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A collage of small, eclectic illustrations scattered across a white background. The images include a red train, a fried egg on a plate, a large red eye, and a person climbing a ladder.

Boshing out editorial illustration like nobody's business, meet Maggie Li

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Date
13 September 2012

It takes a whole lot of talent to condense an entire, well-written article into one inoffensive and complimentary illustration, but Maggie Li has totally nailed it. From the YCN Annual to Readers Digest to the Clerkenwell Post, Maggie’s friendly illustrations provide immediate aesthetic delight as well as deftly and instantly communicating exactly what is going on. Her cartography is particularly in-demand, and she produces sweet maps for a variety of clients who need to make their town or nearby streets look as friendly as possible, stat! Maggie is also one fifth of the very skilful illustration team Zombie Collective whose pleasingly similar work you should definitely check out as soon as possible.

Two illustrations of cityscapes in a flat, grey-toned style. The first shows London landmarks including “The Shard”, “Tower Bridge” and “Tate Modern” along the river. The second shows Detroit landmarks including the “Motown Museum” and “The Guardian Building” above a network of highways.
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Maggie Li: Editorial

An illustrated map of east London featuring several numbered landmarks. Key locations include “Hoxton Street Monster Supplies”, “London Fields Brewery” and the “Whitechapel Bell Foundry”.
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Maggie Li: Editorial

An illustration of a light blue maze containing black circles and eye-like figures. To the left, a bold white quote reads “Fall into holes you’ve got to claw your way out of. There is no better way to learn than by doing.”
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Maggie Li: Editorial

An illustration on a black background shows small figures repairing and assembling the Olympic rings. Bold white text in the centre reads “Improving the Olympics”. Below the headline, a paragraph argues that the Games need updating, suggesting some sports be dumped or overhauled.
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Maggie Li: Editorial

An illustration of a stylised landscape featuring a network of railway tracks. Trains travel across bridges over blue water and through a city of geometric buildings and grey mountains.
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Maggie Li: Editorial

An open magazine spread featuring a colourful, stylised map of central London. The headline reads “The only way is London”, accompanied by a guide to quirky local spots.
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Maggie Li: Editorial

An illustration providing instructions on how to “Grow your own garden”. It shows how to regrow vegetables from scraps in a bowl of water and how to sprout an avocado pit in a glass.
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Maggie Li: Editorial

A black and white illustration of an experimental alphabet. Each letter is rendered as a 3D sculptural form with a textured, wood-grain finish.
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Maggie Li: Type

A graphic poster featuring the word “LOVE” split across eight colourful blocks in blue, orange and yellow. Each letter is stylised with geometric patterns, stripes and a central eye motif.
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Maggie Li: Type

A black and white image of dominoes arranged to form an alphabet. Each tile features a lowercase letter and a corresponding number of dots.
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Maggie Li: Type

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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