Designers in Seoul
Designers in Tokyo
Designers in Taipei
Column Four
© 2024 Polish Graphic Design Foundation. All rights reserved.
Motto
Idea first, design second.
Poland
Oksana
Shmygol
Design
graphic design, logo design, editorial design, packaging design
Bio
A graphic designer and creative director, a partner at Studio Otwarte (based in Krakow, Poland), which she has been co-creating for over 14 years. Specialises in branding, editorial and packaging design. She has worked on visual identities for a wide range of brands of different sizes and profiles, as well as for cities and cultural institutions and many award-winning branding projects.
She is also a University lecturer, online and offline workshop leader and a speaker at Polish and international conferences.
Clients
Unit8, City of Rybnik, City of Racibórz, Ringer Axel Springer, Jewish Culture Festival, Ludowy Theater
Awards
3x 2024 Golden Pin Design Award Mark Winner, Red dot, 2x European design awards, 2x Type Directors Club Awards, Polish Project of the Year, Polish Team of the year 2020, 11x Polish Graphic Design Award, 9x Ad Creators Club (Poland)
More Speakers and Mentors
Ada
Zielinska
People from other countries might not know that the design culture in Poland is deeply rooted in both tradition and innovation. The iconic Polish School of Poster, which emerged in the mid-20th century, remains influential, known for its unique blend of surrealism, symbolism, and minimalism. Another lesser-known aspect is the role of graphic design. While Polish posters have gained international recognition, graphic design, including elements like logos, packaging, and printed materials, has only recently been rediscovered and appreciated. Polish graphic design icons such as Karol Śliwka, Jerzy Treutler, and Roman Duszek are behind these influential works.
Oksana
Shmygol
While the most known and celebrated inspirations from the Polish graphic design history is the 1950-80s Polish School of Posters, there is also a less known history of great logo design and typography, which we only started discovering recently. Nowadays Poland has amazing and internationally renowned designers in different fields - illustration, branding, typography and more. The community of professionals - individual designers and studios - is strong and friendly, we learn from each other and give each other advice, but also consciously build market standards together.
Miroslaw
Klis
In the world of graphic design Poland is known for Polish School of Posters active in 1950s-1980s with expressive solutions based mainly on illustration. In the last years we finally started discovering the unknown heritage in logo design and typography with great masters such as Karol Śliwka, Ryszard Bojar and many more.
Yoshiko
Hada
Though this is about illustration, I think there is a tendency to prefer narrative and explanatory elements over visual (graphical ) interest. (But maybe things have changed a bit recently?)