Marian Bantjes on Beauty in Design

Susan notes: Thanks to TED for making TED Talks downloadable and embeddable, and for providing the biographical information that goes along with them.

In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to storefronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams.

Organic, logical, complex, beautiful: Marian Bantjes' illustrations draw on her deep relationship with letterforms (she was a typesetter for ten years). With flowing lines, filigree and generosity, she plays in the space between a and b and c. Her illustration work has appeared in Wired, Wallpaper, the Walrus and many other magazines and newspapers worldwide, and once took over Saks Fifth Avenue top to bottom.
 

She's also a blunt and funny writer on design and other matters, an advocate for self-reinvention, self-education (and formal education) and continuous self-appraisal. She works from her home on an island near Vancouver and sends legendary Valentine's Day cards.

"I would like to be remembered as someone who was always full of surprises."

Marian Bantjes