21 of the Best Graphic Designer Names in the Industry

Whether you’re in need of graphic design help or considering starting a career in it, there are heroes in the industry you can look up to for inspiration. These are those who have excelled and transformed the landscape in more ways than one. Here is our list of the best graphic designers you can get to know more and get ideas from. We’ll also tell you where you can hire a graphic designer who can do fantastic designs for your business.

Table of Contents

• Milton Glaser
• Carolyn Davidson
• Lindon Leader
• Lauren Hom
• George Lois
• Stefan Sagmeister
• Paula Scher
• David Carson
• Jonathan Ive
• Dennis Hwang
• Neville Brody
• Chip Kidd
• Susan Kare
• Michael Beriut
• Jonathan Barnbrook
• Cass Deller
• Shaivalini Kumar
• Lucy Litman
• Alex Trochut
• Dana Tanamachi
• Chris Labrooy
• Services Offered By Graphic Designers
• Business Problems That Graphic Designers Fix

Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser is an American graphic designer who has specialized in publications, musical album covers, and posters. As a New York-native, Glaser’s best-known work, is none other than the iconic “I heart NY” logo. In 2009, Glaser was the first-ever designer to receive the presidential award “National Medal of the Arts.”

Carolyn Davidson

Continuing on to even more iconic logos, Carolyn Davidson had her breakthrough moment in 1971 when she designed the infamous “Nike Swoosh.” Originally, Davidson who was completing her degree in graphic design, sold the Nike logo for only $35, but her connection to the creators of Nike would go on to help her become a successful freelance graphic designer.

Lindon Leader

Image Credit: Leader Creative

Lindon Leader is a graphic designer who specializes in brand identity. While he has many successful brand and logo designs, he is best known for being the mastermind behind the FedEx logo. On his company’s website, LeaderCreative, you can find this philosophy for his design: “While our creative product meets the highest aesthetic standards, we believe the sole purpose of branding is to facilitate the realization of our client’s strategic marketing objectives.“ 

Lauren Hom

Image Credit: Hom Sweet Hom

Flourishing in her specialty, millennial graphic designer, Lauren Hom has taken reign of typography and has transformed campaigns from Google, McDonalds and even Starbucks with her exquisite lettering skills.

George Lois

Image Credit: Museum of Modern Art

Shortly after the Korean War, George Lois started working in the advertising and promotions department for CBS. While there, he was recruited to help pioneer the first advertising agency. George became known as Papert Koing Lois. Throughout his career in design, George Lois is most known for his work for ESPN, Esquire Mag and USA today.

Stefan Sagmeister

Image Credit: Stefan Sagmeister

Like others on this list, Stefan Sagmeister is an American graphic designer from New York. He specializes in typography and storytelling and he is best known for his work designing album covers. His album covers were made famous from artists like Jay-Z, OK Go, Aerosmith, and the Rolling Stones.

Paula Scher

Image Credit: Paula Scher

Paula Scher is a graphic designer, painter, and a teacher of graphic design. Like George Lois, Scher also started at CBS advertising and promotions department, but left for a more creative and fulfilling career in design. Paula Scher has received over 300 awards from international graphic design associations. Her most recognizable work is the Citibank logo.

David Carson

Image Credit: David Carson Design

David Carson is an American graphic designer who excelled in the field of typeface. Carson became popular by sticking true to his beliefs and breaking the rules of graphic design, and ultimately, achieved success at it. He is most known for his work with Armani.

Jonathan Ive

Image Credit: Yanko Design

Also known as Sir Jony Ive, Ive is a successful English designer who is currently the Chief Design Officer at Apple. He also serves as the chancellor at the Royal College of Art in London. Throughout his career, Jonathan Ive is most known for his design work on Apple Products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air and iPad.

Dennis Hwang

Image Credit: Logo Download

Dennis Hwang is a Korean-American graphic designer who has worked on many exciting projects over the past 30 years of his career. Most recently, Hwang was one of the designers of the world-breaking app “Pokemon Go.” Dennis is also known for working on the commemorative logos for Google.

Neville Brody

Image Credit: Neville Brody Behance

A typography guru, Neville Brody started working in graphic design in 1976. Brody explored typography, along with Pop Art and Dadaism’s influential designs, to compose the perfect grudge and punk mixture. In 2006, Brody redesigned the Times Newspaper and even created the font “Times Modern.”

Chip Kidd

Image Credit: Notes on Design

A true believer in originality and individuality, Chip Kidd is a graphic designer who has never fallen into a “signature look.” So, Kidd has become known as one of the most famous book cover designers. He created the Jurassic Park logo almost 30 years ago.

Susan Kare

Image Credit: Smithsonian Magazine

Another outstanding woman in graphic design is Susan Kare. In 1981, Kare got hired by Apple to help create user interface fonts and elements. She went on to design element-icon tools that are still used to this day, such as the Lasso, the Grabber, and the Paint Bucket.

Michael Beriut

Image Credit: Michael Bierut Pentagram

A leader in brand identity and editorial design solutions, Michael Beriut has shaped and lead the graphic design world in more ways than one for the past 35 years. Along with serving as the president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), as well as the senior critic of graphic design at the Yale School of Art, Beriut is most famous for designed the logo for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Jonathan Barnbrook

Image Credit: Barnbrook

Thriving in typography and design, Jonathan Barnbrook is an advocate for art as he believes, “design is a weapon for social change.” Other than using design for politics, Barnbrook is most known for his work designing album covers. His most famous album cover is David Bowie’s 2002 album, Heathen.

Cass Deller

Image Credit: Cass Deller

Cass is a graphic designer who also specializes in watercolor and lettering artwork. She loves working in and creating beautiful spaces. “I naturally started using hand lettering in some of my designs and my teachers supported that individuality,” she says. You can find her creating logos, branding materials, and also textile prints, murals, and even gift wrap!

Shaivalini Kumar

Image Credit: Shaivalini Kumar

Copenhagen designer Shaivalini Kumar specializes in visual design, branding, illustration, and typography. Throughout her career, she has collected countless mentions and awards for her work including Photoshop’s 25under25, Google, Adobe Inspire Magazine, Design Influencer at Microsoft’s Surface Pro Launch, and more.

Lucy Litman

Image Credit: Design You Trust

At the age of 24, Lucy had a habit of organizing her food by Pantone color. “I started my #pantoneposts project almost a year ago – initially, it started as a way to clear my mind. I had a frustrating day at work and, at the time, wasn’t feeling very creative, so I came home and arranged a box of fruit loops I had sitting around by color,” Lucia tells Hello Giggles. Since then, she has left a legacy of #pantoneposts for every season, occasion, and, of course, more food.

Alex Trochut

Image Credit: Alex Trochut

Having worked with Nike, Adidas, The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry, BBC, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and more, Alex has created his own style through pop culture, street culture, fashion, and music. Alex was born in Barcelona and is now located in New York, where he continues to mesmerize with his designs and typography.

Dana Tanamachi

Image Credit: Dana Tanamachi

Dana Tanamachi is a lettering artist and designer based in New York City. She owns Tanamachi Studio, a boutique design studio specializing in custom typography and illustration for editorial, lifestyle, food, and fashion brands. Her clients include Target, Nike, USPS, Penguin Books, Ralph Lauren, Instagram, and West Elm, just to name a few.

Chris Labrooy

Image Credit: Chris Labrooy

Scotland-based designer Chris Labrooy uses 3D design and CGI to create work based on typography, architecture, product design, and visual art. His clients include Apple, Porsche, Nike, Jaguar, AT&T, Citroen, British Airways, Time Magazine, Mcdonalds, T-Mobile, Transport For London, Ted Baker, Target, Prudential Callaway Golf.

Services Offered By Graphic Designers

Graphic designers provide a wide variety of services that include the following:

• Logo Design: Crafting unique logos that reflect your brand’s vision.
• Brand Identity Design: Developing a cohesive visual identity that includes typography, color schemes, and brand guidelines.
• Social Media Graphics: Creating visually engaging content specifically for social media platforms.
• Marketing Materials: Designing brochures, flyers, posters, and other promotional assets.
• Website and UI/UX Design: Creating visually appealing, user-friendly websites and digital interfaces.
• Packaging Design: Designing product packaging aimed at attracting customers while conveying your brand message.
• Illustrations: Crafting custom illustrations for book covers, news editorials, infographics. and many others.

Business Problems That Graphic Designers Fix

If you’re still in doubt about hiring a graphic designer, take note that they can fix the following common business problems:

• Brand Recognition Issues: A well-crafted logo paired with consistent branding can help your business stand out.
• Low Customer Engagement: Attention-grabbing visuals and engaging social media content can attract and retain customer engagement.
• Poor Conversion Rates: An easy-to-navigate website that’s also visually appealing can mean more conversions.
• Ineffective Marketing Materials: Professionally designed marketing paraphernalia can improve communication and brand recall.
• Lack of Professionalism: High-quality visuals provide more credibility and trustworthiness to a business.

Conclusion

No matter the type of design these artists advance in, there is one thing that is uniform through each of them. Consistency. Every one of these artists never stopped designing. They never stopped creating, and most importantly, they never stopped using their skills to tell a story. Throughout their careers, each artist has taken their perspectives on life and turned them into inspiration and ingenuity for design.

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