Tell us about yourself:
Hiya! My name is Taylin Wells, and I am a Latinx Designer and Illustrator. I graduated from KU with a BFA in Visual Communications and am currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Innovation Design at Wichita State University. I was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, and during that time, I grew to express myself through creative outlets, since I could grab a pencil. Even when the world and emotions were hard to comprehend, I would create things to try to understand them. Or at the very least, understand myself. My style of creation can be described as playful, colorful, and inspired by nature. I believe adding light and color to a world that can be rough is so incredibly essential, as it helped me grow up and become the type of creative I am today. I am currently a printing production specialist and graphic designer at Wichita State University. I also own a small art and stationery business called Taylin Wells Designs, where I create and sell my illustrations and designs through various projects. If you want someone to yap about art, design, music, coffee, food, plants, animals, I’m your bud.
What is the inspiration behind your poster design?
Thinking of community and the idea of “It takes a village,” I was inspired by elements of nature. There, many living things are all connected in some form or another, and are critical for survival and growth. One such instance is the relationship between different types of pollinators and plants. They both need each other to grow and survive, yet they are all so different from each other. I felt that it resonated with how, with community and diversity, we are all still connected and can help each other grow and survive as well. So, in this design, I included a few different types of pollinators in nature, as well as the botanical elements that benefit from them.
Please tell us why you think inclusivity and solidarity are essential in our society…
I believe that inclusivity and solidarity are essential to our society because of the many things we can learn from each other. To create new things and develop new ideas, we have to look to many different people from different walks of life to gain perspective in order to open up new avenues of thinking. Community is so incredible and important to people, and it’s so fun seeing people who have different life experiences, memories, talents, all express themselves have a space to share those things with each other. I truly wouldn’t be who I am without these things. Growing up as a queer biracial child it was at times hard fitting in certain spaces. So the spaces I did feel accepted and safe in were so special to me. And I want others to have the same too.
How can we create a more inclusive design world and ensure that everyone is represented?
Expressing your perspective and ideas, and sharing them with others, is an amazing way to showcase your walk of life. If we can learn about each other and really look, listen, and see people and their entire selves, we can do so much good together. Designers are good at creating meaningful work, so I hope creating spaces to learn from each other can make something amazing.
So what I always say to others, regardless of who they are or where they are in life, is to create! Just create! Make things! Put it out there! Don’t care what others think or about algorithms or traction. Just do the thing. You never know who your creations will resonate with. It’s also a great way to learn to accept yourself for who you are and where you come from.
