Creative 100: Visual and Multimedia Artists Elevating Brands

Whether designing costumes or sets, making Olympics posters, styling pop stars or producing live shows, these honorees use their artistry to elevate brands and tell stories. Heidi Bivens, Costume designer, stylist, producer, director Building worlds: After starting out as a fashion journalist and editor, Heidi Bivens pivoted and has worked for 25 years as a stylist, 20 years as a costume designer and three years as a director and producer. Most recently, she oversaw costume design for upcoming feature film, The Smashing Machine, directed by Benny Safdie and produced by A24, and for the HBO show Euphoria. She also collaborated on a Chanel campaign and styled Taylor Swift for her 2023 Time magazine cover. “I look for stories where I have an opportunity to world-build, creating costumes that transcend or heighten reality,” Bivens told ADWEEK. Advice to aspiring creatives: “Persevere and meet as many people as possible. You never know where a connection will take you.” Personal mantra: “Everything is always working out for me.” —Brittaney Kiefer Micaiah Carter, Photographer Launching his eponymous company: The Southern California-based photographer launched Micaiah Carter Photography eight years ago, after graduating from Parsons School of Design with a Fine Arts degree.Blue-chip brand work: Carter signed with an agency in 2016, and since then, he’s worked with brands like Nike and Apple, and with publications including Vogue Spain and Time magazine. One of his favorite projects was a recent Hennessy campaign starring actors Teyana Taylor and Damson Idris.To those getting started: “Try not to stay stagnant for too long. You really have to go after the things you want,” Carter said. —Olivia Morley Ugo Gattoni, Artist, illustrator Where’s Waldo? but make it Paris: Parisian artist Ugo Gattoni illustrated the posters for the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Known for his colorful, fun universe,” according to Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet, Gattoni created the first diptych in the history of the Games with fantastical, detailed scenes that are visually connected in a style reminiscent of Where’s Waldo? books. He spent more than 2,000 hours on the posters, depicting every event in the tournaments, Olympic emblems and Parisian landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Seine. His unique artwork will serve as a lasting symbol of the Games. A moment in time: The posters will be temporarily displayed at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay and sold at French retailer Carrefour. Gattoni, who has previously worked with brands including Cartier and Hermès, said it was a milestone to have his work shown to a global audience: “It’s very important to me that a piece of art has a life in its own time, so it is absolutely fantastic that this drawing can be shown in a museum alongside paintings that are hundreds of years old.” —Brittaney Kiefer Tyrell Hampton, Photographer How it started: As an adolescent, Tyrell Hampton discovered a passion for dancing and photography. “I thought, why not combine these two things I love? It started with some dancers, an iPod with a camera and some down time,” Hampton said.Traveling for Gucci: The luxury brand project took Hampton to Seoul, where he shot photos of K-pop star Hanni and spent free time capturing photos of the city.Hampton’s advice for aspiring creatives: “Start making mistakes now,” the photographer said. “As a young person, you have the privilege of doing everything for the first time.” —Olivia Morley Shona Heath, Production designer Building fantastical worlds: Yorgos Lanthimos’ award-winning film Poor Things soared partly because of the magnificent set design, co-created by Shona Heath along with James Price. The fantastical sets included a London mansion, a luxurious ocean liner, a whimsical Lisbon cityscape and a Paris brothel. The movie won Best Production Design at the 2024 Academy Awards. Best advice for other creatives: Heath, who has also worked on ad campaigns for brands including Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Hermès and Christian Dior, told the Financial Times that the best advice she ever received was: “Say no (thank you). It gives you time; it brings you love.” —Brittaney Kiefer Kristin Juszczyk, Fashion designer Football but make it fashion: Kristin Juszczyk entered the 2023-24 NFL season as a spectator cheering on her San Francisco 49er husband and left with a fashion empire on the rise. She has been creating her bespoke 49ers gear for years to change up her game day wardrobe but first gained notoriety after Taylor Swift and Simone Biles wore custom-made football team puffer jackets, designed by Juszczyk, while supporting their partners on the field. Sustainability FTW: The designer prides herself on repurposing old clothes and vintage team gear. Deal or no deal: The buzz led to signing a licensing deal with the NFL, allowing her to use the league’s logos on her creations. She most recently designed the jacket for the winner of the Indy 500. —Luz Corona Andrew Makadsi, Creative director, Parkwood Entertainment Cultural Renaissance: Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour was a defining cultural moment of 2023. A futuristic yet retro spectacle featuring a flying disco horse, the ode to Black, queer culture offered a master class in visual storytelling. Along with Beyoncé, Andrew Makadsi, creative director at the artist’s Parkwood Entertainment label, is credited with bringing the experience to life. Cowboy Carter: The Lebanese-born DJ, producer and art director is now working behind the scenes to support Beyoncé’s pivot into country, creatively directing her Cowboy Carter album, which has earned the artist the title of the first Black woman to top the Billboard Country Albums chart. What do you strive for, creatively? “My goal is to be original. It’s finding beauty—and this is for me—in situations or happenings that are not seen as beautiful. I try to draw from that. I think this is how I differentiate my work,” Makadsi told Vogue. —Rebecca Stewart Ethan Tobman, Production designer, creative director, Remote Design Inc. Riding with Swifty momentum: Ethan Tobman was creative director for perhaps the biggest cultural moment of the last two years: Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. He is proud to have conceived “visually immersive worlds worthy of her storytelling.” Rising from the indie world: Tobman started working in the early 2000s in the independent New York film scene, which led to high-end fashion shoots, music videos and commercials, as well as larger scale film and TV work, and most recently, live performance. Led by taste buds and travel: Every project Tobman takes on is led by his love of food and travel. After designing the film The Menu, he was asked by chef Dominique Crenn to redesign her three-star Michelin restaurant, Atelier Crenn. “The project was a lifelong dream come true,” said Tobman. —Kyle O'Brien Polina Zakharova & Sveta Yermolayeva, Co-founders, Hard Feelings Studio Harmonious chaos: As co-founders of design and creative studio Hard Feelings, Polina Zakharova and Sveta Yermolayeva merge visual art, design, technology and sound art for global brands and artists including Gucci, The NBA, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Travis Scott and Drake. Recently, they produced video and visuals for Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour. “Our ‘harmonious chaos’ mantra is all about mixing art, music, fashion and tech into something uniquely stunning. We dive deep into each medium, creating a conversation between them to amplify the emotions,” Zakharova told Stirworld. Fashion for the future: Working alongside artist, stage designer and 2018 Creative 100 honoree Es Devlin, the duo created visual and video art for Gucci Cosmos, a London exhibition marking 102 years of the Italian fashion house. “Gucci Cosmos is not just a walk through time but a dance, where every frame captures the essence of an icon and projects it into the universe of the future,” Zakharova said. —Brittaney Kiefer Check out Adweek’s full Creative 100 list for 2024 here.

The Creative 100

Creative 100: These Visual and Multimedia Artists Are Elevating Brands

Our 2024 winners, from photographers to illustrators to fashion designers

Heidi Bivens, Costume designer, stylist, producer, director

Brittaney Kiefer

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Heidi Bivens, Costume designer, stylist, producer, director

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