The biggest personalities in design

Some designers let the work do all the talking, but others leave the world feeling like they know them personally – sometimes a little too intimately...

01. Stefan Sagmeister

Designer, studio director and typographer are just some of Sagmeister's many hats. One of the most influential figures in design today, he's never afraid to speak his mind or take bold action.

He's a seasoned regular of the design conference circuit, and also well-known for his striking use of nudity in his self-promo – famously appearing naked with new studio partner Jessica Walsh in a piece of self-promo that unsurprisingly went viral in a flash. Not everyone could make that work, but Sagmeister & Walsh certainly did.

02. Mr Bingo

From his Hate Mail service (receive personalised insults, for a fee) to the sweary page on his website explaining exactly why he doesn't work for free ("Generally, people get paid to do a job. What the fuck were you thinking?"), Mr Bingo's inimitable personal style is stamped all over everything he does. "Some people say he fucks about for a living," reads his website. It's clear that he actually does anything but.

03. Jessica Hische

There's a sense of whimsical personality in everything Jessica Hische does, from designing typography for the credits of Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom to her self-initiated Daily Drop Cap project, which later became a series of covers for Penguin Classic novels. Self-dubbed "crazy cat lady" Jessica makes a point of simply being herself online, and not filtering.

Words: Anne Wollenberg

This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 231.