How did Young Guns get on your radar?

We both heard of Young Guns sort of vaguely through the larger design community in the past. We knew that a couple of our peers who we admire and respect had been awarded in past years, so we thought why not submit and see what happens!

How did you end up in the creative field?

EDDIE: I actually started out as a dancer when I was a lot younger. During college, dance felt like less of a passion. I took an interest in visual art and ended up transferring into film school. Ultimately though, I fell in love with design.

Looking back, I realize now that I had always fixated on the design of things around me — whether it was cover art, typography on signage, or subway maps. During college, I designed artwork and directed videos for fellow students who made music. That felt like such a beautiful sandbox to learn, make mistakes, and build a little community.

Upon graduating from school, I started out freelancing pretty much solely in music. Making visual art for music felt (and still feels) like such a free territory, and I want to hold onto that freedom as long as I can.

CHASE: Growing up I felt like I could only be creative, taking art classes every possible year in school. I was painting, drawing, and taking guitar lessons / making music for a while. And it all came very naturally to me, therefore I could only imagine a life for myself that was in the creative field.

I just wasn’t sure what form that was going to take or what that would even look like. Since I was really young, I had been obsessed with CDs. I would burn my own mixes and make covers for them in some bootleg photoshop-esque program. I would print and cut them to fit into jewel cases. I look back now and I see that this was kind of the catalyst for everything.

When it was time to go to college, I decided to pursue graphic design because I felt like there was just so much possibility in it. I didn’t have the language to articulate it at the time, but design felt like a space where I could not only find but also be myself — and it still feels that way.

Why did you decide to enter this year?

Truthfully, we got an email reminder that the deadline to submit was coming up the following day! (haha) We’re both in our mid-to-late 20s, so we thought it would be a good idea to drop all of our work for that day and to scramble together an application and hit go. We’re very glad we did that!

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

We entered projects that felt special to us and that we feel really proud of. It was a bit of a “kill your darlings” moment where we had to cut a couple projects that we absolutely adore. That was definitely a difficult process.

But in the end, we wound up with 6 projects that felt like a holistic representation of both of us.

“New York is hard and beautiful. And we love it so much.”

What was your reaction when you found out you won?

We were actually back in LA to set some stage design at Camp Flog Gnaw festival. We were staying in our friend’s loft — Eddie was on a blow up bed and Chase was on a floor mattress (lol). We both opened our emails from ADC that morning while still half asleep, gave each other a big congratulatory hug, and then went out to get some cold brew.

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

We both lived in LA for about 7 years. We met there, became best friends there, and decided that we wanted to work together as a team there. About a year ago, we decided to move to NYC. Both of us are originally from the East Coast, and wanted to be closer to family.

In living in a new city, we’ve been super attentive to our surroundings as we settle into reality. The textures and details of the city have been so inspiring. We love to take photos of cracks in the ground, textured walls, and mysterious globular tar leaking from pipes on the street. There’s so much life here. Everything is so layered and endless.

New York is hard and beautiful. And we love it so much.

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

We both look up to Hassan Rahim (YG14) so much. Design as it pertains to music is a weird niche field. It’s not as large and open as branding and advertising. It’s a bit more DIY and lawless, and very much gatekept.

When starting our individual journeys in design, we felt like he laid the blueprint for so much of what followed and so many younger designers. We always felt like he was a teacher from afar for a lot of people. We found his work inspiring in its ability to so succinctly visually communicate the music at hand with such depth. hassanrahim.com

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

This is a tough one. There are a couple artists who we’ve wanted to work with forever, but it might be a situation where we’d rather stay fans and keep that connection holy.

Truthfully, we both wake up every day so grateful to not only design for a job, but to do it with each other. We are not only design partners, but best friends. Brothers. That’s all we could ask for, and we already have it!

“We are not only design partners, but best friends. Brothers.”