Born and raised in the cornfields of northern Indiana, Zombie Yeti had no choice but to escape the maize via a steady diet of comic books, cartoons, movies, music and video games. It describes its work by defining a new term; a self-proclaimed movement called ‘Esoteric Americana’. On the surface, its style reflects its love of comic books and cartoons – with a dash of humor and an emphasis on story, character, silhouette and line. While beneath, its aesthetic results resemble a twisted take on representations of traditional art.

Zombie Yeti has had the pleasure to work with top tier companies such as Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Hasbro, and many more. It has also produced works with many greats in the music world such as Foo Fighters, DeadMau5, Deftones, Kid Rock, Incubus, Paul McCartney, Primus, Faith No More, Melvins, and many more. Most recently, it created the art packages for the Ghostbusters Pinball Machines. It also likes Circus Peanuts…

Where do you draw inspiration from?
Everything and anything. Or anything and everything, depending on your preference. I’m pretty sure I’m the result of everything I love (nature, film, music, video games, etc) somehow digested, moderately catalogued in my brain (ie, thrown on the floor), and perversely skewed with bile through my personal preferred perspective.

I don’t think that’s unique, but I think the perspective can be.

I try to look for the things other people aren’t focusing on. Part of that is growing up in the punk, anti-conformist realm of the 80’s and 90’s, and the other part of it is that I don’t see any other way to attempt to stand out if you’re doing the same thing as the other folks. There’s no challenge in trying to be someone else.

If you want to grow, you need to challenge and fail. I’m really good at failing! It’s probably my biggest strength.

What advice would you give to your 20-something self?
Relax. I’m you/me from the future!!! Quickly, I beg of you to take out every possible student loan you can. Take that money and invest it all in a new company called Google. …Also, in the future you will be sent back to the past to give yourself advice. Often. It’s VERY costly, but for some reason, interviewers will pony up!

On Failure…

I can assure you failure is indeed a viable option. The only caveat is you have to use your failures to learn what works and throw away what doesn’t.

So don’t huddle in a corner afraid to try something. Instead, take that time of inaction and use it to see how quickly you can fail and learn.

On Business relationships…

Be yourself and trust your gut. Look for people you like to work with and respect, and avoid the greedy people who want to use you for their benefit. If you present yourself in a shiny, marketable, safe, package, you’ll always have to play that game.

Instead, do what you are passionate about and if someone recognizes it and offers you an opportunity, they WILL trust your vision. Make real relationships in your business life.

On Life…

Make more time for your kids. Time moves too quickly with your head down. Look up and pay attention to your surroundings more.

When did you first realize you wanted a career in design?
I actually never wanted to. I thought Graphic Design was making flyers and brochures for local businesses. I avoided it like the plague. I had always loved drawing and creating since before I could speak, but I genuinely didn’t ever expect to make a career out of it. I don’t regret taking the long way though. I learned a lot of things that led me to have the time to focus on what I’m doing now.

In 2008, I was Creative Director for a design company. A designer by the name of Joshua Smith (aka Hydro74) reached out to me one day out of the blue. He used to try to look over my shoulder and steal my sketchbooks in middle school. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was because he looked up to me.

Anyway, he wrote me and told me of his life journey and how he was inspired to pursue a career in design, and he thanked me for inspiring him. Serendipitously, his message was the spark that re-inspired me to pick up a pencil for the first time in 10 years. From then on, I haven’t put down a pencil/stylus.

Favorite Quote/Philosophy:

“The Princess is in another castle” – Toad

As a kid I didn’t imbue any higher meaning to this statement. But as time drives on, I foolishly look for substance in the mundane.

If I had to find meaning in this now, my take-away is that when you reach your goal, you’re a fool to stop.

Don’t mistake a goal as the ultimate victory. Continue to challenge yourself to do more and never stop learning on your own terms. It’s about the journey, not the end.

Baltimore’s 5th Annual Design Week is back! Register now for Raising the Game: Creativity Through Collaboration at Under Armour.

Ellen Lupton is the Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. Her most recent exhibition, organized with Andrea Lipps, was Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial. Some of her other recent exhibitions include How Posters Work, Beautiful Users, and Graphic Design—Now in Production (organized with Andrew Blauvelt). Lupton also serves as the director of the Graphic Design MFA Program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in Baltimore, where she has authored numerous books on design processes, including Thinking with Type, Graphic Design Thinking, Graphic Design: The New Basics, and Type on Screen. Her upcoming book Design Is Storytelling will be published by Cooper Hewitt in 2017. Lupton earned her BFA from The Cooper Union in 1985.

Favorite creative hobby, outside of design?
I love to paint. I studied painting as well as design at The Cooper Union, but I gave up painting because I thought it was incompatible with the seriousness and professional purpose of graphic design. I rediscovered it later, and it brings such joy to my life.

If you could work on any project in the world as we know it, what would it be and why?
I’ve been working on a novel called Miss Helvetica. I’d love to have time to focus on it and finish it.

When did you first realize you wanted a career in design?
When I went to art school in the 1980s, design wasn’t a field that young people knew about. So I figured out what it was when I got to art school. For me, typography was the hook. I discovered that typography is the link between writing and visual art.

Favorite Quote/Philosophy:
Think more, design less.

Favorite design era or style:
I love the visionary designers of the 1920s: Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, Piet Zwart, Moholy-Nagy. These designers were thinkers, makers, and world-changers.

Is there any designer or piece of design that you’re digging right now?
Check out the Moholy-Nagy exhibition at the Guggenheim!

Baltimore’s 5th Annual Design Week is back! Register now for Design & Dine: An Evening with Ellen Lupton (catered by Woodberry Kitchen at Artifact Coffee).

Anthony is the Director of User Experience at idfive. With 15 years of experience in web application design, development, and research, he’s built productivity systems for the NSA; extended atomic brand systems for Yahoo and others; launched hundreds of digital properties; and helped lead teams, users, and decision-makers through many sense-making activities. Anthony understands macro business processes to recommend changes and tools to improve employee, content administrator, and end-user experiences. In addition to working on client projects, he teaches graduate level workshops and maintains a regular speaking schedule across North America on topics including remote team management, user research and facilitation, user experience and information architecture artifacts, web accessibility, and other industry best practices.

What advice would you give to your 20-something self?
Start funding your Roth IRA.

What’s your dream design job? If you could work on any project in the wide world, what would it be?
I enjoy simplifying complex data visualization and productivity interfaces, whatever they may be for. My past favorite was visualizing worldwide DDoS/bot activity. A future dream job would be something like working on Tesla’s in-car digital dashboard. I’m also impressed with the direction health tech is headed, with biometric analytics and visualizations aiding in diagnoses and progress tracking.

How do you define success in your career as a designer? What factors have led your success so far?
Steve Jobs said our mission as designers is to “dent the universe.” My driver has always been to do good with design, and to feel like I’m positively affecting someone. Success is being able to recognize when you aren’t seeing your positive impact anymore and changing direction.

What’s your favorite creative hobby, outside of design? Are you working on any side projects right now?
Everywhere. I travel, cook, do wood-carving, garden, and make hot sauce.

Baltimore’s 5th Annual Design Week is back! Register now for Designing for Stress Cases: Understanding the Everyday Relationship Between UX and Accessibility.

Nikki Villagomez, a South Carolina Native, is a nationally recognized speaker on typography. After earning her BFA in Graphic Design from Louisiana State University, and a stint in New York City, she moved back to her home state to become a full time freelancer. In addition to founding the AIGA South Carolina chapter, Nikki has been an educator teaching Graphic Design and Typography at the University of South Carolina and the University of Akron. After working for four years in Ohio for Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP, she relocated to the company headquarters in Charlotte, NC to serve as the Creative Studio Manager. In her free time, she writes about about how culture affects typography.

Where do you draw inspiration from?
Inspiration has never been something I seek out; it is more about being acutely aware of my environment. I have found that it is really important for me to have a balance. If I’m able to achieve that balance on a regular basis, being inspired is there.

This became very apparent when I became an in-house designer. It took about two months for me to start realizing I needed an outlet. Being strapped to two typefaces and 13 Pantone colors day in and day out made me realize I needed a way to balance the structure of my job.

I started my blog which let me delve into the beautiful world of typography. Every morning, I get up early to research how culture affects typography and post my findings. This regularly gives me the balance I need at work. In addition to my blog, I have found that attending conferences like HOW, AIGA, TypeCon, and Creative Mornings has been incredibly valuable for inspiration and connecting with other graphic designers who have helped me along the way.

What advice would you give to your 20-something self?

Work hard and go after what you want. It sounds so simple but it is easy to go off course by the actions of others and getting caught up in change. Continue to set goals, both long term and short term, and stay focused on achieving those.

When did you first realize you wanted a career in design?
I had never heard of Graphic Design growing up. When I met with my Academic Advisor my first week in college, she asked me what I wanted to study. I told her that I was thinking about Art Therapy. She said LSU has a great program for that and showed me the curriculum. There was all this Science and Math that I had to take and I immediately said ‘No’. She then told me about this other program called Graphic Design and the curriculum included classes like Painting, Ceramics and Photography instead of Science and Math. That was it. I literally declared my major the first week I was at LSU and 5 years later received my BFA in Graphic Design.

Favorite Philosophy:

You are not entitled to the fruit of your labor, you’re only entitled to the work itself.

What’s the harshest criticism you’ve ever received?
My senior year in high school, right when I found out I had received a full scholarship to play tennis in college, I was told by one of my teachers that I would only be known by my social security number and I’d never be able to balance sports and my education. That comment hit me hard but was determined to prove that I could do both—and I did! It was a great experience in that it taught me to not seek out approval or permission from others.