The field of freelance design is one that has produced a number of significant men and women whose designs are now iconic. From famous movie posters to the logos of major companies, these designs are immediately recognizable by almost everyone even if the designers behind them are not.

With that in mind, let’s take a moment to shine a much-deserved spotlight on these talented designers and the iconic designs that they have produced.

Chip Kidd

Chipp Kidd is a freelance graphic designer based out of New York City known best for his iconic book cover designs. While Chipp has worked to design a wide range of book covers over the course of his career – including designing covers for authors Neil Gaiman, Michael Crichton, and James Elroy, just to name a few – perhaps Chipp’s most well-known design is the book cover he designed for Jurassic Park.

The iconic T-rex skeleton set against a red, black, and yellow background not only served as the cover art for the Jurassic Park novel but was later used on the poster for the Jurassic Park movie and was even used as the park’s official logo within the film itself.

So great was Chip Kidd’s success as a designer that he even had the opportunity to give his own TED Talk where he detailed some humorous stories from his time as a book designer as well as some wisdom for anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps.

Massimo Vignelli

Though Massimo Vignelli passed away in 2014, his contributions to the design world live on. One of the most iconic designers of the past 50 years, Massimo has worked to create designs for high-profile clients such as Ford, Bloomingdale’s, IBM, American Airlines, and more.

If you want to see some of Massimo’s design work first-hand, simply take a trip to the New York City subway system, as Massimo was responsible for designing the now-iconic subway map and signage that is still in place to this day.

Today, Massimo’s legacy lives on not only through his designs but also through his protégé Micheal Bierut, who continues to use the skills and techniques he learned from Massimo to produce even more iconic designs for high-profile clients.

Kate Moross

One of the most sought-after and recognized freelance designers in the UK, Kate Moross has worked to produce album covers, magazine covers, branding designs, and video for a wide range of high-profile clients, including designing live visuals for the band One Direction.

In a 2011 interview, Kate Moross said, “I think I get most of my ideas from everyday life – going to the shop or interacting with the bus driver or seeing something by accident. I’m not one for organized culture or anything like that, so I do try to let things happen naturally. I definitely think your influences are to do with your character, your life, your mood, and general culture like TV and film that you can’t really escape.”

Still a young designer, Kate no doubt has plenty more great designs left to deliver, and we look forward to seeing what she is able to accomplish over the course of her career.

Rob Janoff

When you think of the most iconic, recognizable logos in the world, Apple’s logo has got to be one of the first ones to come to mind. Well, the man behind Apple’s world-famous logo is Rob Janoff. In 2013, Rob talked about the inspiration behind the logo, saying, “If you have a computer named after a piece of fruit, maybe the image should look like the fruit? So I sat for a couple of weeks and drew silhouettes of apples. Bite is also a computer term. Wow, that was a happy accident. At that point, I thought ‘this is going to have a wink and a nod with it, and give it personality.”

Over the years, Apple’s logo has changed very little from Rob Janoff’s original design, speaking to what an incredible job he did crafting the logo. Though Rob has certainly created plenty of other great designs over the course of his career, his work on the Apple logo will likely always be the crowning jewel of his portfolio.

Lindon Leader

Like Rob Janoff, Lindon Leader’s legacy as a designer is also forever tied to the work he did on a single logo. In Lindon’s case, it was the logo for FedEx.

At the time, no other designer working for a major company was making use of white space in quite the same way as Lindon Leader. Lindon, however, took the idea of using white space as an integral part of the design to the next level when he created FedEx’s now-iconic logo. As anyone who has taken a close look at the logo will realize, there is a perfectly shaped arrow pointing forward nestled into the white space between the letters in “FedEx”. It’s subtle, meaningful, and elegant, and FedEx has been using the logo ever since.

Nevertheless, Lindon once lamented the fact that he is so well-known for creating the FedEx logo, saying in a 2013 interview, “While I think I’m blessed and privileged to have said I designed the FedEx logo, sometimes I think I’m going to go to my grave and that’s the only thing people are going to remember me for.”

Lindon needs not to worry, though; while his work on the FedEx logo may have put him on the map, his portfolio of designs is plenty vast and impressive enough to stand on its own. When it comes to hiring freelancer designers you have to make sure they have the talent and experience to deliver. FreelanceMyway requires all freelance designers to go through a 3 step verification process to join their network. You can hire their hand-picked freelancers to work on your project.

Conclusion

Everywhere you look, there are talented designers producing amazing designs that span the spectrum in regards to their style and purpose. While the five designers to make our list are certainly among the most famous out there, there are plenty of other incredible designers whose work might not be as well-known.