Jan 2025: Ciao Milano 🇮🇹 La Tigre, Cecilia Melil & More 🍹


What's happening in January?
Spotlight City:
Milano
Interview: La Tigre

January 2025

Artwork by La Tigre Milano

Hey Reader!

Happy New Year! 🎉

We’re kicking off 2025 in style, and what better way to start than by celebrating all things Milano? This city is bursting with creative energy—and we’re here for it!

Over the past few months, we’ve been listening closely to our incredible community, and building out an exciting TDK calendar for the year ahead. Expect fresh events, inspiring talks, and plenty of opportunities to connect, learn, and grow.

If your folio needs a 2025 glow-up, don’t forget to check out our 💥 Five-Day Folio Sprint 💥—the ultimate jump-start for leveling up your work.

Also, on Feb 3 keep an eye out for our TDK Awards winners announcement on our website, and our IG!

Here’s to a year of creativity, collaboration, and making 2025 your most inspired year yet.

Enjoy the issue!

💙


Support TDK: The Design Kids relies on your support to create community, connection and impact for emerging graphic designers around the world. If you would like to sponsor an issue of TDK Monthly, just hit reply or learn more here.

Buongiorno, da Milano!

Milano is a powerhouse of design, and rich heritage. A global hub for creativity, this amazing city’s graphic design scene thrives on elegance, bold ideas, and storytelling. We can't wait to visit again!! 💙

From sleek typography to global branding powerhouses, Milano’s designers lead the way in shaping global aesthetic, fuelled by events like Milan Design Week (Salone del Mobile Milano). Soak it up!

If you're a Milan-based designer and would like to collaborate with us — just hit reply!

Ciao La Tigre! 🧡

We caught up with Milan's La Tigre graphic design studio this month and they give us a glimpse of their amazing work and some of the best their beautiful city has to offer!

Tell us a little about your studio

LaTigre is a graphic design studio based in Milan founded and directed by Luisa Milani and Walter Molteni. The studio has been constantly and tirelessly searching for multiform and kaleidoscopic visual languages since 2009.

The main features of their formal research are synthesis and a vibrant use of color where the boundary between abstract and figurative often dissolves. The language, clean and sophisticated, lively and elegant, combines the rigor of the project with aesthetic lightness.

Luisa Milani and Walter Molteni are members of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).

What are some of your favourite places and things to do in your city?

We have a bunch of places to suggest! Commerce bookshop, Fondazione Achille Castiglioni Triennale di Milano, Section80 bar and Enoteca La Botte for drinks, DJ sets and various design-y/art-y events. Galleria Oxilia, Cinema Beltrade, La Buka for clubbing, Pavè for breakfast. Al Tatto for a veggie chic dinner. Da Silvano for wine and fast but great dinner.

Who inspires you and your practice?

The AGI Congress! It begins with a showcase of the new members' presentations, offering a fascinating zapping through diverse perspectives. Every year, we encounter incredibly inspiring individuals—and in that moment, witnessing their varied approaches, journeys, mindsets, and backgrounds reminds us that everyone has a unique and original way of being. This realization has been one of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned in recent years.

What three pieces of advice would you give someone feeling stuck in their career to make them really take off?

  1. Be inspired by others' work is fine, but it’s important to interpret it through your own unique lens.
  2. If you’re a banana, don’t try to be an apple. Some people love bananas, even if apples happen to be trendier right now.
  3. We find the quote of Yun men, a zen master of the century, really meaningful. It says: "Those who do not seek are asleep; those who seek are beggars."

Ciao TDK City Host Cecilia Meli! 🧡

My name is Cecilia, I am an independent Art Director e Visual Designer based in Milan. I’m specialized in creation and management of brand identities, commissioned by direct clients as brands, companies and designers, as well as by creative studios.

Beyond that, I’m a true paper lover, literally obsessed with typography and always curious about what’s on in my city. And also when I travel, I always get in touch with local creative people. I'm the Milanese host of #TDKtuesdays, a free monthly series of inspiring talks.

Using the format of STUDIO VISIT, the events are taking place in hidden gems of my hometown as illustrators ateliers, creative studios, an tiny labs.

The idea behind this project is to give people a unique chance to peer into the “behind the scene” of creative processes, getting in touch with professionals and being part of a creative community.

Instagram | Website | LinkedIn

Milan Studio Spotlight: Studio FM & ParcoStudio

Studio FM Milano Studio FM Milano
Studio FM Milano Parco.Studio Milan
Parco.Studio Milan Parco.Studio Milan

Stuff we love ❤️

Type Studio

Dirtyline Studio

Ah! Fonts!

Dirtyline is digital type foundry & graphic design studio in Indonesia and we just LOVE their fonts.

Design Tools

The Master Slides

Amazing resources for your next presentation!

This is an amazing set of slides templates for your next presentation — slick, simple and so very usable. Made by a kick-ass Designer for Designers.

Check them out

Brand Guides

Dropbox Brand Guidelines

Drool 🤤

It's one of those 'wish I made this' moments. DB dropped their latest brand guidelines website this week and Designer-Internet went a little bit wooWoo!

Learn more

Online Course

The Process Masterclass

Elite level learning

The Process Masterclass was one of the first and is still one of the best courses to learn the process of design!

Check it out

Jump in and RSVP to the next #TDKtuesdays event in your city. So much more to come on this front!! Artwork by our amazing Mexico City Host Gabriel Tinoco 🧡

We built The Five-Day Folio Sprint to help get your folio into shape!. You get five-days of advice, guidance, inspiration and tools to level up your folio. What are you waiting for?!

Jobs & Classifieds 👩🏽‍⚖️👩🏽‍💻👩🏼‍🏫👨🏾‍💻

Job: Full Time

Sydney: Brand Designer

Brand studio Brandmate are looking for a Brand Designer to help them bring their brands to life!

Apply Now


Discount!

10% off Lonely Planet!

Our friends at Lonely Planet have kindly offered The Design Kids a 10% discount on their travel products including free shipping!

Grab the discount


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Support TDK: The Design Kids relies on your support to create community, connection and impact for emerging graphic designers around the world. If you own a studio, business, product, service or school that supports designers and would like to sponsor an issue of TDK Monthly, just hit reply or learn more here.

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