How did Young Guns get on your radar?

I saw Young Guns mentioned on the portfolios of a lot of designers I looked up to, even the ones who otherwise weren’t big on competitions.

How did you end up in the creative field?

I landed on graphic design unintentionally. I had good grades in high school, but nothing interested me as much as painting did. I knew pursuing fine art wasn’t the most financially responsible career path, but my mom encouraged me to go after it anyway.

I think as an architect, and someone who works very hard, she understood the importance of loving what you do. One of my teachers recommended the art school at Washington University in St. Louis, where I could explore a creative major alongside liberal arts classes. I went there with an open mind, discovered the graphic design program, and immediately fell in love.

Why did you decide to enter this year?

I’ve had it in the back of my mind for a couple years, and never felt like my portfolio was quite ready. Now that I’m approaching 30, I thought I’d finally give it a go.

You only get to submit six projects. How did you decide what made the cut?

It’s all so subjective. It definitely helped to sort the work into categories — like book covers, op-ed illustrations, cover illustrations, etc. — before choosing my personal favorites within each. I think the strongest pieces tend to be the ones that I enjoyed making the most.

“I think the strongest pieces tend to be the ones that I enjoyed making the most.”

What was your reaction when you found out you won?

I was driving to my mom’s house and saw an email from YG pop up on my phone. I immediately pulled over to read it and then called my husband. He’s also a graphic designer, so he knew how big a deal this was.

In what ways does where you’re living right now inspire your creativity?

When I’m stuck creatively, what helps most is distance from the work. This could mean walking around my neighborhood in Carroll Gardens, cooking an elaborate meal, or rearranging my apartment.

As my grandma likes to say, “A change of work is recreation.”

“A change of work is recreation.”

Now that you’re part of the Young Guns community, are there any past winners you admire?

There are so many! In no particular order: I love Elizabeth Goodspeed’s (YG22) sharp design writing and reference sharing, the ever-evolving editorial design work that Ben Grandgenett (YG15) and Claudia Rubín (YG19) are doing at The New York Times Magazine, Tracy Ma’s (YG11) stint at Businessweek, everything Kurt Woerpel (YG20) did at Interview Magazine, Hassan Rahim’s (YG14) image-making, and Leanne Shapton’s (YG2) gorgeous watercolors.

If you could create a new Young Guns tradition, what would it be — and why?

It could be helpful for the jury to give constructive feedback to entrants who reach a certain round in the process but don’t make the final cut.

Name a dream project you’d love to do next. Who would you want to collaborate with?

I’d like to create more work by hand. I tend to supplement my digital illustrations with smaller handmade pieces, but it would be fun to explore completely analog processes a bit more.

That could definitely lead me somewhere interesting, whether it’s one-off editions or a new outlet for my illustration work beyond the editorial design world. All of that said, I’m still loving my screen time and editorial commissions!