Miscellaneous textures and “funky self-made typefaces” populate Lion Sauterleute’s designs

Before entering the world of design, Lion Sauterleute trained as a painter at The Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. But it was after moving to Leipzig – from his small German town of Leutkirch – that Lion found himself getting involved in its “vibrant” music scene, after which he started to design rave posters for his DJ friends. Later, Lion began to teach himself about design and typography and, after many years working in analogue, he made the full transition to digital methods.

But rather than neglect his years of practice in the fine art world, Lion now views his digital posters as carrying the “spirit” of paintings. “I love the poster as a format, because it feels like a canvas where a composition can take form and evolve,” the designer says. Favouring a futuristic aesthetic of clashing visuals, and sourcing inspiration from things as varied as surrealism to “a nicely shaped dirt splatter”, Lion fills his posters with miscellaneous textures and his “funky self-made typefaces”. A particular favourite of Lion’s posters for us here at It’s Nice That is his design for WaveMotion; the bubbly type, metallic sphere and clashing colours coming together create something quite stunning.