Last week we published our long-awaited report on the freelance industry: “Design without Borders – The Freelance Revolution”. And thanks to the amazing design work by Top Level designer Shwin it looks pretty stunning, if we may say so ourselves. Here we talked to him about his design career, how he got into design and his approach to this challenging project.
Shwin is a British-born graphic designer based in Vietnam. A self-taught talent, he joined 99designs early on in his career to learn new techniques and build on his skills. While he admits to never winning contests initially, Shwin has seen significant growth on the 99designs platform. Now with nine years under his belt as a professional designer, his career has seen him break into London working for some of the city’s biggest agencies and clients. Specialising in branding and illustration, Shwin believes diversity is key, so he never shies away from a new challenge.
In taking on this project, Shwin felt it had great potential for creativity. By combining his flair for beautifully crafted illustrations with new, experimental brush styles, he breathed new life into the information. And the end result? A colourful and edgy expression of technical data that you can’t take your eyes off.
How long have you been designing?
9 years, but I wouldn’t consider myself ‘a good designer’ for all 9 of them! I used 99designs early on to see how I could tackle different projects – I but I never won any contests because I was frankly terrible ha. However, this was how I learnt my skills, taking on projects and learning new techniques for each one. Eventually, I won one.
How did you get into design?
I was always encouraged to draw when I was younger by my parents and I think that moving that onto my computer was just the natural progression.
Diversity is definitely the key for me.
I didn’t go to uni, youtube was my tutor and my bedroom was the campus. So I was thrilled when I finally broke into London, working for the biggest agencies and clients, as I wasn’t sure it was possible without a degree.
What would you say is your speciality in terms of design?
I love branding and illustration most but, as you may be able to see from my work, I like to take on all kinds of projects and doing them in all different styles. Diversity is definitely the key for me.
What was it about this project that made you want to take it on?
I’ve worked with 99d on a few projects before and they’ve always been good fun and the project itself had a lot of potential for creativity.
The project itself had a lot of potential for creativity.
Also, it’s a big endorsement of your work to get a call from the big guys.
How did you approach this brief?
I started experimenting with illustration styles and brush strokes then created some drafts which we narrowed down together.
What is your favourite part of the end piece?
I like the illustrative style. I think overall it’s great to look at stats in an engaging way.
The post How designer Shwin’s illustrative style breathes life into statistics appeared first on 99designs.
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