Increasingly, many of the contemporary designers we meet are those whose job is characterised by enigmatic brilliance rather than fitting a predefined career mould. Jacqui Sloan is one of these. She describes herself as “a freelance graphic designer and textile designer with a passion to bring glory to the hand” through her art practice. Connecting people to a design or object via a nostalgic motif brings Jacqui great joy. Imagination, memory and tactile experience seem to be the essence of her designs.
Though initially Jacqui’s work holds no obvious theme, her illustrations are punctuated with neutral colours and subtle pastels, which boast great attention to form and texture (perhaps as an ode to her detailed understanding of fabric). This attention is demonstrated, too, in her illustration of quotes, often digitally layered with photography and gentle line work to illuminate important features.
Such a delicate approach appears both in Jacqui’s creations and in the way she articulates her own artistic analysis.
“Art is open to individual interpretation, which is why it is so beautiful”, she explained. “People can connect in so many different ways, but sometimes the thought that people can read it differently to how you intended is frightening”. The honesty in her works, which Jacqui describes as a way to depict un-articulated emotion, is what can make it scary to have a strong social media presence, especially given many of Jacqui's followers know her personally.
Her social media presence is a hybrid of both individual, artistic ambition and showing people the gospel. “This can get tricky. For many people, their workplace is not a place they are allowed to evangelise to clients. I see it as a privilege that I get to make my own rules as a freelancer.”
Though establishing a professional work pattern has proven challenging, Jacqui explained there is much you can use graphic design for that more traditional forms of evangelism do not achieve. “I think art can act like a memory verse. If you put it somewhere on display, it can often become engrained subconsciously in our minds. Personally, for me, art often sparks an emotional response on a deeper level than simply reading words on a page. We can connect to so many more people without troubles of language or cultural barriers.” She also thinks that if you love Jesus, chances are that’s a fairly important part of your life, and that can come out naturally through your art and your interaction with audience.
Jacqui’s biggest piece of advice for young creatives? Simply get creating and attract like- minded people! Though studying art and design at UNSW did greatly push her design boundaries, Jacqui believes that given there are so many resources out there, a self-taught maker can gain enough skill through experience and research. “As an emerging artist, trust opportunities will arise.”
Jacqui’s artistic and personal integrity is certainly striking, which is often what sets small freelances apart from run-of-the-mill corporate designers. What they do is valuable, and, as Jacqui articulated, often hard work.
(find her on Instagram at @jacquisloandesigns)
