Instagram has come a long way since it was first launched a decade ago. If you scroll back through anyone’s timelines I’m sure their first posts are a selfie with a Sierra filter pasted over it. Nowadays it’s the third most popular social media platform in the world with over a billion users. It’s also the best place to follow your favourite designers to see what they’ve been working on—and maybe what they’ve eaten for dinner.

Though, it’s still a bit of a minefield and it’s not always easy to find the best people to follow. So, we at Shillington have pulled together a list of our 100 favourite designers to follow on Instagram. There’s creatives from all over the world and some of our amazing graduates thrown in for good measure.

Creative Director and Founder of Studio Kohl, Mira Malhotra is well worth a follow for her designs and illustrations inspired by her native India which often touch on national and international politics.

Designer, illustrator and Shillington Melbourne teacher Kim Melvin has feed that is an absolute feast for the eyes—whippets, Dr Martens, Sigourney Weaver amongst many other things.

Pedro Leal is a Portuguese type designer, who works for DSType Foundry. His Instagram is an exploration of amazing type, with a splash of colour to match.

Creative Director of the daily Google Doodles (something we look at every day!), Angelica McKinley’s Instagram is a great mix of the incredible work she creates alongside snapshots of her day-to-day life.

A designer who needs no introduction, the Creative Director of Studio Myerscough’s feed is an insight into her mind, work and practice—and some incredibly colourful interior design projects that will make you envious.

Chikako Oguma is a Japanese Art Director and Designer who showcases some of her work on her Instagram—definitely worth a follow for her wonderful minimal aesthetic.

Shillington New York graduate and graphic designer Wyatt Welles is a great follow for two reasons—his great graphic design work but also some of the best selfies and outfits we’ve seen on the ‘gram.

If it’s hand lettering you’re after, then you’ll find it in doses with Kraitip Sivakriskul. The Shillington New York graduate has been using her Instagram as an art and lettering journal for a few years now and its packed with beauties.

Irish designer and Shillington London teacher George Simkin’s Instagram is a great delve into his amazing, colourful work but also a visual diary where he showcases his unique sense of humour (you have been warned!)

Hailing from Rome, Italy, Pápay Fanny is a freelance designer whose feed is an explosion of colour! Her 3D and 2D work will definitely brighten up your timeline.

Totally Okay is a Sheffield-based design studio who focus on the simple use of type and image and removing unnecessary clutter from their designs. Their Instagram is exactly that—a clutter free space of inspiration.

Illustration collective Puck are ever growing and ever posting meaning that their Instagram is a great resource for the amazing illustrators that London and further afield has to offer!

Shillington Brisbane graduate Jackson Todd has told us previously that he always wanted to be a designer so his Instagram definitely doesn’t disappoint! It’s full of amazing, playful contemporary design.

Designer and Educator Goo-Ryong Kang’s Instagram is a fascinating look into modern South Korean design. His typographic posters that combine Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and Latin alphabet are worth following him for alone.

Alexandra Francis is a designer, illustrator, animator, zine maker and Shillington Manchester graduate. Her Instagram is definitely worth a follow for her beautiful illustrations, including a recent one of viral superstar Baby Yoda.

Shillington London graduate and Freelance Digital Designer Nouran Zedan has a beautifully curated Instagram of her latest 3D illustrations, type experiments, hand drawn illustrations and designs.

Studio Chenchen is the work of Designer and Shillington Sydney Teacher Olivia Chen. The studio’s Instagram is well worth a follow for their incredible branding projects—check out Olivia’s work for the Sydney Lunar Festival for a start.

Valentina Santolini was working in Computational Chemistry before studying at Shillington Manchester and becoming a graphic designer. As you can see, her work showcases her design and illustration skills and her clear knack for colour.

Veteran British designer Malcolm Garrett has two Instagram accounts but it’s his account that documents his extensive collections of “things” that is a constant source of inspiration—think books and badges and everything in between.

Agyei Archer is a Trinidadian designer who works a lot with type, code and graphics. His feed is filled with some fantastic type experiments inspired by his research of vernacular lettering, indigenous writing and found type in the Caribbean.

You’ve probably seen the work of Annie Atkins in films such as Isle of Dogs, Grand Budapest Hotel and The Box Trolls but the Welsh designer’s Instagram is a much quicker way of seeing her work and being amazed by the magic she creates!

Araki Koman is a French illustrator and designer—who studied at Shillington London back in 2012. Her illustrations are always gorgeous and her feed with its coordinated colour palette is as pleasing as it is calming. She also illustrated the centrefold for last year’s Shillington Post 08—The Creative Women Issue.

Draplin Design Co. and Field Notes founder Aaron Draplin is a heavyweight in the design industry who has spoken at design events and conferences all over the world. His Instagram documents these travels through his pleasingly designed and curated gallery.

Based in Brooklyn, Shillington New York graduate Ying Ye is a designer and illustrator. Her Instagram feed is a mix of gorgeous type pieces and dreamy illustrations—well worth a follow.

Founder of Mam’gobozi Design Factory Osmond Tshuma is a designer from Zimbabwe. Amongst his other designs, he is currently posting a series of designs dedicated to African independence—cleverly designing numeric typefaces from the country’s culture of the amount of years they have been independent.

Lorik Khodaverdian is Shillington New York graduate who now works as a freelance designer in California. She uses her Instagram to showcase her beautiful illustrations that range from intricate black and white pencil drawings to stripped back, colourful digital illustrations.

Jamaican-born designer and illustrator Vaughn Fender has some seriously amazing work on his Instagram. We’re big fans of his type-based pieces which use lyrics from MF Doom, quotes from Dante Alighieri and his own imagination.

Loresh Karekar is an Indian visual artist and design director of independent Mumbai design studio Locopopo. His feed is full of artistic explorations—both finished and unfinished—which turns his Instagram into a visual diary of the work Loresh creates.

After graduating from the Shillington London part-time course in July 2019, Ayesha Mansour has been freelancing as Aah Yes Studio. Her studio’s Instagram showcases all of Ayesha’s latest work alongside some of her personal work and inspiration from around her London home.

Another Shillington London graduate, Ray Wong, is a great follow as everything he posts is bound to be a treat for the eyes! Ray always gets involved with Instagram challenges like #36DaysofType and produces super varied and incredible results.

If you follow Lagos-born, Dallas-based designer and photographer Temi Coker you definitely won’t miss his work on your timeline. Combining his two mediums, his work is striking, colourful and instantly recognisable.

Shillington New York graduate George Gillies has moved back to his native Sydney, where’s he creating beautifully nostalgic posters for some of his past favourite gigs, including Parquet Courts, Toro Y Moi and Ariel Pink. Well worth a follow to keep an eye on what he’s up to.

Dreamlike is the first word that springs to mind when looking at Art Director Chrissie Abbott’s feed. Her posts are packed full of amazing type and colour inspiration and make for some seriously good browsing.

Veronica Humphris, who graduated from Shillington Manchester in 2018, uses her feed to display her own work, design that inspires her and other bits of her day-to-day life. Though, it’s her monthly cork board posts full of posters, flyers and other beautifully designed ephemera that it’s well worth keeping an eye out for.

Timba Smits is the Creative Director of TCO London, Little White Lies and Huck Magazine—and Shillington graduate way back in the year 2000. His Instagram showcases his incredible illustrations—both from his editorial work and his own person experiments.

Oakland-based Oh No Type Co was founded in 2015. For the past five years, they’ve been creating some of the most exciting, lively type in the game. Their Instagram is not only a visual diary of these typefaces but Oh No also use it as a platform to teach the ins and outs of designing letters.

Shillington New York Graduate Sara Celano goes by the handle ‘strictlychalking’ and it’s easy to see why. Her feed is brimming with amazing chalk board hand lettering creations that Sara has been creating for bars, restaurants and more over the past five years.

Independent graphic designer and Shillington Manchester graduate Keir Mucklestone-Barnett has an envy-inducing Instagram. It features pictures of his own fantastic design alongside packaging, signage and ads he sees on his adventures. He also posts pictures of his cat Astrid—who is worth the follow alone.

Karan Singh is a designer, artist and illustrator who is currently living in Amsterdam. He has worked with global brands, including Apple, IMAX and Nike. His kaleidoscopic work is sure to brighten up your day when it flashes on to your timeline.

There’s never a boring day when you follow Mr Bingo. His brash but beautiful illustrations are always a delight, but make sure your boss isn’t looking over your shoulder when you’re scrolling. He also runs Watching Mr Bingo, where his fans take and share inconspicuous photos of him going about his day.

Working out of Brooklyn, Renald Louissaint is a designer and illustrator. His design work is heavily research and often plays with typography to create something abundant and detailed. His illustration contrasts this with its light and minimal aesthetic. Both are well worth following him for.

Timothy Winchester is the creative pseudonym of Shillington London Graduate Peter Howell. Under his pen name, he shares his ongoing comic book project, Littlest Friends. The comic features a group of animal friends, including owl Owlbert and dog Best Boy, as they hang out, eat pizza and help each other through life.

Brazilian illustrator Carmela Caldart lives and work in the Spanish city Barcelona. Her incredible illustrations are bold, beautiful and often humourous but also touch on subjects that Carmela is passionate about. They aim to be as diverse, inclusive and accessible as possible so will be a welcome addition to your follows.

NYC based Australian Gabby Lord curates a feed full of what inspires her—and it is bound to inspire you too! From street art and packaging from around New York to Gabby’s own work, there’s something for everyone. You may also know Gabby for her brilliant newsletter, OMGLord.

Russian designer Anastasiia Vinnichenko graduated Shillington Manchester in 2017 and now works for Manchester agency, Toy Fight. Her feed is an awesome mix of illustrations, motion graphics and type experiments.

Ryogo Toyoda is a 3D Illustrator and Motion Designer based in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Over the years he has worked for Apple, Nintendo and Disney to name just a few. His work is incredible detailed but also super fun, with characters and fantasy worlds appearing all cross his feed.

Shillington New York graduate Zita Walker has moved back to her native Sydney but you can still definitely see an American influence on her work. Inspired by American diners and vintage Hollywood, her illustrations will consistently transport you to another world full of dreamy purples and blues.

Canadian designer and Royal College of Art MA graduate Shelby Guergis uses her Instagram to document both her personal, professional and academic work. Her work is often poignant, contemplating things like the relationship between conflict and conversation and identity and division in Canada.

Scarlett Starling graduated from Shillington Sydney in 2018 and ever since has been filling her feed with her beautiful designs and illustrations. And she also does custom pet portraits so keep an eye out for her detailed pup drawings!

The brainchild of Shillington London teacher George Simkin and Shillington London graduate Juliette Van Rhyn (who you’ll find both of on this list!), Good Shape is the two designers experimenting with and exploring the intersections of design and play. Keep an eye on their feed for their latest creations!

Founder of A.N.D Studio, Aidan Nolan is a designer based in town of Huddersfield, in West Yorkshire, in the North of England. His Instagram is a great insight in to his practice, as well as some brilliant type experiments.

Shillington Manchester graduate Leroy Wadie is the Creative Director of ADA, a contemporary art gallery in Accra, Ghana and the co-owner of an agency called YOUNG in Amsterdam. Check his Instagram to see how he keeps himself busy designing, creating, inspiring and doing up their new space for ADA.

Sydney-based Shillumni and entrepreneur Erin Donati, aka The Darling Assembly, is a designer and self-confessed dachshund/breakfast/lettering lover. Her gorgeously curated Instagram showcases all that and more in pastel tones.

A Shillington New York graduate from 2019, Andrew Waterhouse has an Instagram full of amazing type experiments. It’s perfect for any budding type designer. On top of that, he also runs the account Empersant, a design and typography joke page.

Jade Purple Brown is an artist and illustrator who shares her time between New York and Chicago. Her feed is a barrage of incredible colour that she uses expertly throughout her portfolio.

A freelance art director and illustrator living in the Big Apple, Margherita Urbani has one of those feeds that you just can’t take your eyes off. Full of her own amazing work and her spots from around her home city, it’s a great place to grab some inspiration.

Sophie Nguyen graduated from Shillington London in 2018 and is now a freelance designer. Her Instagram is chock full of the incredible posters she creates—both for clients and as a side project for herself.

The Ambigram master Nikita Prokhorov is a lettering artist, graphic designer and teacher at Shillington New York. Following him is a must for type lovers—for his crazy type experiments and mind bending ambigrams.

Shillington Sydney graduate Natasha Michels is a designer at Nine Publishing and creative director of Sweaty City, an independent magazine on climate change and urban ecologies. Her Instagram is a gorgeously curated exploration of her life and work.

Yorkshireman Craig Oldham works at the helm of his own practice, The Office of Craig Oldham. His Instagram is a fascinating insight into what makes him tick—work, play and everything in between. He also ran GRAD SHOWCASE earlier in the year, sharing the work of design graduates from around the UK to his followers.

Hand painted type? Book covers? Murals? Yes, yes and yes—Isabel Urbina Peña’s feed has got it all. The multidisciplinary artist, who also has a seat on the AIGA NY Board of Directors, is definitely worth a follow.

After graduating from Shillington London in 2019, Mason El Hage has continued to use his Instagram to document his visual experiments. It’s well worth a dive into his various poster series that are inspired by everything from space travel to this year’s Coronavirus quarantine.

Whilst not keeping himself busy with his work for Birmingham Design, Design Fest Brum, Glug Birmingham or his freelance practice, Luke Tonge is sharing some absolute visual treats over on his Instagram. We also love his #FoxWatch in which he documents the foxes that play in his garden.

Vanessa Low, who freelances under the alias Studio Van Low, is a writer, maker, designer and Shillington Sydney graduate. Her wonderful Instagram is a diary of her design work and the vintage treasures she sells through her website.

Shillington London graduate Sammy Taylor, aka Lowest Case, has a feed that is an absolute treat for the eyes. With works inspired by vintage stickers, cathode ray tubes and charity shop bargain bins, there’s always something interesting to see.

Andy Cruz is the co-founder and art director of Delaware-based type foundry House Industries and also does the world a massive favour by running their Instagram. Their feed is full of their own amazing typefaces as well as other super cool stuff from around the world.

We are sure you’ve seen the work of incredible letterer and designer Lauren Home doing the rounds on the internet before and it’s really, really not hard to see why. We really love all her lettering posts popping up on our timeline and we’re sure you will too.

New York-based designer and musician and a teacher on Shillington’s Online Graphic Design Course, Marcea Decker is a person of many, many talents. She uses Instagram, amongst other things, to share one of her passions—her handmade, bleach designed clothing. Incredible stuff!

Freelance print and graphic designer Juliette van Rhyn studied on Shillington London’s part-time course. Her feed is sublime, full of both her incredible graphic design and textile print work. She also showcases her inspiration from her travels round the world, from Valencia to Tokyo.

Adé Hogue is a Chicago-based lettering artist and designer that is doing some very cool things with some unusual materials. He’s created words and lettering pieces out of limes, ash, pine needles and Reese’s Pieces to name just a few. He’s absolutely worth following—his creations will blow your mind when they pop up on your timeline!

Singaporean designer Pan Limm is 1/4 of the family art collective Holycrap, who produce the amazing Rubbish famzine, and creative director of Kinetic. His Instagram is a great way to keep up with his work and also what his amazing creative family are up to. It’s also well worth keeping up to speed when the latest issue of Rubbish is dropping!

Rob Robinson is a Shillington New York graduate still based in the city. His feed is not only full of his amazing design work but also some brilliant photos, collages, t-shirt graphics and digital paintings that Rob dabbles in too. A lot of talent and awesome work all in one convenient place!

Wildlogic is a multi-disciplinary design space founded and run by Edinah, a visual designer and artist. They describe themselves as “a visually passionate design space creating affirming and empowering art” and their Instagram delivers that by the bucket load. It showcases some incredible work with messages that anyone can go by.

Founder and creative director of Barcelona’s astounding Hey Studio, Verònice Fuerte is definitely one of our favourite people to follow on Instagram. Pictures of the studio’s bold, bright work combined with photos of the amazing city where Verònica is based make for a very jealousy-inducing feed.

Emily Comfort is an artist, designer and Shillington New York teacher and definitely should be added to your Follows list. In fact, her collage work is worth pressing that Follow button—and there’s design, photography and some type-based work to boot as well.

Full of colour and character, one word that applies to Hattie Stewart’s work is ‘eye-catching’. And, with that in mind, her Instagram doesn’t disappoint. It’s full of her incredible drawings and magazine cover remixes and truly showcases her trademark cartoon style.

Shillington Melbourne graduate Carolyn Hawkins is a designer, printmaker, illustrator and ceramicist all rolled in to one. Her Instagram is a celebration of all her creative endeavours and is full of her beautiful work—not to be missed.

Nina Hamer is a designer based in Manchester and one part of Make Room Zine (alongside Alexandra Francis who is further up this list!). Oh, and she’s also a Shillington graduate. Her feed features a good dose of her adorable illustration and design work.

Italian designer Gianluca Alla has some of the most unconventional and exciting type experiments in the game right now. Working from his London-based studio, his posts are guaranteed to make you smile—and occasionally boggle your mind.

Agata Yamaguchi is a Tokyo-based designer working under the alias Collé (which means ‘to glue’ or ‘to stick things together’ in French). Agata’s feed is filled with some truly extraordinary design work—from packaging to digital and everything in between.

Tyler Spangler was once a psychologist and also ran a punk venue for 13 years before embarking on a career as a designer. Colourful and trippy, his Instagram is a great destination when searching for a bit of inspiration.

Pamela Ramirez is a Shillington New York graduate and a designer with a penchant for typography. Her Instagram documents her truly incredible calligraphy work, which just gets better and better as time goes on. It will leave you shopping for a new calligraphy pen!

Illustrator and designer Sabrena Khadija has been on our radar for a while now and her work just keeps getting better and better. Her colourful, stripped back illustrations are an absolute joy and will brighten up your timeline every time Sabrena posts.

A designer that needs absolutely no introduction but definitely deserves a follow! The creative director of design powerhouse &Walsh constantly updates her Instagram with the studio’s work, as well as their super fun art directed photo shoots.

You may know him as Mr. Dazzle but no matter what you know them as, Zipeng Zhu is one of the loudest and definitely the most dazzling graphic designers out there. His work is full of impact and as colourful as it gets and we absolutely love everything he posts.

Shillington New York graduate Brandin Graham is always posting his design experiments—playing with clothing design, illustration, packaging and loads more. He’s well worth a follow to keep up with what he’s working on next!

The undisputed Queen of Murals, you’ll likely have seen some of Camille Walala’s work somewhere on your travels—from East London to Hong Kong. Give her a follow to see where her next amazing work is going to be (and maybe to help plan your next trip?!)

Kate Moross’ Instagram is exactly what you would expect from the creative director of the wonderful Studio Moross. Kate constantly shares the studio’s unparalleled work alongside their frankly incredible outfits and equally incredible and ever-changing haircuts.

Dan Gurney is a Manchester-based graphic designer and illustrator who graduated from Shillington London last year. His feed is full of playful and often topical illustrations in psychedelic colours that are very pleasing to the eye.

After studying at Shillington Melbourne way back in 2008, Yarron Fraunfelder has gone from strength to strength. Now, as a graphic designer and art director, he has worked across the globe and his Instagram reflects this. Some truly beautiful work.

New York-based designer and illustrator Sophia Yeshi is producing some absolutely fantastic work right now—and her Instagram feed is definitely testament to that. Packed with illustrations, portraits and type in Sophia’s beautiful colour palette, you won’t go wrong with following her feed.

Paul Hallows is an illustrator and designer from Manchester. With a strong founding in repetition, his pattern based work is usually made up of real life objects like beach umbrellas, electricity pylons or fish. They’re honestly mesmerising.

Shillington Manchester graduate Halah El-Kholy is a graphic designer for Brew Tea Co, and an incredible illustrator and designer in her own right. Cats, dogs and a whole lotta ladies have all got her beautiful hand painted treatment so keep an eye on her feed for more visual treats.

Designer and Shillington Sydney Teacher Missy Dempsey’s Instagram bio promises that she’ll “bring the colour” and even the quickest flick through her feed shows that that is no lie. Her Instagram and the work she shows on it is full of colour and totally full of magic.

Another Shillington graduate but this time from Melbourne, Mary Lin is an super talented designer and letterer. Her Instagram is full of glimpses of her work and make sure you follow her before the next 36 Days of Type—her results are always incredible.

Designer, children’s book illustrator and Shillington’s Northern Hemisphere Director Shanti Sparrow uses her Instagram to document her fabulous design work. Type experiments, branding, packaging, editorial and more—her feed has got it all.

Alex Trochut is a Spanish designer working out of Brooklyn. His Instagram documents his constant experiments, most recently with 3D type, and is well worth a follow for a foray into his world and an occasional behind-the-scenes glance at his practice.

Creative director of London branding agency Ragged Edge, Luke Woodhouse knows his onions when it comes to branding. He uses to his Instagram to document the studio’s work and his travels around town—and the world.

Manchester-based graphic designer and Shillington teacher Lovish Saini’s feed is sure to warm the heart. Amazing designs and photographs full of smiles makes it a win of a follow.

Absolutely guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, Sabrina Dorsainvil’s work will always shine out on your timeline. She’s an artist, designer and illustrator—who has also been painting walls all over her hometown.

We hope that’s got you on your way to filling your Instagram timeline with some seriously amazing design work. Hopefully making those times when you’re mindlessly scrolling a bit more productive! Don’t forget to follow Shillington on there too, of course. 

Want to join in with the design fun? Check out Shillington’s innovative graphic design course and become a graphic designer in three months full-time or nine months part-time in New York, London, Manchester, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Online.

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