Leif Podhajsky has been one of my favorite artists for a long time! His designs, work ethic and values have stood as an influence into my own views as an artist and human being. For a senior project, I created this zine researching his journey, artwork, life, and influence in the design community.
Alongside images of his work, I also created spreads of my own, using style and textures influenced by his past designs. Using strong contrast and heavy abstracted imagery, depicting strong morals and symbolism, I worked to design spreads that could flow in style alongside his work seamlessly.
Leif Podhajsky found his love of art at a very young age through its allure of graphic shapes, photography and drawing. A passion for all things art, Podhajsky had a difficult time choosing a singular path of study. Finding inspiration in illustrations from Tolkien, and the iconic album covers of Pink Floyd, Yes, and Led Zeppelin, he would create work with strong graphic motifs, leading to his selection for study of graphic design. Upon completion, he began working as a web designer but found it to be lackluster as a career.
Leif decided to leave his job as a web designer and after opening up his own studio, he began creating designs based on values, rather than literal portrayals of ideas that many design agencies create. He broke from constraints of marketing design and dove deep into the emotive spectrum of art
One of Leifs biggest accomplishments, is his influence over the music industry through album cover art. Working with musicians, to capture feelings received by the listening of music, into the design of their cover. Music has always been such a strong influence in my life, and his work has brought music to life in a visual way. Something I hope to be able to do one day.
“Ideally I like to spend a lot of time with the music working out a story and concept which I can capture the whole album’s feel and flow. I think that’s the hardest part, creating one image which encompasses an entire album of story and emotion. So no matter if it’s physical or digital, an image will tell the viewer something about what the band stands for, what the music will feel like. It’s an idea, an ethos, a visual identity for musical journeys.”
Throughout his career, Podhajsky has worked to portray the strong ideals of connection, nature, love,magic, emotion, and the human psyche. Podhajsky works to depict emotion from the project that he currently works on, into an individual image that connects to the human mind and heart.
“Communicating its ideas, emotion and power in a single frame, but leaving enough room for interpretation and intrigue. For me, setting the tone is just as important as conveying the message. Hemingway did something similar in the way he wrote using words with a direct and simple structure to transmit emotion, allowing the reader to fill in the blanks with their own imagination.”
While his portfolio grows, Podhajsky reaffirms the importance of incorporating good into work: Nature, emotion, magic, psyche, and most importantly, loves should inspire the world around us to become a better place to be.
“Love towards other people is important. We all appreciate it and we all need it so it’s a core factor of how we communicate and express ourselves creatively. I try to put a lot of good feelings into my work and I think that comes across in the composition and the color.”
