Byebye Donald: How designers process the Trump-era creatively

With Donald Trump as the president of the United States of America, the world has been through a lot. It has been a wild ride full of fake news, thousand of tweets, embarrassments, and political scandals. Four years it was all eyes on Donald. Magazine covers, political cartoons, photo installations, and design activism have been part of his era as much as his slips of the tongue (remember “covfefe”). High time to have a trip down memory lane!

Edel Rodriguez was the artist behind Donald Trump covers for publications such as Time magazine or Der Spiegel, responsible for some of the most famous depictions of Trump since 2016. Rodriguez created over 150 illustrations of the outgoing president and saw it as his duty to deny him the traditional treatment that a president would get. The illustrator wanted to keep a visual record of the racist, misogynist, and illegal conduct of this president for future generations.

Forward Festival speaker Erik Kessels gave visitors of UNSEEN 2017 the chance of a lifetime: to Jump on Trump. The installation was part of “Photo Pleasure Palace”, a project by the Dutch photographer and artist Thomas Mailaender.

The German illustrator Christoph Niemann is responsible for over 20 New Yorker covers and sees his ironic portrays of Trump as a creative relief.

Artist Na Kim has regularly graced the pages of the New York Times with her art. She describes the experience of illustrating Trump as “mentally, personally, and creatively grueling.”

Berlin-based design studio DXTR did a beautiful piece in their very own style, when Joe Biden was announced as president-elect.

And last but not least, one of our favorites: The Bye Baby by Caleb Powdrill. The UK-artist says: “Trump was outraged when his grotesque inflatable baby caricature was paraded through the streets of London, but with the events that unfolded yesterday he continues to show that it was an incredibly accurate portrayal.⁠”