Beatrice Cristini

Beatrice Cristini is a Milan-based graphic designer and illustrator whose work mixes pop-culture references, vintage books and cinematic moods into bold, playful compositions. By day, she is a senior graphic designer and illustrator at The6th; by night, she develops See You Bea, her personal project dedicated to colour-rich storytelling and visual experimentation.

Cristini moves freely between branding, illustration and packaging, always led by curiosity and a love of pop colour. Her designs, from award-winning packaging to editorial projects, celebrate shape, wit and the unexpected.

What role does experimentation play in your creative process?

Experimenting is at the heart of my creative process, but even more than that, it’s about making mistakes. While mistakes for many feel like they limit your creativity, for me they mean breaking from my ordinary habits and opening the door to new ideas. So trying different techniques, mixing media or even just playing with card, colours, papers, textures - it keeps my work alive. Without experimentation, creativity can become static which is the opposite of what art is about to me.

How does colour shape your projects?

Colour is a tool - not an ornament. It’s like a word in a sentence. It only makes sense in relation to what surrounds it. Creatively, colour to me is like my childhood memory. It’s a way to communicate without speaking. To make someone understand without explaining. Colour can make you laugh, or reflect, it can organise or confuse. It’s method, and it’s visual poetry.

What part of your identity do you bring into your work?

I bring my curiosity and wonder into my illustrations, and I’m always collecting small details e.g. how someone is standing at the bus stop. There is a lot of beauty in ordinary things. There is also a playful side to my work as I like to mix my humour with simplicity, and what I draw often reflects me: how I see things, how I see people, how I wish we would allow ourselves to see ourselves. Vulnerable, imperfect, alive. My identity comes through not in what I draw, but how I draw it.

What colour feels most like you right now?

Today I feel like an Espresso Brown, because it's the perfect shade for my life right now. It's the shade of late nights, big ideas and being in creative survival mode.