ANNALEE LANIER

Ask me about

How my fine art training has helped (and occasionally hindered) my professional graphic design trajectory.

My super power is

My super power is bridging gaps between differing and seemingly incompatible viewpoints.

I'm looking for

I have no shortage of ideas on my own, but along with learning about what is new in the design world, I am always looking to learn more about what came before. For example, what old standards worked well vs what was done away with? What defunct ideas are worth revisiting or updating to apply to current design predicaments? I have repeatedly entered fields as an outsider, and that perspective has often been an asset, but also I have found that researching standards & history has always served to improve and inform new ideas in every field I have entered.

What I love about experience design

What I love about working in design is how its language and tools – both aesthetic and technological – are constantly evolving and morphing to meet the moment and create new solutions and styles for the zeitgeist.

Best piece of advice I've ever heard

The best advice I’ve received was from my mother as a pre-teen. We moved a lot A LOT through the 80s and 90s and she told me “nobody actually knows what they’re doing at first..everyone is actually pretending, until they figure it out. So, just act like you know what you’re doing, project confidence, people will believe you and follow along, and eventually the thing that you are pretending will be real”. I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist..essentially ‘fake it til you make it’ is the message, and it has served me well.

Where I find Inspiration

My inspiration comes from the world around me every day, light, texture, color, sound, and the ways in which these are used to communicate and create comfort and discomfort, disorientation and direction, and the infinite possibilities within the non-verbal language of visual media.