Isobel Skipper is a Nottingham-based graphic designer, illustrator, and printmaker. “I strongly believe that mundane everyday things can be made into something exciting if you approach them with an open and curious mind,” states Isobel. Growing up, she was fascinated by the world around her and sought a deeper understanding of it. She would create scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings, drawings, and notes about different things that interested her; ranging from the bugs she found in the garden, to gang crime in 1920s America.
At around the age of 7, Isobel’s parents decided that she would learn best outside of the mainstream school system where she would be able to explore any subject that lit a fire in me to learn. Isobel started attending adult art classes with her parents where she got to learn all kinds of skills including how to throw pots, paint, sketch, carve wood, and sew. She tells us; “I really looked up to the adults that I would meet in these classes they all thought in their own unique way, approaching the same topic from so many different angles.” Her favourite class was Conceptual Art which was taught by a local painter. Studying conceptual art taught Isobel how to pick apart a subject and think of all of the different ways you can communicate what something is, without showing it directly. By the time she was around 9, she was more interested in drawing the negative space around the still life, allowing the viewer to guess the subject based on its silhouette. Isobel comments; “I left this class with a deeper understanding of visual communication and a passion to pick things apart and come up with a different way of doing things.”
As an undergraduate graphic designer, this tendency to pick apart and think organically has helped her to create some wacky pieces. One of her favourites is a printed business card designed to look like a hand handing you a business card, which folds out into a larger leaflet with more information. This weird and playful approach makes people engage with something ordinary in an extraordinary way. She comments; “For me, a successful project is taking something simple and turning it into something that surprises people and builds an emotional connection with the audience. Bonus points if they find it funny or it makes them smile!”
Still a very curious person, outside of her love for graphic design Isobel is obsessed with Eastern European iconography, languages, food, and photography.
Looking to the future, she hopes to continue to make unusual designs that are humorous and joy-spreading. Isobel is currently working on her self-written children’s book about the monster that she think is secretly eating all of her pencils.
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