We were lucky to catch up with Justyn Morris recently and have shared our conversation below.

Justyn, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Most meaningful project I’ve worked on (so far) has to be my 2024 design thesis project. Mainly because of it being such a culmination of almost everything I do as a designer/creative. The backstory of it is that I kind of had been subconsciously building and learning towards it since my time in school as a graphic designer. I remember one time in community college design class we had a guest visitor who prompted us to design fliers for their art exhibition that involved motifs relating to the word “Dissonance”. As a designer still discovering but scratching at the surface of my visual style, little did I know that I was creating with a LOT of visual dissonance already in my work, even pulling inspiration from jazz legend Thelonious Monk and the amount of unconventional dissonance he used in the way he touched the keys. I quoted this in my presentation of my final design and the visitor really resonated with that as they were also a huge fan of Monk.

Long story short that acknowledgement of that connection to the unconventional, the repetitive and the experimental made me feel seen as a young experimental designer. Monk gave me permission to lean into my own swag! (lol)

Fast forward to now, after being in undergrad for so long. My thesis project was an excavation of everything I learned, experienced and forgot up to this point. What was meaningful as well is the fact that I was able lean into my interests as a poet as well as a music production hobbyist. With those interests I was able to make meaningful connections with not only myself, but with a few other poets and creatives as vital collaborators on that project. The project is presented in the structure of a science fair project and a tribute to my experimental style as a designer displaying the visual language that I had developed. This leaned on motifs of the obscure, coded languages, covert influences and the black experience. Posing questions to the viewer such as “Can trauma be mapped out?” and “How do you shout what your voice can not utter?”

Justyn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi. I’m Justyn. I feel very inclined to say where I’m from since a handful of talented creatives are really pushing and transmuting some interesting things creativity wise out of where I’m from. I’m from New Jersey. Specifically Monmouth County New Jersey. Specifically the Neptune Township/Asbury Park area by the shore.

How I got into what I do now which is mainly graphic design in the style of my multidisciplinary background is that growing up I’ve always been that one kid that kid that could draw. I have a background in drawing and sketching and painting. A lot of comic book and graphic novels have been an influence growing up. I originally wanted to go to school for Illustration and applied to schools like FIT and SVA for their illustration and drawing programs. Graphic design ultimately seemed like the safer concentration for me after high school, and I’m actually glad I made that decision after realizing how expansive graphic design was as a creative medium.

I have been a graphic designer for about 6 years now and been in school for it around the same amount of time. Throughout that time and to this day I still hold tight to my original influences but applying the techniques and methodologies of design and create my own as well. My work includes, digital and analog design techniques, printmaking, digital drawing, video, typography, bookmaking, music cover design, event flier design, photography as well as non design techniques and mediums such as creative writing/poetry, and music production and sound design.

What problems I like to solve with my work are how much of myself can I put into my work that still visually applies to or defines a collective. Meaning making connection or speaking to the the few but on display to the many. Providing space for myself as well as others in a community of black creatives/creatives of color or people who see beyond the surface, can connect through shared experience or want to just tweak the conventional and make something fun! I am still forming/looking for that community but I am grateful for the people I have connected with thus far!

I think that what sets me apart from others is my capacity for the unrefined and the messy as a visual style. Coming from an academic design department as a student I realize that much of the structure is centered around conventions of the grid and the neat. However, I see influences from the improvisation of poetry, and music as a very interesting route to making something fresh and meaningful.

As a creative and designer I provide all kinds of services like branding design, visual identity, event flier design, music cover design, curation, photo/video editing and even music/beat production for rappers and musicians. My main focus is working with people who’s visions and creative interests align with my own. I thinks that’s what motivates me to make my best work. If its a cause that I care for that’s even more of a plus! As a black designer I feel my tools as a visual communicator are important to be used for people in my communities and subgroups within those communities.

My most recent creative endeavor is coming off of my 2024 design thesis. I made archival inkjet prints from pieces of the project to be sold with proceeds going to relief aid for the ongoing crisis in The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

What I want followers, clients, fans etc. to know is that I make work with meaning no matter how small or hidden it is within a project. I am looking to further embrace and hone my visual style that people seem to really gravitate toward. As well as of course always branching out and learning new ways to push my practice. I am sending out a metaphorical handshake/salute of visibly to all creatives and individuals working in a similar way or are also looking to be inspired through community and collaboration. Lets connect! Art, design, poetics and music help me make sense of life and experience with all its beautiful flaws! I hope to continue to grow as a person and creative from sticking to my style and ideology. And have fun in the process course lol. When you see that design tag of metal gates hidden in a flier or cover art, you’ll know that its Saint Twin!

Saint Twin is a working design moniker/creative studio name inspired by the poetics of my identity. I intend to develop it more in the future.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is the growth that happens. As a creative the path is most definitely not linear. Sometimes you may find yourself in a place or working in a way you never imagined yourself working in. Maybe you are doubtful of your work. Or taking a break from creating for whatever reason only to come back to it with a fresh perspective that is reflected in how you make work going from there. Maybe you like to paint but became a shoe maker for 2 years and now you paint the interiors of deconstructed shoes using shoe polish as a paining medium! I feel like art and creativity is so attached and tattooed to a persons life that it never leaves them no matter how consistent you are or where the trajectory of your life takes you. I think that if you simply trust the experience you end up learning a lot about yourself as a person when you turn around and look at how far you’ve come.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As a sometimes introverted person that works through social anxiety at time I had to unlearn the bad habit of worrying too much about how I am perceived to people. It can end up effecting a person’s growth as a creative. Just do you! That’s one of the sources of what makes you interesting as an artist!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sainttwin.bigcartel.com/products
• Instagram: main instagram profile: _saint_twin studio account: inthewordsofsainttwin
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justyn-morris
• Soundcloud: Saint Twin