Born in 1963 in Canada, Bantjes merges emotion, intellect, and meticulous ornamentation, redefining what it means to design with personality. She has collaborated with Pentagram, Stefan Sagmeister, and The New York Times, and her book I Wonder is now considered a modern design classic.
In this exclusive interview, we discuss:
• How launching her first studio ended a friendship
• How the early design blog Speak Up transformed her career
• Surviving the terrifying first year of freelancing
• The real truth about “doing what you love”
• The leap from unpaid projects to international independence
• How to design from the heart even with a client brief
• How she went from an early AI adopter to a skeptic while finding the early, imperfect versions more creatively inspiring
• Why she once mocked the word creativity itself!

Timecodes
00:00 Intro
00:20 Marian Bantjes
01:32 Why graphic design?
04:11 Why typography?
06:08 Working on your own
12:22 Getting your name out there
19:45 Personal connection in design
26:47 Ad
27:42 Typography with Sugar & Pasta
31:36 I wonder & Pretty Pictures 
38:43 Working with AI
48:08 Surreal AI
49:13 Top 5 designers/artists

🎨 Design and artwork courtesy of Marian Bantjes
https://marianbantjes.com/
Intro animation by: Miray Erdeve

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