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LEO LIONNI: SPANNING TWO DESIGN WORLDS

Renowned designer and illustrator Leo Lionni was born in Holland in 1910. He taught himself to draw by observing the work of the masters in the museums of Amsterdam. He moved to the U.S. with his family at the age of 14, then to Italy when he was 16. In 1939, he came back to the U.S. where he became involved in the graphic arts, working as Art Director for Time Life and Fortune magazines.

In 1959, shortly before he retired from commercial art, Lionni began to write children’s books. His books are memorable for their finely detailed illustrations of mice, birds, fish and chameleons painted in a flat, graphic style. It would be easy to imagine that had they met, Leo Lionni and Yiying Lu, both creators of endearing graphic creatures, would be kindred spirits.

IMAGE: LEO LIONNI — PANTHEON-KNOPF

& now

YIYING LU: EMERGING
DESIGN INNOVATOR

Anyone who uses the social media site Twitter may be familiar with one of Yiying Lu’s most famous designs. Its official title is "Lifting Up a Dreamer." Lu created the image for a message to friends. After it was discovered by the founder of Twitter, the whale began to appear whenever the site was overloaded with tweets. Before long, users affectionately nicknamed it “Fail Whale."

Lu is inspired by art (Georgia O’Keefe, René Magritte are favorites), music (everything from the Beatles to Beethoven), fashion (especially Coco Chanel) and children’s books. In 2008, Lu was named one of 100 Emerging Leaders in Innovation by Australia’s largest newspaper. She is now busy creating other graphic creatures and working on illustration projects, logos and package designs.

IMAGE: © YIYING LU

DESIGN
TOOLS

100 YEARS
The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum off-site exhibition "Graphic Design: Now in Production" traces the impact graphic design has made in the last century. It runs through Sept. 3 in Governors Island, N.Y.

ADOBE
Experience
the Adobe Museum of Digital Media, a virtual design resource.

NG KIDS
Keep up-to-date with poster and photography contests by following the National Geographic Kids contest web page.

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