Joanna Behar is a French multi-disciplinary designer and illustrator specializing in custom hand lettering and editorial design. Her personal body of work employs quirky illustrations and colorful hand lettering. She is currently a Graphic Designer at Vanity Fair France and operates her own business creating and selling pins, patches, stickers, and more.

Vanity Fair Collateral — A few images of the work I currently do for Vanity Fair France. I get to work on all sections of the magazine and I also get to create some collateral for them as well. This is has included some typography and illustration on top of editorial design.

What were your favorite classes at Parsons?

My favorite classes were imaging for designers and packaging! I was really interested in photography so I took imaging for designers with Maurice Shermann. It turns out the class was also about creating a publication from our photos, which ended up being my favorite part! Packaging was also a lot of fun, I loved creating 3D objects that could potentially be used in the real world. Finding different and original ideas for boxes was exciting for me.

What did you wish you knew as a student that you know now?

I wish I had known typography could be THAT much fun, I would have started so much earlier!

My Geeky Valentine — I created the Geeky Valentine series in 2013. These little cards were thought, and designed, for graphic designers and their geeky typography and design lovers. This was inspired so much by the time I spent at Parsons.

Who do you look up to in the design community?

I look up to so many artists in the design community it’s hard to pick! My all time idol though is Stefan Sagmeister. I am so impressed with how he handles his work — the quality of what he produces each time is incredible. His projects are always beautiful while maintaining  a very strong concept. I continually strive to be more like that.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

I wouldn’t say I have had a highlight of my career yet. It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do after Parsons. I am currently working for the French edition of Vanity Fair and have been doing that for almost 4 years now. I was lucky enough to be one of the first team members during the development and launch of the magazine 3 years ago. The experience has been so incredible but I have also recently built my own  business on the side. I just launched an online shop this month where I’m selling all sorts of goodies! Pins, patches, stickers, prints and more. It’s really exciting to start something new and I really can’t wait to develop it and make it grow. I have some really fun personal projects on the horizon as well, and I can’t wait to create more and grow as an artist.

Hot Drawg — These are a few of the things I am currently selling on my online shop. I just started creating prints and pins and this is really a passion project I am developing.