Hotlist 2025: the 25 most popular graphic designers, as voted for by their peers

In an ever-evolving creative landscape, graphic designers can’t sit still for long. So, the best in the business are constantly pushing boundaries and shaping visual culture. That means their work can be a great inspiration for the rest of us.

Whether you’re a total newbie, a seasoned professional, or anywhere in between, it’s great to keep an eye on these leading designers and where their work is taking them. To give you a good starting point, we’ve brought together this list of 25 incredible individuals, with links to their latest work, news, thoughts, and more.

Of course, this could never be a definitive list of the “best” designers; that would be pretty difficult to compile without letting our own prejudices and preferences take over. So, to keep things fair and avoid any controversy, we turned to the graphic design community itself.

Following the same process we used for our global agency hotlist, we asked hundreds of designers to vote for the individuals whose work they admire the most and who they consider to be the most influential in the industry right now.

The results are in, and we’re thrilled to share the names of the 25 most popular graphic designers as chosen by their peers!

1. Jessica Walsh

Jessica Walsh is an influential American designer, art director, illustrator and educator based in New York. She began her digital journey early, creating websites and earning money through Google Ads as a teenager. After studying graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design, she interned at Pentagram, turning down a lucrative job offer from Apple to pursue her passion.

In 2012, Jessica partnered with famed designer Stefan Sagmeister to form Sagmeister & Walsh. Seven years later, she left to found her own studio, &Walsh. Their work to date has been invariably eye-catching, unexpected and effortlessly cool, and we make no apologies for covering more or less all of it on Creative Boom; everything from using AI to rebrand nuclear power to their playful identity for food-as-medicine brand Coconut Cult.

Passionate about supporting fellow women in design, Jessica is also the founder of Ladies, Wine & Design, which now has hundreds of chapters around the world. This year, she took the bold step of launching her own type foundry, Type of Feeling.

2. Felix Pfäffli

Felix Pfäffli is a Swiss graphic designer and founder of Studio Feixen in Lucerne, Switzerland. He’s known for his distinctive design style, which combines traditional Swiss graphic design principles with bold geometric shapes, vibrant colours and playful typography. Felix’s versatile work encompasses poster design, type design, fashion, street art, exhibition signage, and more. The youngest member ever inducted into the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), he also teaches graphic design at Fachklasse Grafik Luzern.

3. Emily Oberman

Emily Oberman is a prominent American graphic designer known for her innovative and emotionally resonant work. A Yonkers native and Cooper Union graduate, she began her career at M&Co. with Tibor Kalman before co-founding Number Seventeen design studio in 1993. Since joining Pentagram in 2012, she’s designed for numerous iconic brands and entertainment properties, most notably creating Saturday Night Live’s titles for 27 consecutive years. In 2022, she received the prestigious AIGA Medal, graphic design’s highest honour.

4. Simon Walker

Hailing from Bournemouth, England, Simon Walker is a custom lettering artist, font creator and graphic designer now living in Chicago. He divides his work almost equally between creating typefaces and crafting one-off, custom lettering pieces. Tracing his creative roots back to the explosive visual language of 1980s hip-hop culture, Simon’s work is a masterclass in the importance of valuing creative exploration over dry perfectionism.

5. Allan Peters

Allan Peters is a prominent designer and brand mark expert based in Minneapolis, USA. A partner and CCO at Peters Design Company, which he founded in 2008, he’s amassed 688,000 followers on Instagram, largely due to his reimagined versions of classic logos for brands like Citibank, UPS, and Gatorade. He’s also worked with major brands, including Nike, Amazon, and Patagonia, and is the author of the best-selling book Logos That Last.

6. Jamie Clarke

Based near Bristol, England, Jamie Clarke’s approach to design is characterised by meticulous craftsmanship and storytelling through visual elements, with lettering often serving as the central focus of his work. Through his foundry, Jamie Clarke Type, he designs original typefaces, often directly inspired by his illustrative lettering, including Nave, Span, and Rig Shaded. He also runs the Type Worship blog and was part of the team at 8 Faces typography magazine.

7. Astrid Stavro

Astrid Stavro is a recognised creative director with two decades of leadership in design. Based in London, she works with a wide range of brands and institutions across the cultural and commercial sectors developing idea-driven and meticulously crafted work. Previously, Astrid was a partner at Pentagram and co-founder of the design agency Atlas. Known for her distinctive typographic work, she’s received numerous awards, including multiple D&AD pencils. She currently serves as President of the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) and has been a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) since 2010.

8. David Rudnick

A UK-born, American-raised, self-taught graphic designer, David Rudnick works across music, philosophy and visual culture. Best known for his covers and posters for producers such as Oneohtrix Point Never, RL Grime and Evian Christ, his practice is centred around challenging traditional design paradigms and emphasising cultural utility over aesthetic spectacle. David believes designers have a responsibility to create meaningful work that serves audiences, not just creates visual noise, and is critical of design education models.

9. Chantal Jahchan

Chantal Jahchan is a Lebanese-American graphic designer and illustrator based in Brooklyn. She’s best known for her editorial collage work for clients including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Economist, and others. Prior to starting her own practice, she worked as a designer with Matt Willey at Pentagram.

Chantal is passionate about wielding the transformative power of visual storytelling, particularly when it comes to reporting on issues close to her heart. Much of her recent work relates to Lebanese and Palestinian stories, human rights, and anti-colonial narratives.

10. Froyo Tam

Based in California, Froyo Tam is a multidisciplinary designer and curator specialising in design, photography and animation. A graduate of ArtCenter College of Design, she currently works as a senior designer at PepsiCo. She also co-runs the Y2K Aesthetic Institute’s social media platforms with Evan Collins and manages digicam.love with Sofi Lee and Bao Ngo, curating digital photography from millennium-era point-and-shoot cameras.

11. Dev Valladares

Originally from Mumbai and now based in San Francisco, Dev Valladares is a generalist designer at OpenAI. His work spans diverse mediums, including print, 3D modelling, motion graphics, and AI-generated art, and he has previously worked with Collins, NY, Buck, LA, and Codesign, New Delhi. Dev’s approach to design emphasises innovation and philosophical depth and is characterised by a refusal to repeat ideas.

12. Tré Seals

Tré Seals is an award-winning graphic designer and typographer based in Washington, D.C. A two-time brain tumour survivor, his journey into design began in childhood, from selling graffiti-style name cards to creating tattoos, comic strips and fonts by high school. In 2015, he started his own brand consultancy, Studio Seals. The following year, he also launched Vocal Type, a diversity-driven font foundry on a mission to highlight underrepresented histories through typography.

13. Tina Touli

Tina Touli is a London-based creative director known for her multidisciplinary approach, innovative concepts, and ability to transform challenges into creative opportunities. Her diverse clientele includes Adobe, Dell, HP, Wondermind by Selena Gomez, The New Yorker, Tate, Dropbox, and LinkedIn.

She also designs and teaches educational courses, including hosting sessions at Central Saint Martins, and she has shared her expertise at global events such as Adobe MAX, OFFF Festival, Graphika Manila and Typomania.

14. Gabriela Namie

Gabriela Namie is a designer and art director based in New York with over 10 years of experience in creating systematic and impactful visuals to bring brands to life. She is currently the Visual Design Lead at Google’s Seed Studio, where she combines hands-on design with creative direction to guide multiple projects. Other career highlights have included co-founding Studio Barca, working at Sagmeister & Walsh, and serving as YouTube Music’s art director.

15. Carlos Bocai

Carlos Bocai is a Brazilian graphic designer and educator currently based in Brooklyn. An associate design director at Base, he previously worked at JKR, &Walsh and Gretel, as well as Atolón de Mororoa in Montevideo and studios in Rio de Janeiro. Carlos is half of Anywhere, a globally collaborative creative practice with Julia B Aguiar.

Together, they teach ‘Decoding Identities’ at the online school Aprender Design. His work has earned recognition from the Type Directors Club, multiple editions of the Latin American Design Awards and The One Club for Creativity Young Guns 22.

16. Oli Frape

A lettering artist and type designer based in Bristol, England, Oli Frape is known for his playful, conversational, hand-drawn letterforms. With clients including Adidas, Meta, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Penguin Random House and The Guardian, he specialises in expressive logos and typographic pieces for advertising, blending traditional and digital tools to craft engaging designs.

Oli has also hosted workshops at institutions like Tate Britain and the V&A, as well as for Grafik Magazine and Microsoft Lumia. He has over 12 years’ experience behind him, and is completely self-taught. And you might be surprised to learn he studied jewellery design at university.

17. Piper Ferrari

Piper Ferrari is a freelance art director, graphic designer, and musician based in Las Vegas, specialising in the music industry. She’s known for combining striking typography, vibrant colours and layered textures to bridge the gap between art and music with a modern twist. Her work for clients such as Universal Music Group and Warner Music focuses on merch design, album artwork, packaging and logos, and she often draws inspiration from the bold, textured aesthetics of 1990s art and culture.

18. Kris Andrew Small

Kris Andrew Small is a Sydney-based artist and designer known for his vibrant, exuberant work, which often addresses societal issues through loud, abstract visuals with a focus on empowerment and support for the LGBTQIA+ community. Kris has collaborated with major brands like Nike, Apple, Adidas Originals, Dazed, Reebok and WeTransfer on posters, campaigns, packaging and zines and has been exhibited at the V&A in Dundee and MAD at The Louvre, Paris.

19. Sebastian Martinez

Sebastián Martínez is an award-winning industrial designer and co-founder of the creative studio ++hellohello, based in Montevideo, Uruguay. As the head of design for the studio, he balances his role as a leader with hands-on work, staying closely involved in projects while guiding his team. His work spans websites, apps and experimental projects, such as designing furniture and collaborating on a satellite launch. He’s also a judge for the CSS Design Awards.

20. Paulina Almira

A digital illustrator based in Manila, Philippines, Paulina Almira is known for her surreal, macabre, retro-inspired and ultra-feminine artwork. Her creative journey began with a passion for fashion, which led her to drawing and painting lessons in high school. After briefly working in tech, Paulina transitioned to full-time freelance illustration. Today, she works primarily with Adobe Illustrator and After Effects and enjoys collaborating with brands that prioritise technology, art and fashion.

21. Lebassis

Leandro Assis is a freelance Brazilian lettering artist and art director based in Rio de Janeiro. He focuses on using design as a tool to address topics such as black culture, gender issues, and LGBTQ+ rights.

Known for his bold lettering, colourful palettes, and playful illustrations, he’s created eye-catching work for several global brands and agencies over the years, including Nike, Snapchat, Facebook, and Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

22. Tad Carpenter

Tad Carpenter is a designer, illustrator and author based in Kansas City, USA. As the co-founder of Carpenter Collective with his wife Jessica Carpenter, they have developed branding and design strategies for clients such as Target, Coca-Cola, Macy’s, Warby Parker, Old Navy, Meta, Conan O’Brien, MTV, and Starbucks. Tad has also written and illustrated over twenty children’s books in the market today.

23. David Benski

David Benski is a Berlin-based graphic designer known for his energetic and exploratory approach to design. He blends conceptual thinking with a passion for contemporary visual culture. David specialises in designing magazines, books, websites, and brand identities. His notable clients include Plasma Magazine, Lodown Magazine, Nike, AI