- international agencies;
- my personal stereotypes about different regions;
- homogenous global trends;
- trend-dominated design.
- newer, less known designers;
- regional or unique design styles;
- web design in particular, over general design disciplines, with a few interesting exceptions.
Liam Matthews, Brisbane, Australia
Vaiva Straukaite, Akureyri, Iceland
Michael Berhanu, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Michael Berhanu is a student focusing on computer animation and character design.Vany Lombo, Jakarta, Indonesia
Vany Lombo (on Behance) brings her illustrations to print and the web.Shengnan Guo, Beijing, China
Shengnan Guo is a UI/UX designer.Simon Marchal, Namur, Belgium
Simon Marchal (on Behance) co-designed the identity for the 24 Carat web agency and also has produced some very interesting typography projects.Cheng Leo, Hangzhou, China
Z. Cheng Leo (on Behance) is an illustrator and designer.Thomas Leppä, Helsinki, Finland
Thomas Leppä (on Behance) is a freelancer who does a lot of brand development, as well as design for the web.Sindiso Nyoni, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sindiso Nyoni, aka R!OT, is a Bulawayo native (born and raised in Zimbabwe), now a Johannesburg based, independent graphic artist.Sally Carmichael, Kansas, United States
Sally Carmichael is a designer from Kansas City, currently based in San Francisco, California.Ananda K. Maharjan, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ananda K. Maharjan is a graphic and type designer.Lara García, Joen Kcam, Andrés Villanueva, and Ber Yuen; Lima, Peru
Four Peruvian designers came together to create the work below: Lara García, Ber Yuen, Joen Kcam and Andrés Villanueva. See the entire project here.Lucia Soto, Madrid, Spain
Lucia Soto (on Behance) is a designer and illustrator, who also has some interesting pattern and design work on Society6.Vladimir Shlygin, Moscow, Russian Federation
Vladimir Shlygin is a graphic designer studying part time at the British Higher School of Art & Design (which is in Moscow).Sneha Patel, Mumbai, India
Sneha Patel (on Behance) has also had her decorative devanagari font featured on the Creative Roots blog.Ricardo Esteves Gomes, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Ricardo Esteves Gomes is a Brazilian designer, researcher and professor at Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo – UFES. Check out his independent digital type foundry, Outras Fontes.Michael Barker, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Michael Barker (on Behance) runs the Acme Art and Design studio. He worked with illustrator, Madi Piller, to produce materials for the Hello Amiga project.Paulius Papreckis, Vilnius, Lithuania
Paulius Papreckis is a digital designer.Takeaways from this process
One good place to search for designers by region is Behance, which has a strong international community and allows you to search for designers by country, province and city/town. Dribbble also has a search-by-region feature, but you need a pro membership ($20 a year—pretty reasonable) to access it. Want an overview of the places represented in this article? Here’s a Global Designers Pinterest Board, using the new Pinterest mapping tool. The board is paired with an interactive map that shows where in the world the designers in this post can be found. Regardless of how you explore, make sure you do explore. Reach out, and allow yourself to be found. So far, English, Chinese and Spanish speakers, for example, have seen little need to allow more than default browser translators to make their voices heard to a wider audience. Now may be the time to push the doors a little further open by giving a little more attention to translation, as well as clearer cross-cultural invitations to connect via social media.Penina Finger
Penina Finger is passionate about design, real brand and community. She owns the Fantastic Machine design studio and is also a partner at H1Talent. Feel free to say hi, ask questions and debate ideas with her on Twitter @peninasharon.
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