Meet Cleo De Laney: Graphic Designer + Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cleo De Laney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cleo, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think risk is different for every individual. What might be a risk for me could be a daily habit for someone else – risk is very subjective. I think if you consider it through the lens of design, it makes a lot of sense to take risks in order to push yourself beyond your own immediate thoughts and solutions. It creates a healthy and fresh body of work, I think. And hopefully with a bit of failure mixed in too, for balance. When I back up a bit to consider risk in life, outside of creative pursuits, it’s harder to assess. I’m very cautious as a person, and have to be intentional about nurturing the part of me that makes decisions assertively. But I think it might be wrong to separate them, and that risks in life and in design are one and the same. If you zoom even further out, it is a risk to cross the street, or choose sprouts for lunch, or wear flamboyant pants, or fall in love, but you can never truly predict what will happen because of these things. So best to go ahead and take these risks, because I think in the end it makes life richer.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m really just beginning my career and am still evolving so much as a designer. I don’t have a fully defined practice and way I go about things yet. However I do have certain things I seek to incorporate into my work, when I can. Escapism and surreal environments are very comforting to me. I like visuals that feel like swimming pools, or the way glass is when it melts or like silver being fused? Liquid materials are very energizing and inspiring to me, although maybe that all sounds ridiculous. I would describe my work as joyful and cheeky and sometimes a little sad. My journey to design as a profession came about almost accidentally. I feel like I blinked and then was in it but that maybe I had been subconsciously doing it the whole time. The short story is that I took my liberal arts degree on a very meandering path and tried out a lot of things, and then tripped and fell and when I woke up I was in a circus and now I am here. I also can’t take full credit for where I am today, as I had a team of supporters in the shape of family and friends that pushed me and loved me along the way. That’s the true answer. So many of the challenges were lessened by not having to face them alone.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh boy. My greatest loves in Atlanta are foods and anyone who knows me knows of my true passion, eating. When people visit I plan lengthy itineraries that leave you with no breathing room in between meals. In no order my top top right now are: 1. Snackboxe Bistro: You can’t convince me there are better flavor combinations than in Lao cuisine. I’m new to exploring it but the heat with lime juice and fish sauce and sugar is perfect. I have never been let down by a dish. 2. Little’s: I order my small cheeseburgers here and have them with a bottle of wine and walk through Oakland Cemetery. Also Cabbagetown is such a beauty to walk through on a sunny day. 3. Tassili’s Raw Reality: The kale wraps are worth the wait. Heavy like a baby and delicious like a baby but made of the spiciest kale. So much more than the sum of its parts and impossible to describe properly. Vegan, plants, and spice. 4. East 48th Street Market: Very fine Italian sandwiches. Perfect ingredients. Get the simple ones with mozzarella, roasted red peppers, olive oil and salt. Everything is good. Also they sell the ~fancy~ canned tuna which to me is a real win. 5. Carniceria el Ejido in East Point is a favorite spot for pupusas and tacos. Food that makes my rose run and under-eyes steamy is important to me.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mother taught me to appreciate color and form and texture through food and furniture. My father taught me to appreciate tiny, beautiful and insignificant things in the natural world. Both of them have given me enough of a sense of humor to continue imagining things for myself and to pursue creative work. Additionally, the beginning of my journey was greatly influenced by my time at The Creative Circus and the mentorship I found there; Christopher Knowles shaped my approach to design from the point when I didn’t even understand what the word meant. It’s tricky for me to articulate without rambling on but I think one of the most lasting lessons has been to approach work boldly and joyfully, and with intention. And that you use your brain but I think you shouldn’t get trapped by only using your brain.

Website: http://cleodelaney.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clebaby_wrk/