Jun 22

Jun 22 INTERVIEW WITH MURNAU DEN LINDEN

Murnau Den Linden is a creative who began his career as a graphic designer. Since 2009 he's collaborated on massive social media campaigns and productions for Vice, L'Oreal Paris, Universal Music, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Maestranza Opera House and Greenpeace to name a few.

Currently an art director who has led several innovative editorial projects and digital content, it was his illustrations on instagram that caught my eye. Thank you Eduardo for the Ninu Nina illustration featured that tells the story of a girl traveling from Africa to South America who gets lost somewhere in the Atlantic on her colorful journey, ( sounds all too familiar).

What or who inspires you?

There are tons of inspiring people from the past and the present here are just a few:

Hieronymus Bosch, Zurbarán, Velázquez, Monet, Renoir,
Picasso, Dalí, Frida Kahlo, Carlos Mérida.

A few of contemporaries:

Hassan Hajjaj, James Jean, Jean-Claude Moschetti, Ricardo Cavolo,
Shintaro Kago, Stacey Rozich, Zhou Fan. Some literature: Herman Melville,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar, Laura Esquivel, J.D. Salinger,
Eduardo Galeano, Ernest Hemingway, Alejandra Pizarnik

And finally, some music:

Some of the more interesting projects you have worked on?

Probably my collaboration with Instagram to engage with the Spanish Speaking Communities around the world. Instagram’s crew found a portrait of Gabriel Garcia Marquez that I made as a personal tribute after he passed away. They called to me to chat and a few weeks later they told me about its new project, Instagram ES, and their desire to get a brand new illustration by me that would be used to launch globally their new channel.

Favorite websites, blogs or publications?

Every day I go on Instagram to check what's new with all the creative profiles I follow, ( artists, musicians, writers) and I always find someone new on this platform. If anyone interesting highlights an interview, or site to check out, I will. Also because I love music I go on soundcloud, Bandcamp and Spotify to discover new music or just get updates on my favorite artists.

How would you describe your design approach?

A naive style, where traditional rules such as proportion or perspective are not considered the rules. A powerful style for marketing categories and alternative ways to engage with many different audiences.