JessicaCelebratingWalsh THE BEST CREATIVEPHOTOGRAPHYDESIGN,ANDSTUDIO Issue 01, October 2022 1
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JessicaEllieJasonHowardChintyaAnnieDannyKarimokuGregsonSprattAkemiKeirayukiBouchevereauBriscoeElienWalsh
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3 Table Of Contents. Part DirectoryPartInterviewsPartFeaturesPartStartersOneTwoThreeFour 18 Big Names and AccomplishmentsBigger 19 Exceptional Series 30 Tunnel Vision 31 Spoiler Alert 34 The new Walsh 38 Stefan Sagmeister 50 Joining the 1% 60 Ladies, Wine and Design 114 JessicaInterview:Walsh 138 StefanInterview:Sagmeister 146 &Interview:WalshStudio members 178 The Complete Story 181 Peer Review 186 Credits 150 Ladies,Interview:Wine and Design 158 Archive: Walsh 166 Word of Mouth 76 Day In the Life 106 Archive: Jessica Walsh 114 50
Please join me in congratulating the worthy winners of this year’s Wallpaper* Commemorative Issue. I hope you enjoy the issue!
Amoung them are ambitious graphic design projects that are revitalising the public realm, such as Jessica Walsh (our limited-edition cover star), where Jessica Walsh want to share her passion for graphic design with as broad an audience as possible. We brought Jessica Walsh for an interview, where she introduces her design studio and looks back on her exceptional projects.
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Sarah Douglas, Editor-in-Chief
Design At It’s Peak
Editor's Letter
Welcome to the Wallpaper* special commemorative issue! The commemora tive issue is not only to honour outstand ing designers, places, products but is also a testament to design’s ability to respond to evolving needs, lift out spirits, and serve the public good. These quali ties become particularily evident when unprecedented circumstances compel us to rethink our current practices and adjust our idea of what good design is. This issue celebrates inspiring feats of creative brilliance, and reminds us that despite the many challenges we face, there are many reasons to work hard and be gratfeul. We look up to industry lead ers in the graphic design industry who are paving the way for many.
Laneige
Clients of Jessica Walsh
Geltor
Instead, Ms. Walsh took a three-month internship with Paula Scher, a principal at the design firm Pentagram and one of the pillars of the industry. Ms. Scher was initially impressed by Ms. Walsh’s “incredible photography skills” and soon after by her follow-through.
Milly Zumtobel
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A rule of thumb for art school grads: If someone offers you a job that’s even remotely decent, you take it. So when Jessica Walsh, fresh out of the Rhode Island School of Design, was offered a graphic design job with Apple for around $100,000 per year, the answer would have been an immediate “yes”—from anyone else but her.
Adobe
Bombay Sapphire
Pet Plate Pet Plate
New York MagaineTimes
Levi's Talks
Big Names and Bigger Accomplishments
NetflixTed
Jewish Museum NY
Barneys Jay Z
MasterClass
Walsh recently launched her creative design agency, , and has worked on branding and advertising campaigns for a handful of renowned clients. In April, she partnered with Bombay Sapphire in its “Create from Home” series. For a full circle on her creative journey, she got back to the hosting assistance site to answer questions about design, but this time on Instagram.
Wix
Being confident and authentic has landed Walsh big clients. Though she spends a significant amount of time on self initiated projects.
Benefit Plenty
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Walsh created images around fun social media memes that designers and creative studios can all relate to.
Throughout art school, Jessica had always loved combining design with photography, and she would often create colorful set designs using props and cut paper. Walsh had an obsession with spray-painting everything, and would often use paint, found objects, or even her arms as elements in her sets.
Jessica Walsh is known for her conceptual photography. She draws from life experiences to create unique works and impressive large scale social projects
Walsh created images around fun social media memes that designers and creative studios can all relate to.
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Under the creative direction of Jessica Walsh, cheeky one-liners and philo sophical musings are transformed into punchy visuals now known collectively as No StartingFilter.out
Exceptional Photography
as a photography series on Walsh’s Instagram based on the running narratives and random thoughts in her head, No Filter are modern-day prov erbs spouting truths and adages about the times as we know it. Abandoning all censorship, Walsh covers a wide range of topics including social media, selfie culture, exercise or religion. Confronts these issues in tones of defiance, acqui escence, sarcasm or humor, Walsh speaks of universal truths and musings that are truly relatable and have probably crossed our own minds at point in time. Executed brilliantly by a talented bunch of creatives through set design, photogra phy and typography, No Filter images are available as posters, their proceeds going to the non-profit organisation Ladies, Wine & Design.
8 & Walsh is Zero Bullshit & Crazy High Standards & Endless Passion & Celebrating Emotion & Taking Risks & Trusting Our Instincts & Being Human & Making Work That’s Human & Taking Work Seriously & Not Taking Ourselves Too Seriously
The lack of representation in leadership & the pay gap for women and non-binary people has been a focus of mine through our non-profit initiative Ladies, Wine & Design. This initiative was born out of personal experiences I had with sexism in our industry, not only from men but from other women. I found that sometimes women were unsupportive of one another, possibly because our chances of reaching the top are much slimmer than for men. The numbers say it all: 70% of design students are women, but only 5-11% of creative director posi tions are held by women. Only .1% of creative agencies are women-owned. POINT. ONE. PERCENT. How does this make any sense when women drive about 80% of consumer purchasing? Diversity in leadership at agencies drives profit.
Joining the % of Women Founded Creative Agencies
9 &Walsh is a creative agency based in New York direction,strategy,specializinginbrandartdesignandproductionacrossallplatforms.
Today, as I launch my creative agency & Walsh, I am overwhelmed with emotion: elation that this is finally happening, exhaustion from the non stop work that brought me to this point & an anxious excitement about what’s next.
In addition to the leadership gap, there is still a pay gap for women and an even larger gap for women of color. We cannot talk about feminism without including the varying intersections of privilege and oppression. All too often feminism only cham pions the equality of white, cisgender, straight women. Femi nism should be inclusive of all people, championing equality for everyone — no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, age or ability. While we’re living in divisive times, it’s exciting to see the younger generations breaking down tradi tional ideas of gender, beauty, relationships, work culture, etc. towards a future that is more fluid, genderless and accepting of all humans as we are. My dream for our industry is to see much more representation at the top. This will not only make our work stronger and more inclusive, but make the creative work function better.
While we’ve made strides towards equality in the last few decades, we still have a long way to go. I’m determined to use &Walsh to expand on these social initiatives.
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I’m also overwhelmed with gratitude for this privileged posi tion I’ve found myself in. Very few women make it to creative leadership positions and even fewer have founded their own creative agencies.
- Jessica Walsh
As women, we are constantly told what we can or cannot do. It’s been happen ing all our lives. My elementary school teacher told my parents I was too fearful and introverted and would never make it in this world. When suffering from severe depression & eating disorders as a teen ager, a woman in the hospital told me she could tell I was one of the ones that would never recover.
If you have a dream, keep moving towards it. There will always be obstacles, naysay ers, haters and those who don’t believe in you along the way, including yourself.
I have many privileges in this life. I’m white & cisgender in a heteronormative relationship. My family could afford my education without leaving me in debt. I found a career I am passionate about. I’ve had the incredible opportunity to work with amazing creative people who inspire me, to work on projects that chal lenge me and to find success along the way. In this next chapter of my career, I’m determined to use this privilege to continue to give back to the world and to our amazing community in bigger ways. This means putting a focus on social initiatives that champion and amplify underrepresented voices, to pass on what I’ve learned to others and to give back to those less privileged. We have many exciting plans and new project ideas in the works and these initiatives will be a driving force of our agency.
Social Initiatives
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Even when we achieve success, our legit imacy is doubted. When I was named partner with Stefan at the age of 25, many men and women said (publicly!) that I only got the position because I slept with him. Can you imagine them saying that about a man? Then as a partner, I was ignored and talked down to by older men in more meetings more than I care to Onremember.topofexternal
forces, sometimes the forces trying to stop us are ourselves. I suffered from severe self-hate and selfdoubt in the beginning. I could never have imagined in my earlier years fight ing mental health issues that I would one day find joy and passion and purpose, let alone success and the ability to really love myself and my life. Early in my career, I had so many moments of almost giving up, feeling I wouldn’t make it in this big city or that I wasn’t good enough.
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Ladies*, Wine** & Design is a global non-profit initiative with chapters in 285 cities worldwide. LW&D was founded in 2015 by the star Jessica Walsh after this happened. Only .1% of agencies are founded by women, non-binary people, and the numbers are even smaller for women/non-binary BIPOC. Our mission is to see a lot more diversity in the creative industry, within leadership roles. LW&D takes an intersectional approach to this work. We offer free mentorship circles, portfolio reviews, talks & creative meetups for underrepresented creatives.
