In the world of designing art, there are many artists that have their own style of design. They become known for their type of style and hired for projects that their style fits. One designer and illustrator, Nicholas Moegly, certainly has his own sense of style in the work that he creates. His line of work all fits well together when put side by side and his Instagram is a great example of how well they all look when gathered in one place. Each piece of work tells its own story while still following the same style, whether it’s for a poster, an advertisement, a print, or album art for the music industry (Colasuonno, 2019). His small hand-drawn illustrations give a lovely sense as if looking at realistic photos. He’s also designed some hand-lettering pieces that show quotes in an elegant way. I selected this designer because looking at his work gives me a sense of calmness. His work plays a lot with light and shadows, and it is extremely satisfying to see how realistic he can draw things you see around outside. Houses, street sides, animals, and trees are some examples of the things he has drawn in his pieces of work. Nicholas stated that he likes to create quiet serene moments that are typically at night. Creating mood was one of his favorite things about his style (Colasuonno, 2019). He works a lot with using monochromatic colors in his designs, which could also a reason his illustrations give a sense of mood.
Nicholas Moegly is a designer and illustrator from the Midwest. His work “specializes in creating moody, dark, nostalgic imagery that plays with light and shadows” (Moegly, 2021). The creative way he uses light coming from a streetlight, or even the sunlight shining through an open window truly sets the mood.
Sometimes he uses monochromatic cool colors and other times warm colors which helps the audience get a sense of whether it is nighttime or daytime in the piece. His work is mostly influenced by nighttime photography, not by any particular artists, just a collection of things he found online (Colasuonno, 2019). His designing career started during his third year of college in 2009, when he created his own personal brand called Moegly Design. After he graduated with a marketing degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Business in 2011, he worked for several companies and agencies while still maintaining his own brand. His first job, he worked for 10 months as a web analyst/designer for Axcess Financial, “designing, sending, and analyzing data of all their email marketing” (Linkedin, 2021). His last 2 months working there, he started working as a lead designer for Mindbox Studios at the same time. Mindbox Studios is a web design and development studio located in Cincinnati which focuses on web and mobile applications. There he spent his time creating the overall look and feel while leading production of projects. He also oversaw work of freelancers and design interns. After Mindbox Studios, Nicholas moved onto being a designer for POSSIBLE, an agency that has worked with some of the world’s largest brands including Coca-Cola, P&G, Smuckers, and more (Linkedin). He helped create digital strategies, maintain the web presence, and come up with engaging social content. After a year and 8 months, he moved on to become senior designer for Hyperquake, a branding agency. He was responsible for leading branding projects and production vendors on designing. After 2016, Nicholas quit his last job and has worked as a freelancer in his own brand to this present day, excited to finally work for himself.
Since becoming a freelancer, Nicholas has had clients which consisted of many different companies, agencies, and other artists. His work has also been shown in galleries around the world. He also worked with “several Grammy-winning artists, multiple Fortune 500 companies, international apparel, and beverage brands” (Moegly, 2021). Fortune 500 is an annual list that ranks 500 of the largest corporations in the United States by total revenue (Fortune Editors, 2021). They are well respected companies, and he was hired multiple times to create designs for some. Some of Nicholas’ clients include well-known companies such as Columbia Records, Blue Moon Brewing Co., Publix, Smithsonian Magazine, and more. He has even created work for other artists such as Dave Matthews Band, The Avett Brothers, Grateful Dead, Ray LaMontagne, and others (Moegly, 2020). His career used to primarily consist of creating gig or tour posters for larger bands, “but in early 2020 when concerts were all cancelled, so was all of my [his] work. With nothing else to do, I [he] began taking nightly walks around my [his] town and the inspiration for my [his] current work was found” (Ebert, 2021).
Nicholas’ journey of becoming a designer and illustrator is both inspiring and appealing because he made something of himself through experience and practice. He was able to create his own brand and style that he is well-known for today. Being that he has many interesting clients, it gives a great sense of how popular and well-known his work has become to many people. It also goes to show how many people have trusted that his work would live up to its great reputation of being successful for showcasing their company, music, or even a message about something their company stands for. The random photography he finds on the internet is truly what inspired his work most and when you look at his work, they look like literal photography. One of his favorite pieces is called “A Buried Endeavor” he did in the summer of 2019 (Instagram).
Today, Nicholas Moegly continues to create new designs for Moegly Design, becoming more and more known for his style of creating mood. In 2019, Goldleaf, a company that wishes to address the myths and misconceptions of cannabis by pairing design with the latest peer-reviewed research, once had an interview with Nicholas. In that interview, Nicholas stated that although he does not use cannabis himself, his favorite aspect about collaborating with them was being able to showcase the beauty of nature because there is so much natural beauty in this world, and he felt that is becoming more forgotten (Colasuonno, 2019). Nicholas is a great example of how fulfilling it is to be a designer because he gets to design work that is inspired by his interests while having fun doing it. His work is in galleries and is known around the world, which is a great success in his career as a designer and illustrator. He worked hard for his career and ended up being able to freelance successfully, a dream many artists desire to achieve in life. Most importantly, he enjoys creating the work he does because he loves it and will always be able to put his well-known mood-setting style into it. Every artist has a dream whether it’s becoming a freelancer, sending out a message to the world, or having their work in a gallery, but to achieve those things means one may need to practice and gain a lot of experience in the type of work they want to do. Nicholas has even gone on to doing movie posters in today’s work. Moegly Design has been around for over 12 years, and with the achievements and publicity Nicholas has gained from his clients and work, it may be around for a long time.
Works Cited
Colasuonno, Alfonso. “Artist Profile: An Interview with Artist Nicholas Moegly | Goldleaf.” Goldleaf, Goldleaf, 13 Nov. 2019, https://shopgoldleaf.com/blogs/newsfeed/artist-profile-interview-with-nicholas-moegly.
Ebert, Grace. “Wild Animals Occupy Suburban Nights in Nicholas Moegly’s Mysterious
Illustrations.” Colossal, 4 Nov. 2021, https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2021/11/nicholas- moegly-illustrations/.
Fortune Editors. “Fortune 500 List of Companies 2021 | Fortune.” Fortune, Fortune, 1 June 2021, https://fortune.com/fortune500/.
Moegly, Nicholas. “Freelance Graphic Designer, Lettering Artist & Illustrator » Nicholas Moegly.” Freelance Illustrator & Artist » Nicholas Moegly, 2021, http://www.nicholasmoegly.com/about/.
Moegly, Nicholas. “NICHOLAS MOEGLY | LEVY CREATIVE WELCOMES NEW ARTIST NICHOLAS MOEGLY! | Levy Creative Management | Artist Representative.” Levy Creative Management | Artist Representative, 1 Sept. 2020, https://levycreative.com/nicholas-moegly/.
“Linkedin Profile.” Linkedin, 2021, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasmoegly/.
“Instagram.” Instagram, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/nicholasmoegly/.
