Osheyi Adebayo's daily designs utilise unusual colour palettes and an “aged digital sentimentality”

Graphic designer Osheyi Adebayo’s output is impressive, to say the least. We last checked in with him around this time last year where his portfolio of school text book-inspired designs was already jam-packed. Since then, the London-based designer has been tirelessly producing posters on a daily basis, uploading them to his Instagram account.

“I try to post posters daily as a way of consistently developing my design skills and style,” Osheyi tells It’s Nice That, “I always try to evolve it into something unknown.” Starting with a letter or a word, Osheyi then chooses a font, rearranging letters until something sparks an idea. These ideas are incredibly varied, ranging from illustrative work combining form and colour to purely typographic visualisation. “As I tend to change and adapt to new things, I find that with every poster I make, I learn something new about myself,” he explains.

Although helping Osheyi develop his own personal experiments, this process also impacts his freelance work. The colourful, textural images that appear regularly on his Instagram are echoed in his series of posters for Mexican music venue Where House, for example. “A lot of the time, I get a sudden ‘style redirection’ where new patterns form from a collection of my subconscious pickings,” he explains.

“I like to describe my designs a being earthy, a bit ‘off’,” Osheyi responds when questioned about his distinctive aesthetic. Whether working towards publications such as Olympian Bodies or on his trademark posters, there’s visual succinctness to Osheyi’s portfolio, full of drop shadows and bold lettering. Often making use of unusual and grainy colour combinations, his work emits a feeling of “aged digital sentimentality”, borrowing from the over the top aesthetic of 80s and 90s television idents.