Meet Justin Horstmann | Architectural Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Justin Horstmann and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Admittedly, the Kidfue project arose naturally without much deliberate intention. An education in architectural design pushed me toward a career in designing marketing graphics for a large 3D modeling software company. Over time, the strict brand guidelines and endless stakeholder reviews typical in the corporate world weren’t conducive to feeling artistically challenged and inspired. Kidfue was born as a means of exercising my creativity, pursuing new techniques, and indulging my wildest creative whims – I found it incredibly therapeutic. Over time, the project gained traction with a passionate audience, commission-seekers, and print-buyers. While I still consider it in the beginning stages, I slowly started believing that I had stumbled onto something worth pursuing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My work lives in a niche world that blends architecturally-driven graphics and surreal imaginative concepts, with fuzzy, analog textures. The Kidfue project was born during the pandemic and has steadily grown into something I’m truly proud of. I’ve been lucky to work with dream clients that I couldn’t have ever anticipated and have prints sitting in people’s homes worldwide (which again, blows my mind.) The two biggest lessons learned in my artistic journey have been letting go of expectations and being comfortable with imperfection.

Before this project, I spent nearly a decade creating graphics and music of various styles with only my immediate family and close friends paying attention. As an artist, when you invest a ton of energy into your craft, it can sometimes feel like a growing audience is the only barometer of whether or not your art is good, and if the invested energy was worth it. Admittedly, I spent a long time jaded, unmotivated and focused entirely on the wrong things. Eventually, I realized that the only thing I had control over was making myself happy and that, despite living in a metric-driven world, the act of doing should be enough to feel fulfilled. I won’t lie: it feels rewarding to have a growing audience paying attention to my work, however, the years and years of creating without anyone paying attention made me completely detach from the notion of gauging success by metrics. At the end of the day, if I like what I’m making, my work is done. If the Kidfue project came crashing down and I lost everything, I would still design every day because I find the exercise therapeutic and relaxing.

Artistically, I used to be an over-tinkerer, always striving for perfection and often overworking concepts to the point of disillusion. Through building up a huge volume of work, I’ve slowly become more comfortable with the idea of imperfection – from how my finished graphics look to intentionally leaving things unfinished in my workflows. I’m not focused on creating the one singular piece of art that defines my artistic career, but rather, just showing up every day, building a large volume of imperfect, 80% done work, then looking back and recognizing the through line. I remind myself to keep moving forward, never second-guessing my initial creative instincts, and knowing the distinction between “good enough” and endless tinkering. Progress comes through iteration, not necessarily always contrived intention. It took years of frustration and over-baked concepts to realize that the most important thing to staying motivated is to be kind to myself, let go of expectations, and focus on just having fun.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
While I don’t live in Los Angeles, I occasionally visit my partner’s family in Pasadena. Candidly, our time there is entirely dictated by the everchanging whims of a highly energetic 6-year-old. So while I’m perhaps not qualified to design a dream itinerary suited for your average visiting adult, I can tell you that making sand castles at Venice Beach, falling out of swing sets at The Rose Bowl, and getting blueberry pancakes at Millie’s Cafe on East Washington is a really, really good time.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Perhaps the most profound influence on my work was when I discovered George Wylesol, a Baltimore-based illustrator who meshes simple, line-driven imagery, outlandish visual concepts, and grungy textures. Before finding his work, I experimented with digital textures, often adding digital noise, paper overlays, and various dither techniques to my imagery… but it always felt fake. I compare it to using a Lightroom film preset versus shooting an actual film photo; as convincing as the digital emulation might be, it doesn’t have the same genuine feel as an analog film photo.

George’s work was the first time I felt something nuanced and real was happening in his imagery. After scouring his Instagram feed for the occasional clue and diving into podcast interviews with him, I discovered his method of taking digital designs, printing them with a laser printer, and scanning them back into his computer. This was a revelation to me. Armed with enthusiasm and a thumb drive of graphics, I ventured to my local print shop and was entirely convinced when I saw the scanned results. I promptly changed my whole workflow and fully embraced analog imperfection. It’s the defining component of why I think my work resonates with so many; in an era of digital, clinical perfection, the nostalgia of a fuzzy image feels like a warm, welcomed deviation.

Website: https://kidfue.com

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

Other: My Spotify, where I release music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7N1B8hS4Glijoa1YUlGnVs?si=zCir8seLQ7mKZzHgzSTeFQ

Image Credits
Headshot by Kevin Horstmann (https://www.instagram.com/kevin.horstmann/)