Q&A with Lilia Jiménez

Originally featured on Graphic Design USA

Lilia Jiménez is an interdisciplinary designer with a focus on graphic design and illustration. She is a senior at Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, working towards a BFA in Communication Design with minors in both Marketing and Art History. Originally from Hopewell, New Jersey, she is from a multicultural family and her Latinx and Jewish identity has inspired and informed her work. She believes that truly successful design allows for the incorporation of multiple perspectives and approaching problems in untraditional ways. Honoring and investigating the female experience as well as examining ways to become more inclusive in the design field are two of her professional goals. She embeds research and history within her design work to inform multiple layers of understanding. Her interests include female artists of the Renaissance, flamenco dancing, multicultural cuisine, and fashion. In the summer of 2021, she interned as a graphic designer at V Magazine, a fashion publication, in New York City. She was inspired by not only the bustling creativity within the industry but also with the liveliness and passion of the city itself. After college, she hopes to return to the city to pursue a design career within fashion, culture, and the arts.

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL INSPIRED?

My work in design has a strong connection to the traditional arts. With a background in painting and a love of art history, I find myself turning to art of the past to inform my own. I also find inspiration in observing and interfacing with those around me and my surrounds. Inspiration can be found in the grand masterpieces of the past and the little things all around. The most mundane objects excite me, from an old elevator button to ’60s wallpaper. I find inspiration in the world around me.

IF THERE WERE NO BARRIERS AND CONSTRAINTS, WHAT PROJECT WOULD YOU WANT TO WORK ON?

I have always been fascinated with the Met Gala. It is the pinnacle of art, fashion, history, and celebrity, all aspects of our contemporary society I find deeply interesting and evocative. I would relish being able to art direct and design assets for the event. It would be a dream of mine to select the theme, work with the fashion designers, work on artistic installations, curate the exhibit, and design the coveted catalogs. Some of my favorite design inspirations that come from the more recent Met Galas have been Camp: Notes on Fashion and Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, both artbooks that accompanied the exhibitions and events.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING/LISTENING TO/ WATCHING?

Currently listening to the podcast You’re Wrong About with Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall—incredibly entertaining, educational, and humorous. I find that I am often recommending it. I cannot stop listening to Lorde’s Solar Power, which has been a fantastic album and a source of inspiration in itself as it is often playing in the background when I am in the studio. I am currently reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and cannot put it down.