Jeri Evan By Design

Growing up Evan found herself enraptured by graffiti “I’ve always been drawn to the bold black outlines that are prevalent in most graffiti as well as the eye-catching color palettes often used,” she says. Her studio is a love letter to design where a portrait of Billie Eilish leans against the wall with its layered colors, almost rough textured appearance, and deep black shading. The portrait stares across the room at a framed Shepard Fairy print, a perfect embodiment of Evan. “A lot of visual art I’ve made over the years is directly influenced by a song I’m listening to at the moment or a party I went to the night before where I snapped a photo encapsulating the overall energy of the space and environment.” It’s this interplay of music, art, and life that defines Evan's creations. That adventurousness is also reflected in her creative process when working with industry executives, “Being able to create something amazing from a simple prompt, and working it till you can’t work it anymore, is the most exciting part—seeing all the mistakes you make along the way, how many versions it took, how many times the client hated it.”

Evan started her career designing catalogs and brochures until industry executives in LA discovered her work on social media. Her account features glamor shots likely inspired by her modeling work for IMG models, as well as behind-the-scenes pictures of posters being prepared and wheat paste. Evan’s Instagram is polished but still contains that same DIY scrappiness that her personal work does, “Nothing on my Instagram profile is forced or targeted to a specific audience,” she says. Evan is no stranger to showcasing her personality online; she used to run a fashion blog called “Fated to Pretend” that had amassed over 100k followers between Blogger and Tumblr. She recommends that artists focus on their favorite personality traits and medium to work in and run with it. “Portraying a bit of personality with your own personal flair is going to give you that special something that will set you apart from your peers.”

In recent years Evan’s “bit of personality” and “personal flair” have made it into the mainstream. Evan helped design the exterior of Olivia Rodrigo’s “GUTS” World Tour Bus which showcases both Rodrigo’s and Evan’s proclivity for that collaged charmingly chaotic look. Evan was also responsible for creating Grammy award-winning Thundercat’s 2021 Grammy campaign, featuring a Kill Bill-esque yellow tracksuit also designed by Evan. What’s most striking about Evan’s career is its variety from music, to movies, to influencer events Evan uses her design skills to help market art of all kinds.

She hopes that her unconventional methods and career trajectory will inspire others to follow their artistic whims, “my favorite part of the journey is being able to work with young aspiring artists and college students. Being able to share my experiences which are often regarded as untraditional, but can equally be inspiring to someone just getting started.” As for Evan’s own career she hopes to work on a marketing project akin to that of “Barbenheimer.” “The color pink took over every aspect of our culture when ‘Barbie’ hit theaters. At the mall, on the internet, everywhere. That is powerful marketing.” Evan aims to create communal experiences that make everyone happy, “With my most recent projects or any project really, the goal is just to create meaningful work and make my clients happy. As long as I’m able to execute their vision to the best of my ability and it’s fireworks across the board, that’s all that matters.”

Evan’s work has extended far beyond her and has clearly become meaningful to many, “I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform at Fenway a few years back, and half the stadium was wearing or carrying Thundercat merchandise I designed on my laptop. It was amazing to see how many people loved what we worked on, so much that they bought it and wanted to wear it for the show.” Evan’s work doesn’t just resemble graffiti visually it resembles it in spirit as well: it’s for everyone.