Sixto-Juan Zavala (he/they) is a designer and illustrator from Texas, USA currently based in Dundee, UK. He holds an MA in Narrative Environments from UAL: Central Saint Martins and a BFA in Communication Design from Texas State University. He specialises in graphic design, exhibition design, and illustration. Zavala is especially interested in culture, marginalised groups, the environment, and how visual communication and spatial design can facilitate cultural change.
Zavala is the winner of the 2021 Spatial Cultural Equity award from the Spatial Practices Program Prizes and was nominated for a MullenLowe NOVA Award, the Spatial Practices Prize, and The Steve Lumby Drawing Prize. He has been published in multiple publications including Graphis Poster Annual 2019, Plant Kingdom: Design with Plant Aesthetics (2015), Communication Arts Design Annual 56 (2015), and has exhibited work at The People’s Gallery (Austin, TX), Mexic-Arte Museum (Austin, TX), Gravelmouth Gallery (San Antonio, TX), and Silkwörm Gallery (San Antonio, TX).
Projects
- A Dash of Lavender 2022For LGBTQ+ History Month, Chelsea Physic Garden collaborated with Queer Botany to look at plants and the Garden through a queer lens. Queer Botany aims to share marginalised perspectives, support more diverse representations in the environment and outdoors, and acknowledge connections between queerness and plants. Historically the LGBTQ+ community has been stigmatised and often referred to as being ‘unnatural’, however the natural world has many connections with queerness. One set of examples c
- Little Joe SixLittle Joe is a magazine published and edited by Sam Ashby about queers and cinema, mostly. Issue six contains an article by Black Venus titled "BloodSister: Leather, Dykes and Sadomasochism", "Born to Raise Hell: An Interview with Roger Earl" by Jonesy, an Artist Commission by Martine Syms, and much more. The 192 page magazine uses mostly hot pink and black ink throughout, with the exception of Martine Syms' contribution using four-color printing on gloss paper, and is offset printed in an edit
- Sommerrausch DeluxeGerman glass manufacturing company, Ritzenhoff, needed illustrations for a line of glassware based around summer time and the apéritif. The Sommerrausch Collection features artwork by Zavala and three other artists on bulbous stem glasses. The brief asked to make two full-color illustrations with a gold application to be printed on the glasses with an additional clear varnish that protects the image. The artwork features digital collages based on botanical ingredients for two specific forms of t
Work history
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DesignerSixto-Juan Zavala
Dundee, United KingdomFreelance
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Visual CommunicatorMexic-Arte Museum
- Austin, United StatesFull Time
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Skills
- Print Design
- Illustration
- Typography
- Branding
- Exhibit Design
- Graphic Design
- Art Direction
- Visual Communication
Education
MA Narrative EnvironmentsCentral Saint Martins (UAL)
- London, United Kingdom
MA Narrative Environments responds to the growing need for multidisciplinary collaboration and critical, socially-engaged design. It addresses the demand for meaningful visitor experiences in cultural, commercial and community environments. This encompasses heritage sites, museums, retail, travel and leisure destinations, urban public spaces, libraries, health and educational
environments.
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BFA Communication DesignTexas State University
- San Marcos, United States