The Journal
The Dutch Uncle Journal is a considered study of illustration, design, and animation in practice, how they are conceived, commissioned and realised in the wider world.
This is where we share the thinking behind our latest projects and engage with the wider shifts shaping visual culture, from the resurgence of handmade texture to the ways art redefines the spaces we inhabit.
A collection of work and ideas from the front line of contemporary illustration.
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Brian Rea / Noma Bar / Satoshi Hashimoto / Javi Aznarez / Debora Szpilman / Simone Massoni / Ping Zhu / Klaus Kremmerz / Lucas Varela / Charlotte Trounce / Marc Majewski / Kustaa Saksi / Alessandro Gottardo (SHOUT) / YOCO / Hsiao-Ron Cheng / Jisu Choi / Graham Roumieu / Tavis Coburn / Joel Holland / Robert Nicol (MA RCA) / Clara Dupré / Marc Burckhardt / Aesthetic Apparatus / Jon Gray (Gray318) / Christian Montenegro / LAPRISAMATA / Gaku Nakagawa / Adam McCauley
Simone Massoni x Criterion Collection : Trouble In Paradise
Simone Massoni’s cover for Trouble in Paradise proves that film packaging is a design problem worth solving. Arriving in a sharp season of Criterion releases, Massoni’s art captures the film’s Lubitsch elegance, reminding us that a masterfully illustrated sleeve defines a cinematic era long before the disc even spins.
Noma Bar x Sartorious
Noma Bar collaborated with Sartorius on a global illustration and animation campaign spanning print and digital media. Designed for international audiences, the work simplifies complex scientific processes into clear, structured visuals, ensuring consistent communication across markets while supporting messaging around laboratory research, pharmaceuticals, and advanced therapies.
Life at Auriens Chelsea as Illustrated by Satoshi Hashimoto
Satoshi Hashimoto created a warm, retro-inspired illustration campaign for Auriens Chelsea, commissioned by Politt Partners. Moving away from traditional luxury visuals, the work uses characterful linework and gentle humour to depict independent later living, highlighting community, vitality, and everyday moments with clarity and emotional resonance.
Javi Aznarez and Nieves Publishing: The French Dispatch Covers
Javi Aznarez collaborates with Nieves Publishing on The French Dispatch Covers, a 2025 book collecting his illustrations for The French Dispatch movie.
Designed in a New Yorker-style format, the publication highlights Aznarez’s distinctive linework and colour, integral to Wes Anderson’s visual world and storytelling.
Charlotte Trounce: Vestas Illustrations and the Visual Language of Renewable Energy
Charlotte Trounce collaborates with Vestas to create clear, accessible illustrations explaining renewable energy. The campaign translates complex sustainability topics into everyday scenes, highlighting wind power’s impact on communities, infrastructure, and energy independence, while demonstrating how visual storytelling can simplify and strengthen communication around clean energy solutions.
Lucas Varela : The Art of Polite Chaos in the FT
Lucas Varela creates editorial illustrations for Financial Times, accompanying Robert Shrimsley’s advice column. His work transforms everyday dilemmas into subtle, composed visuals, using quiet humour and minimal detail to reflect moments of tension, decision-making, and human behaviour alongside the column’s dry, observational tone.
Illustration and Animation in Health Insurance: How Klaus Kremmerz Illustrates Clear Communication for KOTA
Klaus Kremmerz collaborates with KOTA to create illustration and animation systems that simplify complex health insurance and benefits information. Using clear, human visuals and structured design, the project demonstrates how illustration improves user understanding, making pensions, coverage, and pricing more accessible across digital platforms.
Tavis Coburn and the bold look of the Camp-X Book Jacket Series
Tavis Coburn creates bold, retro-futurist covers for Camp-X series by Eric Walters. Using strong shapes and limited colour, the designs support the books’ grounded espionage themes, translating real wartime training into clear, engaging visuals that make historical storytelling accessible to younger readers.
Counting in Colour: How Illustration and Animation Helps Kids Learn Maths
Christian Montenegro uses illustration and animation to make early maths concepts accessible through visual storytelling. By turning abstract ideas into simple actions, his work supports number sense, pattern recognition, and problem-solving, aligning with research showing that visual learning improves comprehension, retention, and confidence in foundational numeracy for children.
David Benioff : Book cover illustrations by SHOUT
Alessandro Gottardo, known as SHOUT, creates cohesive cover illustrations for David Benioff titles published by Penguin Random House. Designed under the direction of Paul Buckley, the covers establish a consistent visual identity across the author’s catalogue, linking separate works through a unified, structured design approach.
Klaus Kremmerz Breathes New Life into French Cinema Classics in The Metrograph Magazine
Klaus Kremmerz creates evocative illustrations for Metrograph Magazine, reinterpreting classic French films such as L'Atalante and Hôtel du Nord. Designed by Matt Willey at Pentagram, the issue combines illustration and editorial design to revive the mood and storytelling of 1930s–40s cinema for contemporary audiences.
Simone Massoni Illustrates Corcoran’s Expanding Locations
Simone Massoni collaborates with Corcoran to create illustrations marking new office locations. Each artwork captures the character of cities from Virginia to Frankfurt, forming a cohesive visual system that documents expansion while translating place, architecture, and lifestyle into clear, refined imagery.
Yoco Nagamiya’s Illustrations Transform The White Company’s Advent Calendar into a Holiday Masterpiece
Yoco Nagamiya collaborates with The White Company on a luxury advent calendar, combining detailed illustration, silver-foiled packaging, and subtle animation. The project elevates seasonal gifting through design, blending festive storytelling with premium products to create an immersive, visually rich unboxing experience.
Musée d’Orsay x Kiblind Atelier: Past Masters, Contemporary Illustration Voices
Musée d’Orsay collaborates with Kiblind Atelier on a risograph poster series reinterpreting classic artworks. Featuring illustrators including Jisu Choi, the project bridges historical painting and contemporary illustration, creating tactile prints that explore how visual language evolves across time.
Satoshi Hashimoto illustrates UNIQLO Lifewear ‘Pufftech’
Satoshi Hashimoto illustrates UNIQLO’s LifeWear ‘Pufftech’, transforming technical innovation into playful, human-centred narratives.
His comic-like visuals bring clarity and warmth to performance clothing, shifting focus from engineering to everyday experience—where design becomes relatable, wearable, and embedded in daily life through character, humour, and accessible storytelling.
