Reilly Webster is an Oakland-based graphic designer and artist, and is the latest artist in our series of spotlights. We first found her through her eye-catching and colourful work on Instagram, and just had to know more about her process and inspirations.

Also Cool Mag: Why don’t you start by telling us a bit about who you are and what you do?

Reilly Webster: Hello, yes! My name is Reilly, I’m a 22 year old visual designer and artist living in Oakland, CA. I recently graduated from Colorado State University in Fort Collins this spring, and now I’m honestly just trying to get my feet under me as a working creative. At the moment I’m currently jumping between some short term contract gigs in identity/branding, illustration, and graphic design in general. I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with close friends of mine on some projects they’re passionate about, spanning from movie making to music journalism, which really gets me excited as a designer. I definitely thrive working with other creatives, there’s so much passion that gets wrapped up in bringing something new into the world and I totally feed off of that energy.

Only downside – I need to pay rent! Unfortunately, though I have a great working relationship with all of my clients, working on smaller passion projects hasn’t proven to be a sustainable business model for me just yet. I’m sure this is something that a lot of people, especially artists, have gone through. So I’m currently trying to navigate balancing my own art practice and passion projects with a design job that can help me, you know, eat.

Also Cool: How did you get in graphic design? Has art always been a part of your life, or did you find it through school?

Reilly: I’ve actually been drawn to design since I was a little kid. My grandpa was a designer his whole life, and I think that this opened my eyes to design as a practice from a really young age. I remember, in 2008 I used Microsoft Word to design a tee shirt for my fifth grade class’ graduation. From then on I’ve pretty much been seeking out any opportunity to create work for people. For most of my life now, I’ve been pursuing a career in branding and visual identity, and that’s a mindset I took with me when I started college in Colorado.

My exploration into my identity as a fine artist has been a much more recent endeavor, which has been fostered by my time pursuing my BFA. From the get go, my program threw me into the studio space, where I was encouraged to conduct research as well as experiment with material processes. In tandem with my design curriculum, I also pursued a concentration in Electronic Art, which ended up having a major impact on how I now view myself as a creative. In my design courses I was honing a skill that had been an interest of mine since I was young, which was definitely valuable, but at the same time fairly predictable and majorly career-driven. In my E-Art classes, I was experimenting with technology and creative processes that were entirely out of my wheelhouse. If you check out my Vimeo you’ll see I made some really bizarre videos. So though we acquired some “job-ready” skills such as coding and web development, we were largely making art and visual experiments for the sake of making ...art! It was awesome. This experimental, hands-on approach is a mindset I’ve started to work into my design practice, and though I’d still like to design professionally for hopefully a long time, I’ve discovered that I’d ultimately love to pair that role with my own art practice.

AC: How would you define your style? How do you think it’s evolved since you began?

Reilly: The manipulation of typography paired with bold color palettes is currently at the base of my work. Though I don’t shy away from integrating my own illustrations, photography, and mixed-media experiments, I think that my unique messaging is ultimately the engine behind my projects. I like to think that my work often has a poetic quality to it. I am an absolute fiend about taking notes in my phone and on paper – I’m always keeping track of random sentences and odd word combos to work into my projects. I like to find that intersection between how a phrase looks physically on the page with how it sounds and feels.

When I started out, I felt this burden that everything I created needed to have a purpose external to myself. To make a design, I needed to start with some relevant content - a band poster for a friend, an event at school, things of that nature. I was always pulling my messaging from somewhere. Now, I think I’m starting to embrace creating designs and artwork that exist merely for the sake of my own visual and personal exploration. This approach has really helped me to deconstruct all of these design “standards” I was previously forcing myself to adhere to.

AC: What are your go-to programs for design? Is your work purely digital, or do you incorporate some analog work into your process as well?

Reilly: I still only use Microsoft Word. Just kidding! I am totally an Adobe Creative Suite kid. Illustrator is definitely my go-to, but I also love to work with Photoshop, especially for creating textures and photo effects. I’ll also pop into After Effects and Premiere here and there to add motion to things I’ve created.

I am a lover of layers in both the digital and analog space. My process is very iterative in that I’ll often start with an illustration or typographic drawing on paper, and then use tracing paper to redraw and redefine the form over and over. From there, I’ll bring a photo of my sketch into Illustrator or Photoshop and continue the process there. I duplicate my artboards nonstop, and that helps me to test out all sorts of stuff and pinpoint what is starting to work in the design. There are instances where I’ll jump straight onto the computer and pound out the design mouse-only, but more often than not I like to start out on paper.

AC: What’s one tip/hack you've learned along the way that’s made your process a lot easier?

Reilly: I’ve overcome my sketchbook perfectionism! I used to be so particular about how I structured my sketchbooks and journals, to the point where it actually prevented me from getting any of my ideas down at all. I was so wrapped up in making each page look nice that I forgot what the point of a sketchbook is in the first place. Now, I have a collection of small Moleskine notebooks that I proudly treat like trash. They’re a chaotic repository of doodles and phrases. I throw grocery lists in there, dream fragments... I think it’s essential to be uninhibited in the brainstorm phase, and keeping a notebook with you (that you aren’t afraid to use!) is a great way to start. I was so proud of myself the first time I filled one up, and now I always have one on me.

AC: Who are some of your inspirations? Visual or otherwise?

Reilly: Oh wow, so many people. I am majorly inspired by kickass women in the design industry – Susan Kare and April Greiman were pioneers in digital design and I’ve always been drawn to their innovative spirit. I also love artists who blur the line between art and design, like Eric Timothy Carlson, Bijan Berahimi, Paula de Álvaro. Other fascinations of mine include avant garde comic artists like Max Baitinger and Anna Haifisch, and good old fashioned logo guys like Aaron Draplin and the late Saul Bass.

I also love The Talking Heads, Caribou, Radiohead, Bon Iver… music is a massive part of my creative flow. One of my ongoing personal projects has been creating album art for playlists that I put together on Spotify. It’s become this sort of ekphrastic exercise, creating a visual counterpart for the tone that is built throughout the playlist. I would love to specialize in making album art and affiliated creative projects for musicians. That’s definitely a dream job of mine.

AC: How can we best support your work, and do you have any exciting projects coming up?

Reilly: First of all, thank you so dearly for this interview opportunity! It feels so awesome to be getting my name out there, especially in what seems to be a really supportive and uplifting creative community. To support my work, I would start by giving a follow to my Instagram account, @by.reilly. This is where I post all sorts of graphics as well as updates on my projects.

I do have some things in the works, namely: Issue 3 of my magazine, Cicada Creative Magazine, is currently accepting submissions and is slated to release this December. If you get a chance, definitely check it out at cicadacreativemag.com. It’s free to submit! I’ve also just finished up some branding for @mostleymusic and @monstrousfemmefilms, and I would urge you to check them out as well!

Otherwise, I am available for contract work! So if you are need of any identity development, illustrations, or have any other inquiries I welcome you to email me: reillyweb24@gmail.com Thanks again!!