With Friendship’s day just around the corner, we want to pay ode to 10 incredible graphic designer duos who started out as friends and eventually carved out a niche in the cut-throat design world by working hand-in-hand. With Winnie the Pooh as the ambassador of Friendship, let us glory in the wonderful bond that can accomplish big things.
Related: 8 Compatible Designer Couples from United States
1. Rob Gonzalez and Jonathan Quainton
Jonathan Quainton and Rob Gonzalez are the founders of London-based design studio sawdust. This fantastic duo focuses on visual identity, image-making, and bespoke typography for a wide array of clients. Before even starting university, they met during a National Diploma graphic design program and became good friends thereafter. During the course of the program, they worked on a plethora of projects together. Their innate habit of combining executions, processes, and ideas during their studies cultivated into a comprehensive understanding of each other’s work. Jonathan has a penchant for letterforms and type design, leaning towards a more progressive approach than a traditional one, while Rob has a predilection for the applications of visual culture in typography for both artistic expression and commercial use. The way that they complement each other gives an edge to their business, and their drive and enthusiasm more than makes up for any lack of experience.
2. Jan Wilker and Hjalti Karlsson
Jan Wilker from Germany and Hjalti Karlsson from Iceland are the brains behind the New York-based design studio Karlssonwilker. The design studio has successfully worked for a wide array of clients ranging from global commercial enterprises to cultural institutions, responsible for myriad projects including motion and web, print, signage and way finding, and designing brand identities. They met in 1999 in Stefan Sagmeister’s studio where they were both employed.
After Stefan announced his sabbatical, the duo was given the push that they needed to launch their own design studio. It felt like the best decision back then even though they had only known each other for 3 months. A decade later, they are still going strong. Being designers by profession, creative instincts come more naturally to them than being business owners and creative directors. Nonetheless, Jan keeps himself occupied with the creative side of things, while Hjalti deals with the business side of things, such as QuickBooks and billing.
3. Sheikha Bin Dhaher and Diana Hawatmeh
Launched in 2010, Abjad Design is the fruit of the labors of founders Diana Hawatmeh and Sheikha Bin Dhaher. The graphic design studio is involved in a wide array of projects, including information design, greetings/invites, and product and packaging design, print work, time-based design, spatial design, branding, and web, illustration, and logo design.
Diana and Sheikha became best friends while studying in Sharjah. After the two friends had secured a viable experience under their belts (Hawatmeh in collaboration with multilingual designer Tarek Atrissi completed an internship in Amsterdam and worked at a credible graphic design agency, while Sheikha Bin Dhaher had become a pro at branding work), they decided that it was high time for them to launch a design agency of their own. Their mutual passion for graphic design has moved their relationship from just friendship to serious business partnership.
4. Daniel Trench and Celso Longo
Celso Longo met Daniel Trench when he participated in a graphic design discussion group while studying architecture. Even though the group hardly culminated in a credible project, it was there that the two became best friends and started working more often together. Since then, the Brazilian duo had come to an ‘open relationship’ sort of understanding, agreeing to do the larger and cooler projects only with each other. Today, they share a studio with an intern and three assistants. These days, they are aspiring to undertake more and more cultural projects together. Daniel leans more towards editorial design, while Celso is more acquainted with design applied to spaces and visual identity, which allows them to direct and conceptualize their projects side-by-side and amass their strengths.
5. Cécile Nanjoud and Roger Gaillard
Roger Gaillard and Cécile Nanjoud are the creative brains behind the graphic design agency Cécile + Roger. The works of this Geneva-based duo move across web and motion design, illustration, editorial design, type design, identity, and brand design. They met while studying at the University of Arts and Design in Geneva. However, they only started working together after finishing school, starting with personal projects, and ultimately taking their friendship to a new level by collaborating professionally as Cécile + Roger. The energetic duo has a penchant for straight and powerful imagery, and love playing with typography and color, creating as much variation on an idea as possible. Generally, they kick-start a project with a hodge-podge of random ideas, and then each works on the best way to execute and express the idea. After experimenting with manual and digital techniques, they go along the best path and work hand in hand to refine the whole deal.
6. Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima
Few ardent fans can claim to know Hogwarts inside out like our famous graphic artist duo Eduardo Lima and Miraphora Mina. Being the founders of design agency MinaLima Design Studio, the duo is responsible for designing the universe of Harry Potter. They had been in charge of developing all of the book covers, letters, tabloids, and newspapers populating the Harry Potter movies, spanning the course of a Decade. The pair met on the set of the second film in the Harry Potter series, known as The Chamber of Secrets. For each successive movie, they collaborated together and eventually cultivated a strong partnership and bond that continues to this day. Despite their enduring relationship with Harry Potter, they take each new commission like an invigorating new design challenge.
7. Larissa Kasper and Rosario Florio
Swiss graphic design studio Kasper-Florio is the brainchild of Rosario Florio and Larissa Kasper. They met during an apprenticeship more than 12 years ago, with Larissa as a graphic designer and Rosario as a typographer. After their apprenticeship, they moved on to study graphic design in different places, but the two friends collaborated from time to time on projects which developed their working process and made them realize what they can accomplish working together. Every time they receive a new commission, they get down to work right from the beginning of the project, setting up detailed discussions about the problem which needs to be solved through their design. Their dialogue generally ends with the duo finding the right solution to the right questions.
8. Ivan Husar and Denis Kovac
Ivan Hussar and Denis Kovac worked day in and day out together to launch Bunch – a design studio with branches in London and Zagreb. Bunch is responsible for producing a diverse array of works, including motion and digital, editorial, literature, and brand identity. The idea of launching their own business instead of working as freelancers, brought the two closer. The duo complements each other perfectly, since Ivan tackles the operational side of the studio, such as budgets, planning, and organization, while Denis works in collaboration with their team to toil on the design implementation, ideas, and research. During this process, they strive to spend quality time together. While Denis and Ivan are quite different in disposition, the end result of their partnership brings a sense of satisfaction and achievement to both.
9. Richard Van Der Laken and Pepjin Zurburg
Richard van der Laken and Pepjin Zurburg are the creative minds behind designpolitie, an Amsterdam based design agency producing identity design and communication design for a wide array of clients in both the commercial and non-profit sectors, with a focus on social and cultural organizations. They collaborated in an exhibition, which is where they met each other while still studying at art school. While the duo was only faintly acquainted with each other before the exhibition, there was an instant click and things developed organically from there.
10. Dirk Behage and Evelyn Ter Bekke
Dirk Behage and Evelyn Ter Bekke are the founders of Paris based graphic design studio Atelier Ter Bekke & Behage that specializes in printed communications and corporate identity, especially for individuals and cultural organizations. The duo met in Paris in the mid-90’, at a time when organizations were starting to appreciate the personal touch gleaned by working with smaller outfits or individual designers, as opposed to impersonal corporate design studios. When the duo met professionally and personally, Dirk was working as an associate to Pierre Bernard in the atelier de création graphique, while Evelyn had just moved to Paris after working at a Rotterdam studio. The duo decided to start small and maintain a low key profile so that it would become easier to take risks when taking on new projects. The duo believes in working as a team on each project, and has complete trust in each other, which means they understand and complement each other’s works. Working hand in hand efficiently allows them to present themselves as a single entity.
Can you think of more amazing graphic design duos taking their friendship to the depths of business partnership and carving out a name for themselves in the design world? Do let us know in the comments below and we’ll be sure to feature them in our post!! Happy Friendship’s day!
