When I first met Kevin Cornell in the early 2000s, he was employing his illustration talent mainly to draw caricatures of his fellow designers at a small Philadelphia design studio. Even in that rough, dashed-off state, his work floored me. It was as if Charles Addams and my favorite Mad Magazine illustrators from the 1960s had blended their DNA to spawn the perfect artist.
Kevin would deny that label, but artist he is. For there is a vision in his mind, a way of seeing the world, that is unlike anyone else’s—and he has the gift to make you see it too, and to delight, inspire, and challenge you with what he makes you see.
Kevin was part of a small group of young designers and artists who had recently completed college and were beginning to establish careers. Others from that group included Rob Weychert, Matt Sutter, and Jason Santa Maria. They would all go on to do fine things in our industry.
It was Jason who brought Kevin on as house illustrator during the A List Apart 4.0 brand overhaul in 2005, and Kevin has worked his strange magic for us ever since. If you’re an ALA reader, you know how he translates the abstract web design concepts of our articles into concrete, witty, and frequently absurd situations. Above all, he is a storyteller—if pretentious designers and marketers haven’t sucked all the meaning out of that word.
For nearly 10 years, Kevin has taken our well-vetted, practical, frequently technical web design and development pieces, and elevated them to the status of classic New Yorker articles. Tomorrow he publishes his last new illustrations with us. There will never be another like him. And for whatever good it does him, Kevin Cornell has my undying thanks, love, and gratitude.
via planetweb
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