AIGA Detroit wants to introduce you to members of our community. This month we’re spotlighting designer Kimberly Lennex.
Can you give us a brief background of yourself? Your history? Your accomplishments?
I grew up in Lambertville, Michigan, a sleepy town just north of Toledo, Ohio, to where Northern Michiganders often flock to buy fireworks. I was 9 years old when I first realized I wanted to go into the arts, believing at the time that I wanted to be a cartoonist. I was enamored of Nicktoons and classic Looney Tunes, because they taught me that a little creativity could be used to build worlds where anything is possible, create characters that can be zany, yet, relatable, and that imagination can truly take on a life of its own. I doodled, rendered, and painted my way through junior high and high school, and eventually decided to pursue art at the University of Michigan. However, after taking drawing and animation courses in college, I found that I was miserable. Robotically drawing the same thing several hundred times as a means to attain a few seconds of content was simply not me.
Meanwhile, I had begun to notice the art of poster design; I started bombarding myself with images of posters designed in every style imaginable, and I enrolled in design courses to further explore design as a whole. At first, I was quite unskilled, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It felt very much like a painfully awkward first date that had derailed and showed no promise of future encounters. However, I kept at it, and before long I was thinking much more creatively, pushing my typographic skills to their brink, and producing work of which I’m still very proud. The tediousness of incessantly tweaking the kerning on a block of text or nudging elements around on a page until they were just right did not bother me at all. In fact, I loved it. Now, design and I have a pretty thorough understanding of each other.
Though by day I am a graphic designer, by night I am a photographer and a very avid writer; both supplementary skills have proven extremely helpful when I’m struggling with designs or with developing ideas in general.
My website: behance.net/kimberlylennex

What made you interested in design?
I’m not entirely sure, exactly. When I’m designing, I just feel as though I’m truly being myself. It just fits.
What inspires you?
Aside from other artists and designers, I’m inspired by raw emotion (love, lust, humor, angst), and music (primarily lyrics).
Do graphic designers have a special responsibility to promote a green society?
One of my professors once told my class that we should use our design skills to nourish what’s good and what’s right–not only for the sake of preserving our integrity as designers, but to preserve our integrity as people as well. So whether it’s promoting a green society or any other notable cause, I think it’s one’s duty regardless of if he or she is a designer or not. Designers just get to have more fun with it.
Do you consider graphic design a growing industry?
Definitely. Designers have the power to take over the world.
How has living in Michigan shaped your work/design?
It has provided me with a very discernable accent that resonates when I present my work.
Who is your favorite Michigan based designer/artist?
One of my college professors, Doug Hesseltine. His vision and knowledge of design is really remarkable, and I learned a great deal from him.
What is your favorite Michigan made product?
Zingerman’s coffee. Actually, probably anything from Zingerman’s.
What is your favorite aspect of AIGA?
The number of resources available on the website. It seems as though there is an answer for just about any question designers may have.
What is one thing you can’t live without?
Chapstick.
Who is your favorite designer?
My favorites are constantly changing, but right now, I’m obsessed with Jason Munn’s poster designs. My dream job is to design music posters, so he is a huge inspiration. If you haven’t picked up his book, The Small Stakes, I highly recommend it.
What are your favorite movies?

• V for Vendetta
• Peter Pan
• Zelig
• The Graduate
• Mean Girls
• White Christmas
• Rear Window
• Mystery Science Theater 3000
• Anything with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

What are a few of your favorite books?
In no particular order:

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
• The entire Harry Potter series, as well as Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
• Meggs’ History of Graphic Design by Philip B. Meggs

Tell us a your favorite songs?
In no particular order:

• Anything by the Cranberries, Simon & Garfunkel, and Benny Goodman
• “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured” by Arctic Monkeys
• “Rainy Days & Mondays” by the Carpenters
• “Lost Someone” by Cat Power
• “The 1812 Overture” by Tchaikovsky
• “Nimrod” by Elgar
• “Plan B” by Five Iron Frenzy
• “Everything Sucks” by Reel Big Fish
• “Everybody’s Better” by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” by Zooey Deschanel
• “Renegade” by Abandoned Pools

What websites do you have bookmarked?
Other than the staples (Facebook, Behance, StumbleUpon), here are a few interesting ones I have, well, stumbled upon: Poster Cabaret, Piccsy, and Kiosk. I also have a very long list of design and humor blogs.
What does your work space look like?
Right now, I’m doing some freelance work for an Ann Arbor-based firm called MOVE Communications, so these are my current creative accommodations:

What is an example of one of your favorite projects from the past year?
Last year was my final year of art school, all of which I spent working on a thesis about what it means to have faith, and how to preserve that faith in college. I took several students’ narratives of faith and translated them into abstract, illustrative type designs, some of which were projected at an event at a church on the University of Michigan’s campus. The final piece was a book called Faith in Type, which contained the type designs and photographs from the event at the church. A few images of the book, the church event, and the book’s exhibition display are below, but as there are many components to the project as a whole, please check out the full project on my Behance page: behance.net/kimberlylennex.

Faith in Type (book, 6″ x 9″)

We’d like to thank Kimberly for chatting with us about her life as a designer and showing off her work. Check back every month as AIGA Detroit profiles another metro Detroit designer!