16 Outstanding Designers from the United Kingdom and France

By Kathleen Burns , Jul 10 2014
Designers

Featured Image: Behance/Florian NICOLLE

What I love most about these age-old countries is the long and complicated history they have with one another, and how their attitudes have shifted and changed over time.  Even today, England and France are working hard to overcome their long-standing rivalries and build together a future together as first world nations, as opposed to the history which has defined their relationship earlier.

Their interesting history has motivated me to go out and research on their designers. I’ve discovered even the most junior designers from these areas are highly talented. I find English and French designers are unique in their forms and styles yet surprised, they have not been discovered till now.  For this reason I think some healthy competition is just what is needed to kick start their careers, get them in motion and get noticed. We present here a list of competitive design portfolios which are innovative and spectacular from both countries. Whether French designers supersede English designers, or vice versa, you will have to decide.

United Kingdom – The Land of Art and History

Younger designers often bring new ideas into the world, and many of the English designers on this list are full of spunk and innovative ideas. English art is especially visual, and their art history is a long and complicated affair that is too detailed to get into here. However, the designers that I’ve found in this area have a strong grasp of digital art and a steady hand with their techniques. I’m honestly excited to see more work from them!

Isabel Sousa | @isabelsousa

Isabel Sousa

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Hailing from the busy city of London. The noise and action of city life can be a huge distraction, but Isabel is one focused woman. She’s an interactive designer with a love for illustration, and it shows in her beautiful portfolio. Her style is so clean and elegant that the navigation in her designs is a breeze. The cute characters that show up in some of her designs are playful and sometimes blocky, but I love them. Her fresh style takes care of the UI design well!

Daniel Guest | @dguestdesign

Daniel Guest

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Graduate of University of Brighton, Daniel Guest’s portfolio may be small, but it’s ripe with potential! Currently working as a freelance designer in Norwich, Daniel’s portfolio has a variety of exciting projects in print and digital design projects for both small and medium clients. The color and layout are easy to understand, which I feel is the best part. I look forward to seeing more of his work as he grows comfortable in his freelance career.

Jonathan Quintin | @studiojq 

Jonathan Quintin

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Jonathan has created inspirational work at the world’s top design studios for clients including Aon/Manchester United, Bosch, Google, and Intel (to name a few). With his studio’s unique style and 12 years of working in the commercial industry, you can easily see why I feel his work is exceptional! I’m looking forward to his next big project – redesigning his own website. I would love to see what he designs for his own brand.

Gregoire Vella | @gregoire_vella

Gregoire Vella

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Most of the people who stumble onto Greg know his unofficial redesign mock-ups he has created for Twitter and Facebook, but his original work in his portfolio is as interesting and well thought out as the redesigns. What I find fascinating is that after his graduation in marketing and business, he built his first web company during his third internship! Since then, he’s worked in a variety of projects, expanded his skills, and started to spread his wings as a designer. Keep flying high, Greg! Never stop learning!

Tim Smith | @mypoorbrain

Tim Smith

Image: www.londonlibrary.co.uk

Tim’s design portfolio is full of interesting characters and his most popular ones show a brain in some way, which I think is a fun design trademark. However he does complete serious work as well and it is this well done design for the London Library showcased here.  The design carefully balances contemporary website design and layout, and the photography helps portray the atmosphere and rich culture found there.

Samuel James Oxley | @YorkieMixture

Samual James Oxley

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Located in the rich atmosphere of Yorkshire, Samuel’s portfolio is as active as he is! He’s an outdoors person who loves to mountain bike and most of his designs have a nature theme. From app designs and web designs to logo design, Samuel does it all! He’s been working in the industry for 10 years, and his minimalist designs show the careful consideration and thought he puts into each project.  By far my favorite is the concept design for the website Code.IT with the wink to coding language that layers web design.

Anthony Goodwin | @DesignEmbraced

Anthony Goodwin

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While I’ve found only one design under Anthony’s portfolio so far, he is updating a new one soon. What I love about this one design is how intuitive it is to select the different sides of the show and the general minimalist layout of this microsite. I’m patiently waiting to see more after this promising sample of his talent.

Andrew Couldwell| @andrewcouldwell

Andrew Couldwell

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One glance over the work from Andrew tells you he’s a hard worker with big ideas. All of his projects are UX based, and very easy to navigate. He understands where a user is coming from and how they interact with a website. His design and the front-end built skills are top-notch. Better watch out, French designers, he’s on Behance’s list as a “Creative to Follow!”

France – The Land Of High Culture And Design

France is a country with a rich culture, wine, and full of love for life. By looking over the following designers’ works, I feel that I can understand why these designers want to showcase their country well. The passion that I see from them makes me want to take up the tablet pen and draw again! These designers understand what people want; they understand motion; and they know how to express what their clients need in a clear, simple way. I feel that I need to study more about French designers and see what else they have to offer!

Florian Nicolle | @neoinnov

Florian Nicolle

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At 27 years old, Florian Nicolle is a French graphic designer and illustration freelancer with some serious contracts under his belt. I don’t need to wonder why, his artwork is gorgeous and his style is certainly unique. With Nike and EA commissioning him for work, you know he’s getting the attention he deserves. His portfolio is full of fantastic action shots like this one that bring the illustrations to life.

Yvan Duque

Duque

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I’m proud to feature these simply delightful illustrations from Yvan! While he isn’t very well known in most circles, Yvan’s work can’t be ignored. With cats and googly-eyed figures, I can’t help but fall in love with his style. The colors and neatness of the artwork has blown me away!

Romain Cousin | @RomainCousin

2013 – Mattrunks contest n°9

2013 – Mattrunks contest n°9 from Romain Cousin on Vimeo.

I’ve noticed it, but maybe you haven’t –a lot of passion and dedication is involved when a designer makes a motion graphic like that. Romain certainly has enough behind this project to win in the motion design contest “2013” with this graphic! It’s simply stunning. The rest of Romain’s portfolio is equally amazing and worth a look too.

Claire Paoletti |@clairepaoletti

Claire Paoletti

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Paris is a city of style and sophistication, and Claire’s work reflex her city very well. She specializes in Ux Ui Design, and everything I have seen so far from her is very simple and neat. The way she lays out each project shows her understanding of human nature. It’s clear to see that her portfolio shows her ever evolving talent. Good show, Claire!

Oliver Mignard | @omignard

Oliver Mignard

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What’s caught my attention about Oliver is his choice in color. He always picks the one that catches your eye against his designs. And his designs are brilliant enough! From branding to app concept design, Oliver’s portfolio is hard at work to show just how amazing of a designer he is. My favorite project he has up is his Mad Men interactive design that tells you all about the show and the historical aspects of 1960s New York.

Mathieu Schatzler| @mschatzler

Mathieu Schatzler

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There are many notable artists from the Lillie, France area, and the beautiful city is the home of Mathieu, an artist many should take note of. Mathieu started as a web designer in the Wokine company, and soon after moving on within the company to art director. His work is exceptional! He has a strong knowledge of digital design, and a command of fine details.

Jonathan Da Costa| @jonathandc

Jonathan Da Costa

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If you want something classy and sophisticated, Jonathan is your designer. Since 2012, he has run a freelance studio focused on interactive design, innovation, and technology.Jonathan‘s work is inspired by his passion for interaction models and story-telling. He knows how to express a feeling with his design, and one of my favorite projects of his! It’s a project for a French optician company. They wanted something simple for their branding, and his completed work is both simple and sophisticated. Love it!

Éric Le Tutour| @ericletutour

Éric Le Tutour

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Watch out England, we have a designer with a Masters Degree in interaction design on this list! Educated in Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, Eric’s portfolio is full of fabulous designs that I’ve found to be smart and with a fantastic layout! Eric’s specialty is UI/UX design, but his branding skills are not to be missed. My favorite piece from him is this logo he has designed for a French manufacturer of quality goods based in Paris. The business has a creative studio, a fashion design office and a workshop for leather goods, and the logo Eric designed shows all aspects of this business very well.

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Kathleen is a New Jersey blogger with an interest in brand design and a passion for graphic design, illustration, and social media. She loves to deliver inspiration to others to give them the means to achieve their branding and design goals.

 

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