Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, January 11, 2022: Leta Sobierajski, an American artist, graphic designer (#1467w)

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Artist of the Day, January 11, 2022: Leta Sobierajski, an American artist, graphic designer (#1467w)

Leta Sobierajski (1989) is an artist based in New York City combining traditional graphic design elements with photography, art, and styling to create utterly unique visuals. Her work is incredibly diverse, ranging from conventional identities to brilliantly bizarre compositions.

Leta Sobierajski was born in New York City, by the age of one, her family had already moved to Jefferson, New York. Living in an isolated part of the already small town, Sobierajski’s childhood was, as she states, lonely. As an only child, Sobierajski spent her days entertaining herself with tape recorders and handmade toys. Her friends were the sticks and stones she found outside, using her vivid imagination to bring them to life. She discovered the joys of drawing and creating at nine years old through anime and Photoshop. Sobierajski leaned into this newfound passion throughout high school, where she knew at 17, that design was the only field for her.

Leta Sobierajski chose to start her formal graphic design education at State University of New York at Purchase. She continued to integrate herself into the design field, landing an internship in her sophomore year with HunterGatherer, a motion graphics studio in Brooklyn. Continuing to work there for two summers, Sobierajski was eventually hired full-time once she was out of college. From there, Sobierajski moved to a bigger filmmaking and visual effects company called Moving Picture Company. After 8 months of working at MPC, Sobierajski moved to a different company called Brand New School with the intention of giving the field of motion graphics one more try. Though a bit better, working there was still not what Sobierajski was looking for and eventually, made the difficult decision to abandon motion graphics altogether. Her career in motion graphics had ended, and yet, that moment is when her design career actually began.

Sobierajski went freelance from thereon out. She set out without any sort of plan, constantly emailing companies and creating projects. She started to receive recognition with the publication of her Grapefruit Totem sculpture, as part of her project, Adds and Ends, in a magazine called Computer Arts. The biggest turning point in her career was the collaboration she started with Wade Jeffree, her now husband. Together, they created the Complements Project in 2014. Sobierajski states this to be the first project she and Jeffree had ever worked on together, and through the experience, they established themselves both as individuals, as well as a couple.

Today they own a startup design agency together called Wade and Leta, which was first founded by the duo in 2016. Since then, Sobierajski has had the opportunity to work for clients such as Google (in creating a set of wallpapers for the Google Pixel 2) and AIGA (in branding their 2017 Eye on Design Conference). She has been recognized in Print Magazine’s 20 under 30 list in 2014, as well as in ADC’s Young Guns 15 in 2017. She currently resides with her husband in New York and serves as an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts. Through all of Sobierajski’s works and accomplishments at only 31 years old, the potential she has to grow and continue to spread her influence in the design field is without a doubt, inevitable.

Contrasting colors dominate Leta Sobierajski’s style. The balance that complements the warm and cool tones make her work appealing and keep the eyes constantly engaged. She believes color is the key that holds designs together. Past the color palettes, Sobierajski then engages the viewers with something that people do not expect to see in traditional designs, usually done through the incorporation of the human body. It is admirable how Sobierajski is able to hold the viewer’s attention through intentional, yet minimal decisions in her work such as both color choice and material.

Without a second thought, Sobierajski lists Arakawa + Gins as her main design influences. A collaborative duo who advanced design theories through their work in art and architectural design, Arakawa + Gins has an influence that is certainly shown through Sobierajski. The unapologetic boldness in the colors of Arakawa+Gins’ work, coupled with their unconventional methods of architecture are themes carried on through Sobierajski’s designs as well. Sobierajski is also heavily influenced by Josef Albers’ theories on color studies. Albers is most famous for the relativity of color theory in that two different colors can be made to seem visually similar, and vice versa, that the same color can be perceived as different colors. Sobierajski uses the theories of Albers to her advantage in designs. The easily trickable perception of the human eye allows her to use the same colors in her designs over again, and yet have viewers never get sick of the seemingly different color palettes she uses.

Leta Sobierajski most often uses Regular, a geometric sans-serif typeface, in her designs. She usually pairs this typeface with colors such as Salmon Pink, Robin’s Egg Blue, and Acid Yellow. The fact that Sobierajski has managed to establish and become recognized for her distinct style of design since the very beginning of her career is absolutely commendable. She has always stayed true to the style of the client she is designing for, while not compromising her own voice at the same time. This is a practice I find incredibly difficult to accomplish and how Sobierajski seems to balance differing styles so effortlessly is a skill I admire so wholeheartedly.

Leta Sobierajski has certainly had her fair share of hardship and uncertainty while first attempting to break into the design profession. However, Sobierajski managed to consistently put her full effort into her designs in order to allow clients to see her full potential. “The work you do is the work you get,” a saying Sobierajski lives her life by and believes completely. Above all else, Sobierajski wants to be remembered as an artist, as a designer, who did not take herself too seriously. That she was not afraid to put emotions into her work with her personality shining through. While looking at Sobierajski’s designs, she hopes people will see how much she enjoyed her work and constantly put her all into her love and passion for design.

© 2022. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Leta Sobierajski and/or Wade and Leta. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only