The Ancient New Age of Designer Sam Chirnside

We'll just go ahead and say that Melbourne-based designer Sam Chirnside has rapidly vaulted mighty high on our (imaginary) list of "emerging designers we need to pay more attention to."  Chirnside's work with gradients alone, combined with a penchant for grainy texture gives his New Age-esque material an almost hand-made feel. His imagery strikes an uncanny balance between the ancient past and the way, way future; cuneiform-like markings often sit aside some type of futuristic code. Bottomline: We're in.

According to Chirnside, he "focuses on pushing an experimental style with inspirations coming from Sacred Geometry, Ancient Civilizations and forward thinking music." Professionally, he's applied that imagery to jobs for clients like Volcom, Super8, Handsome Clothing Co. and Ministry of Sound, Australia. Moonlighting at Drop Studio, a branding/identity design company, Chirnside's open to commission-based work (though if you're like us, you can just lurk around his site, reeling in all of the gorgeous, hand-drawn letter porn.)

Inspired by Chirnside's aesthetic? Take your gawking one step further, check out 3rd Ward's Typeface Design class. Meanwhile, here's a few more to help get your design minds in gear:

-- Perrin Drumm