Diane Lindquist

Diane Lindquist is a sharp, intuitive, multifaceted creative with a multidisciplinary design career spanning the last two decades. Her award-winning work runs the gamut from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, cross-sectoring industries such as NASA, RedBull, Google, Apple, Kickstarter, Everytable, and Center of Nonprofit Management. She freelances under her studio Lindquist&Co and is the founder of GURL Museum Day, a platform for intersectional women claiming space in museums and galleries. She is a first-generation Latinx cancer survivor with monocular vision (exemplified by her literal golden eye). In her rare downtime, she enjoys visiting coffee shops, traveling, and spending time with her husband and their two cats, Didi and Lulu.

Hi Diane! Tell us about yourself - how did you get to where you are today?

¡Hola! My journey to becoming who I am today has been filled with more unexpected twists than you might imagine. When I was two years old I had a battle put in front of me. I was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma, cancer on the retina, which affected my right eye. I overcame it through treatment and multiple surgeries but was left with monocular vision. Because I lacked half my vision, I became obsessed with capturing everything visually. As a child, I would stop to appreciate architecture, the light, and the colors or types I would see. As a teenager, I wandered into museums on free admission days to see art. Seeing and studying the works of artists incited a lifelong passion. It drove me to become the artist, designer, and design director I am today. Being a first-generation Latinx daughter with vision impairment, I had limitations in how I got to where I am now. I didn’t have any internships because I had to work to support myself. I don’t drive, which limited some of the jobs I could take at the beginning. I had to take a non-typical path, however, with hard work I was able to build a career that aligned with the lifestyle and goals I want to achieve. I now run Lindquist&Co and am the founder of GURL Museum Day.

How would you describe your design aesthetic and how has it changed over time?

I work in two realms that require creative solutions—one as an artist and the other as a designer. As a designer, my aesthetic is shaped by the solution I am trying to achieve for a client. As an artist, my aesthetic shines by the intent I have for the work. Over the years, I have been able to hone my aesthetic with elements of my childhood and fuse it with learning and personal discovery. For example, growing up in Los Angeles I loved the hand-lettering I would see around my neighborhood. I have a fondness for the bold type. From my culture, I gained a deep sense of how to use color. From my learning and discovery, I have embraced minimalism, abstraction, and so on. I’m always taking in new things.

When you work with your clients through your design studio, Lindquist & Co, how do you approach creative collaboration?

Each creative collaboration is a bespoke project. Depending on the project I want to give the client a unique treatment while maintaining my design process.

What does your design process look like?

I have three steps. First, I gather information. This can be from the client or research which will formulate a direction to proceed into the second phase. Second is the discovery phase. I dive in and build upon problem-solving with the direction I’ve developed. Third is the refinement phase. I continue to work until the problem is solved. Prior to taking these steps, the client and I make a contract to address these steps and what they entail for each project so we are in agreement on what the expectations are for each step of the design process.

In addition to your design work, you are also the founder of GURL Museum Day. Tell us about GURL Museum Day - what led you to create the organization and how can people get involved?

After losing my mother to ovarian cancer, I turned inward. My mother was there for me every day I had cancer. She was my advocate, her task twice as difficult being an immigrant who was not fluent in English. I wanted to be there for her in the same way and her passing was sudden. I went back to the things that brought me joy when she was around. I thought of the free museum days I would attend as a teenager. I started going alone again to museums and galleries. It was a way of reconnecting. Most of my gurlpals did not know about the places I visited. They would see the photos I posted on social media and began to beg me to let them come along. The day I caved in was the day GMD was born. During our first organized trip, I realized it was about more than me. It was about inspiring each other and connecting with other women over the shared experience of art. You can be as active as you want. You participate simply by using #GURLMuseumDay on Instagram to claim your space at a museum, gallery, or art space or you can join an official tour. To find out more visit our website at gurlmuseumday.com

What are your thoughts on the importance of community in art and design?

My first sense of belonging was when I volunteered for AIGA Los Angeles. The camaraderie of fellow designers and luminaries within our field was inspirational at the beginning of my career. I served for a time as a board member, learning valuable insights and creating everlasting friendships. Those connections with the design community I hold dearly to this day. That sense of belonging is what I hope to foster with GMD. Women belong in museums, but we are remarkably underrepresented. Over the past decade, only 14% of all exhibitions at 26 prominent US museums were works by women artists. It’s even less for women of color. GMD provides a community where we can belong by literally putting our bodies into museums, galleries, and art spaces. We are claiming space to show we are here and can change this dynamic in solidarity.

What’s one of your favorite projects you’ve worked on so far? What would be your dream project?

Last year I created a large-scale crowd-sourced exhibition with the City of Los Angeles at Grand Park called At Home. I loved having the opportunity to tell diverse stories of home and what home means to people from all walks of life. As a designer, I have had the great fortune to collaborate with great brands and companies. I would love to continue doing so. My dream design project would be Nike. My dream art project would be something that incites community engagement.

Where do you find creative inspiration?

I find inspiration while seeking out art. It could be a color or the subject matter of a painting or a great design campaign from someone I’ve never met. I love seeing what others create and believe it changes how I see.

What advice would you give to designers looking to enter the world of freelance design?

Make mistakes but don’t regret them. Learn the lesson and press on.

Thank you for sharing with us Diane! To view more of Diane’s work, visit her website, check out her Dribbble page, and follow her on Instagram. You can also visit GURL Museum Day and attend an event near you!

Diane was nominated by Dribbble. All art courtesy of Diane Lindquist.