25 Young Designers to Watch

Image via Complex Original

Captive, founded by Oliver Durrant and Bruna Guerrerio, is a creative production studio specializing in animation. The Former Londoners founded the studio in Lisbon, Portugal in 2009. Captive has worked with clients like Coke, Amnesty International, Chevy, and Wii. [Captive]

Texas-born Dana Tanamachi is a graphic designer and a custom chalk letterer. Tanamachi moved to Brooklyn in 2007, and in 2010 she took a job working under Loius Fili, working on restaurant design and food packaging. Currently, Tanamachi works as a full-time custom chalk letterer, working with companies like West Elm, Ralph Lauren, Google, and the Ace Hotel. [DanaTanamachi]

Brooklyn-based designer, Ryan Moore, grew up in Rochester, NY. Moore studied graphic design at Rochester Institute of Technology, graduating in 2009. Currently, Moore works as a designer for Time Magazine. [Time]

Brian Persico is an industrial designer. He graduated Pratt in 2009, and since then his work has been featured in New York Design Week, the  American Design Club exhibition: Threat, and West Elm amongst others. His work is a mix of conceptual art and traditional design practices. [BrianPersico]

Joe Stewart is Partner and Creative Director at Huge, a full-service digital agency based in Brooklyn. Stewart came to Huge after working at a boutique agency and design consultancy. Stewart has directed some of the firm’s most notable projects with clients like JetBlue, Target, Pepsi and The City of New York. [Huge]

Texas-born designer Caleb Bennett worked for Texas Monthly magazine until one day he approached the design director at The New York Times Magazine and introduced himself. Three days later, Bennett was offered a job in New York City. Now, after 2 years, he’s the magazine’s Deputy Art Director. [Twitter]

Born in The Blue Ridge Mountains, Sara Ebert merges designs with craft, creating pieces like her “In Case Vase” which she produced for the American Design Club exhibition: Threat. She currently resides in Brooklyn. [SaraEbert]

A few of our dedicated readers might recognize the name Taylor Pemberton, the creator of the men’s lifestyle line, Cavalier Essentials. Not only has this recent grad been getting acclaim for his successful online site, but he has also been working as Creative Director at Wantful, a curated site that helps you choose the perfect gift. [TaylorPemberton]

Seung Yong Song was born in Yangsan, South Korea. He attended Ecole Superieure d'Art et de Design de Reims where he received his BFA and MFA degrees. After school he worked for Claudio Colucci’s studio. Currently he is working in Seaoul, South Korea. Song has collaborated with designers such as Jean Marc Gady, Patric Nadeau, and Matt Sindall. [SeungYoungSong]

Vienna-born, Florida-raised Drea Zlanabitnig is a designer at The New York Times Magazine. Zlanabitnig graduated from The School of Visual Arts in 2008 and began working for Paula Scher. After 3 years she left Scher for to freelance and travel. Scher says that “when [Zlanabitnig] started out, she was in awe of everything, completely sweet and lovely and terrific…now she’s still that, but she’s also savvy as all get out.” [DreaZlanabitnig]

New York-based Jessica Walsh has worked as a designer for Pentagram and Print Magazine, And, as of a few months ago, is now partner at Stephen Sagmeister’s studio, which has now been aptly re-named, Sagmeister and Walsh. [JessicaWalsh]

Christian Vivanco is a concept driven industrial designer. Originally from Mexico, Vivanco graduated from Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi in 2007.  By 2009, he was named as one of Wallpaper*s Top Young Designers to Follow, and in 2010 Diseno Mexico chose Vivanco as one of the 100 Best Mexican Designers. Vivano has worked with Hewlett-Packer, Santa and Cole, and Chocolate Factory, among others. [ChristianVivanco]

Dan Cassaro is a Brooklyn-based illustrator, designer, and animator. His one man design studio, Young Jerks, specializes in custom type illustration and logo design. You can find his work featured in New York Times Magazine, Fast Company, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and The New Yorker. He was recently honored by The Art Directors Club’s Young Guns 9. [YoungJerks]

Chris Petescia co-founded Brooklyn-based new-media marketing firm, Carrot Creative with two of his friends. The firm was the first full-service global social media agency, representing companies like Ford, RedBull, VICE, Burton and Disney. Petescia specializes in user experience design. [CarrotCreative]

Rami Moghadam is a New York-based graphic designer. Originally from Germany, Moghadam came to New York to go to school at SVA, graduating in 2005. After school he worked at Comedy Central, Landor Associates, Doyle Partners, and for Luke Hayman. Moghadam is currently freelancing at various outlets including The New York Times Magazine, Bloomberg Buisnessweek, and New York Magazine. His work has been featured in Print, Creative Review, CMYK, among others. [RamiMoghadam]

Ben Pieratt is a graphic and web designer and co-founder of Svpply.com, a “community of people discovering things they like.” Svpply is similar to Pintrest (or as SwissMiss has likened it, "Tumblr with a buy button," but with more of an emphasis on e-commerce and actually purchasing things you like, instead of just digitally drooling over them. [BenPieratt]

Brooklyn-based Ryan Thacker is a designer at Scott Stowell’s studio, Open. Originally from Mercer County, New Jersey, the 29-year-old met Stowell at Philadelphia University of the Arts, after which he interned at Open. Before coming back to the studio to work as a designer, Thacker briefly worked at Philadelphia's Allemann, Almquist, and Jones. [RyanThacker]

Mexican-born Joel Escalona studied Industrial Design at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Azcapotzalco in Mexico City. He runs Lifestyle Design Studio, a company that is able to position itself as a broad design studio, working with various clients, specialists, and agencies on a variety of projects. Escalona's work has won numerous awards in Mexico, China and the United States. [JoelEscalona]

New York-based artists and graphic designer Sara Cwyner studied graphic design and photography at York University and English at the University of British Columbia. Currently, Cwyner works at The New York Times Magazine. In 2011 she was included in Print’s “20 Under 30” feature.  [SaraCwyner]

Colleen and Eric is the design studio of Colleen and Eric Whiteley. The duo met while studying Industrial design at Pratt Institute. They strive to “create expressive minimalism, questioning a project’s every detail while letting the concept lead.”  In 2011 they won the NASA/ETSY SpaceCraft contest with their Northstar table, which was flown aboard the space shuttle Endeavor on its final journey. You might also recognize their Hold on Tight shelve from one of our Daily News features. [Colleen&Eric]

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Toronto, Tracy Ma graduated from Toronto’s York University in 2010. Last year, the 23-year-old started working at Bloomberg Buisinessweek on a recommendation from another designer on our list, Drea Zlanabitnig. This year Ma was chosen by Print to be included in their 2012 “New Visual Artists” list. [TracyMa]

Seattle-based Peter Bristol might sound familiar to some of our readers; he was the designer behind the Cutout Chair that we featured a few weeks ago. But Bristol is more than just an interesting set of legs, he's also the lead product designer at Carbon Design Group. Bristol has also collaborated with numerous design partners and won a ridiculous amount of awards from ID, IDEA, Red Dot, Good Design, and others. [PeterBristol]

Jason Sfetko is an editorial designer. He has worked at Martha Stewart, Tennis Magazine, and currently as a designer at GQ. His work has won SPD awards, Addys and an ASME for his work at GQ under the direction of Fred Woodward. [JasonSfetko]

Born in New Zealand, Lisa Hedge studied studio and design at The University of Southern California. She moved to New York City and began working for Takashi Murakami’s studio, Kaikai Kiki. After a while Hedge moved on and began freelancing for clients like L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and Tender, where she worked on more corporate projects from branding to banner ads. [LisaHedge]

Jessica Hische is a San Francisco-based illustrator, designer, and typographer. She grew up in Pennsylvania and attended school for graphic design. Hische started her career working for Headcase Design in Philadelphia and then became Senior Designer at Louise Fili Ltd. But, once her side projects became too demanding, she left Fili’s office to pursue her freelance opportunities.

Hische is known for her “daily drop cap” series and has worked with clients like Tiffany & Co., The New York Times, Penguin Books, Target, Leo Burnett, American Express, and Wired Magazine. Most recently, Hische typography work has appeared in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. [JessicaHische]