James Paris designs bumper stickers inspired by Christian youth group clip art and typewriter activity books

"James likes to navigate between physical and digital design by setting limitations: "I rarely start with a sketch. I like setting physical limits," he says, instead beginning with loose ideation and following through as the concept meanders. He tears newsprint, working until the paper runs out, and it's these challenges he sets that push out his design to a wonderful periphery."

"James' digital collage and illustration technique draws from source material, from physical graphics from old magazines to the digital treasure trove of Internet Archive. This pandora's box of material is at James' fingertips, he says: "I've collected everything from 1980s Christian youth group clipart to 1930s typewriter activity books." Collage, for James, is a method of breathing new life into old visuals and recreating the world as he sees it, he takes on visual spectres of the past and reanimates them with cheeky copy."

"Inspired by their abilities to blend the realms of graphic design and illustration, two contemporary design influences for James are Bráulio Amado, and founder of Fisk studio Bijan Berahimi. Whilst still a design student, James reached out to Yowie's founder Shannon Maldonado over an Instagram DM, and, "six years later, Yowie is still my favourite client to work with", says James , having worked on a number of projects, including a collaboration with Hanna Karraby on the branding for Yowie's cafe, Wim."

James navigates between physical and digital design by setting limitations and starting with loose ideation instead of sketches. He tears newsprint until the paper runs out, using those physical constraints to push his designs toward unexpected peripheries. His digital collage and illustration practice mines physical graphics from old magazines and the Internet Archive, repurposing ephemera from the 1930s through the 1980s to reanimate past visuals with cheeky copy. Early work included album covers for iTunes rips, followed by study at Drexel University. Influences include Bráulio Amado and Bijan Berahimi. Long-term client Yowie yielded projects across signage, merchandise, menus, and a cafe branding collaboration.

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