…). I’m all for GO-talented-women, but I want to see people that have got a good place to showcase their work.
Doug,
Her site is a wonderful tour of her best stuff. I hope you’ll click through and get lost in her work for a while. Goodness knows I did!
Kassy,
Ha! You bring up an excellent point that did give me pause as I wrote the article. It’s part of the Experience of their work—yet a couple of the sites were rather torturous. I agree that’s just not right for designers of this caliber, whether web design is what they do or not.
Still, these designers are brilliant at their specialties, and I could hardly wait to bring their talents to light here.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the article. Thanks for reading!
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
I saw this as more of a theme of female designers, just like you might choose to feature student designers or designers over 50. The category doesn’t matter so much, it just helps narrow down which designers to feature (and hopefully they are ones that are less well known so readers are exposed to more great design!).
At any rate, I enjoyed these featured designers and I’m going to pop over to their websites for more inspiration! Thanks Kelly!
LaurenMarie – Creative Curios last blog post..Quark for InDesign Users
LaurenMarie,
Yup. Theme. Thanks for saying in one word what I took several paragraphs to say!
🙂
No one will ever accuse me of being brief.
Enjoy them, some of the websites are so extensive you can get lost for a while!
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
I was wondering who designed Late July crackers that I always buy for my daughter. Now I know. I wrote about Marian Bantjes last week, she’s a truly inspirational artist. I did enjoy discovering a couple new designers in your article. Thanks.
As for the gender talk, there’s no right way of approaching it, there will always be something or someone criticising. Say, if Kelly didn’t title this post as Seven Female Graphic Designers, but left it as Seven Graphic Designers… then the majority would wonder how come all of the featured designers here were women. On the other side you wouldn’t see articles out there titled Seven Male Graphic Designers… , and if all of the featured designers in an article titled Seven Graphic Designers… were male, no one would ask the question – how come you only featured male designers here…
wow. i’m just sooo impressed. especially the ballet thing is sooo good
aankuns last blog post..a Photo Session
From above all i liked the designs of Marian Bantjes. She is really good and even the others are too but i think she is AWESOME. Cheers Marian 🙂
Vivien,
“… the majority would wonder how come all of the featured designers here were women” with a different title. True. When I wrote this in May, I knew I wanted it to be a companion to the other, so the subject wasn’t in question, but, the title… the points you bring up did cross my mind. Thanks for your comment. I’m going to go read your article on Marian Bantjes now!
aankun,
Paula Scher did a whole series for them and all the work is amazing. Do check out her site for more. Glad you liked it!
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..Summer Is a Great Time to: Smile for the Birdie
Swaran,
If you like her work, be sure to check out Vivien’s post (linked in her comment (inspirationbit) above. She wrote an excellent article on her that I just got to read today. 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..Summer Is a Great Time to: Smile for the Birdie
What an excellent set of designers – all very different styles, thanks for bringing them to my attention.
Good.. I really appreciate
its seems to be really great.
John, Lucinda, Erica,
Thanks for stopping in. I’m glad you enjoyed the article!
Regards,
Kelly
Kellys last blog post..Inspiration Points: Abraham Lincoln’s Secret
Has gender been mentioned because there are far less female designers than male?
It seems to me that there are less females than males in the design industry, unless I’m imagining it.
Yeah there are far less females than males in design, you’re not imagining it 🙂
Hey,
Im currently in my last year of study in Visual Communication. I decided to do my thesis on women in graphic design, and in particular the success of Paula Scher. If anyone has any views they would like to share with me, I would be very grateful if you could email me: [email protected]
Worth read ! Thanks a lot 🙂
Great post. And for those feeling that being female is irrelevant to design or that it should not be labeled or recognized needs to open their eyes. The fact is that there are several times more male than female designers and firms wanting a new vision or direction can effectively utilize that. It is not an insult to be identified as female, so get over it.
Hi,
Im Masi
Im stading Graphic Design.I decided to do my thesis on Retro style, and in particular the success of Paula Scher;Louise Fili;Carin Goldberg. If anyone has any views they would like to share with me, I would be very grateful if you could email me:
[email protected]
Nice collection 🙂 Thanks for inspiration 🙂 i love it
Great article. I do find that it still seems like women are battling for recognition. The generations of time we remained behind an apron is still affecting the female gender’s appreciation. Though I totally agree with some of the previous comments. Doing the job is about talent, not gender, but I agree with those who say perhaps the influential females are not as recognized.
Thanks for the post!
I like – http://www.sussmanprejza.com/ site.
Whole collection is good and it is a result of creativity, hard work of artist.
@Yana on Jul 11, 2008
you are right that gender SHOULD’T have anything to do with talent, and it doesn’t, but i think what this article is aiming to do is pay recognition to the achievements of women designers in a field where women and minorities are underrepresented greatly. if you were to look at the major books on history of graphic design, a canon exists of (mostly white) male designers. If we do not continue to raise awareness and give recognition and opportunity to women and minority designers, then this canon will likely prevail…
I find it strange why there is less women in design than men but I am all for there be more women, for sure! Have a great day. Martin
All the logo posts are good and trendy yet they are old and are more xerox style thanks for sharing
I’ve been trying to craft a decent logo design for a very long time now but have never been able to design one that is appealing enough. But I just got an amazing inspiration today that I’ll start working on. I think this one’s going to be awesome 😀
Last time I checked, graphic/web designers who are female make up something like 20% of designers. Although as a woman, I certainly don’t feel inferior, there is nothing wrong with showcasing a certain group who has broken into a field. Relax, and enjoy. Thanks, Jacob. (Maybe one day I’ll considered. A girl from Delaware can dream, right??)
Fabulous! Some awesome stuff you have shared here. I have to confess your great effort.Keep up the good work!
I like – http://www.iifd.in site.
They provide good knowledge of fashion designing and graphic designing.