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adobe, capitol records, children's books, communication, david plunkert, illustration, joyce hesselberth, mtv, sput design, visual art
Joyce Hesselberth is one half of the Spur Design team. Her illustrations caught my eye immediately because of their handmade quality and eye-catching simplicity. But even more, her work is unquestionably deeply layered with meaning, which can keep you fixated for quite a while. Together with David Plunkert, Joyce has produced award-winning work for Adobe, Capitol Records, MTV and the Academy of Sciences, to name a few. Communication is key to her work, and you can see why. Here is what Joyce had to say about her work:
One of my big projects lately has been A Child’s Book of Animal Poems and Blessings. It’s a collection of poems from many different poets and gathered from many different cultures: from African pygmy, to Lewis Carroll, Cochiti Indian. I absolutely loved having an excuse to draw animals all day. It’s published by Skinner House and is available here:
Fish head is a recent piece I did to help promote a local art festival. The festival took place by a river and the client wanted to reference the idea of the river in the art. We designed banners, t-shirts, print ads, posters around this piece.
This is for the Chronicle Review. The story was about the life of an editor. I’ve noticed that whenever I can work a bird into the illustration, I am happy (especially when the story has absolutely nothing to do with birds). A lot of my work is based around strong, simple shapes, and this one is no exception.
A piece on childhood obesity for The New York Times. The story talked about how the path to obesity may start at a younger age than we realize.
This piece was for The Wall Street Journal (European version). It was about agents who are finding the next great thriller books in foreign markets. I like working in black and white sometimes. It’s a nice change of pace. My favorite thing about this piece though was the dog in the lower right. Who knows, he may be the next great fiction writer.
Visit Joyce’s site
