Designer profile: D!

By on January 24, 2012 in Designer Profiles

Dmitry Grigorev – Russia
99designs handle: D!
Projects won: 29

Attending Magnitogorsk University in the rugged Ural Mountains region of Central Russia, Dmitry Grigorev was all set to earn a degree in Linguistics when his other passion, graphic design, fatefully interfered. He impulsively switched departments to pursue his artistic inclinations and, 6 years of study later, graduated feeling he could call himself a designer.

And yet, even after all his schooling, the quality of winning designers’ work on 99designs was enough to shake Dmitry’s confidence.

“It was a while before I decided to take part in any design contests, because I looked at logos from experienced designers and I thought my chances were not very big :)” he recalls. “However, I understood that participation in contests would make my design skill level higher and I got the wish to make something new, original and better than the others. After ten unsuccessful contests I had my first win, and have been picking up regular clients and friends among designers since.”

Dmitry traces his fascination with design back to the bright and colorful candy, soft drink and chewing gum logos of his childhood. Mars, MilkyWay, Fanta and Sprite, for example, convey this playful and emotional brand of visual allure, which has stoked Dmitry’s creativity ever since.

“I still prefer to choose projects where I can illustrate the idea in a clever and bright manner — especially when illustration is appropriate.”

Indeed, Dmitry believes that illustration is key. “It all starts with a blank sheet of paper and a pencil, basically,” he says. “All of a sudden, brainstorming starts! Sometimes I jot down key words and concepts, but often the hand just starts drawing by itself, and – you know the feeling – bingo! There’s what I was looking for!!!”

The following logo for Blue Train, one of Dmitry’s personal favorites, was the result of much time and even more paper:

“I was thinking about how to combine two absolutely different images in one unique concept,” he says. “I don’t know how but this idea just came in my head. Very interesting contest.”

Besides his activity on 99designs, Dmitry works in a thriving advertising agency where he designs billboards, business cards and the like.

But despite all his success, Dmitry remains as humble as ever. “I am trying to improve my design skills day by day. I only hope one day someone will call me a very good, professional logo designer; I would never dream of praising myself that way!”

He ended our conversation by apologizing for his slightly shaky English: “Alex, sorry for my bad grammar,” he said. “After all, I am not a linguist but I am happy to be a designer :)”.

Cheers to that!

Got any inspiring childhood logos of your own? Share them in the comments!

 

Alex Bigman
View all posts by Alex Bigman
Alex's website

50 Comments

  1. ulahts

    Awesome works Dimitry!
    Welcome aboard!

    Reply January 24, 2012 at 2:32 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks so much ulahts!

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 7:29 am
  2. SBJEWEL

    Congrats man… Like your design… :)

    Reply January 24, 2012 at 2:47 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks man!

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 7:30 am
  3. Salman

    congrats

    Reply January 24, 2012 at 5:06 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks Salman!

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 7:31 am
  4. d-zie

    Great Design D! keep it up :)

    Reply January 24, 2012 at 6:17 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks d-zie, I will do my best :)

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 7:33 am
  5. asammanis

    congratulation, great design :)

    Reply January 24, 2012 at 6:27 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks asammanis!

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 7:35 am
  6. extrude

    congrats my friend!!! :)

    Reply January 24, 2012 at 6:40 pm
    • Dmitry

      Hey man, thanks so much :)

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 7:37 am
  7. adharala

    great design works D! thumbs up!!! :)

    Reply January 25, 2012 at 12:35 am
    • Dmitry

      Thanks so much adharala! :)

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 8:41 am
  8. roktiv

    Дима! Поздравляю! Так держать!

    Reply January 25, 2012 at 1:33 am
    • Dmitry

      Привет! Большое спасибо, буду стараться!!

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 7:40 am
  9. hantoko

    the blue train mobile is awesome! great work D! :)

    Reply January 25, 2012 at 11:39 am
    • Dmitry

      Thanks hantoko :)

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 8:06 pm
  10. Deepesh

    Really inspiring for someone like me. Refreshing. :D

    Reply January 25, 2012 at 11:41 am
    • Dmitry

      Thanks Deepesh! I am really glad if I have inspired :)

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 8:15 pm
  11. Adword

    Действительно вдохновляющим для кого-то, как я. Друзей нет. : D

    Reply January 25, 2012 at 12:24 pm
  12. Jason Aiken

    Really Awesome work Dmitry!

    Thanks for being part of the community.

    Cheers,
    Jason

    Reply January 25, 2012 at 5:14 pm
    • Dmitry

      Hi Jason!

      thanks for 99designs.com, I am happy to be here!

      Reply January 25, 2012 at 8:35 pm
  13. Dmitry

    Привет Adword! Спасибо, приятно увидеть земляка на 99designs!

    Reply January 25, 2012 at 8:31 pm
  14. ledevil

    Мои поздравления!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply January 26, 2012 at 2:24 am
    • Dmitry

      Спасибо большое! :)

      Reply January 26, 2012 at 2:53 am
  15. @n@nt@

    nice work… i love bluetrain logo and clicksaw…
    cool…

    Reply January 26, 2012 at 5:56 am
    • Dmitry

      Thanks so much @n@nt@!

      Reply January 26, 2012 at 8:47 am
  16. stanislav_p

    My congratulations to D!man :), очень рад мой друг!!!! Отличные работы, твори в том же духе. Ждем новых проектов…

    Reply January 26, 2012 at 10:03 am
    • Dmitry

      Спасибо Стас, очень приятно!
      Уверен, что еще увидимся как-нибудь :)

      Reply January 26, 2012 at 10:26 am
  17. o_studio

    VERY neat! congratulations! :)

    -Dee

    Reply January 26, 2012 at 8:12 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks so much! :)

      Reply January 26, 2012 at 9:09 pm
  18. scribe

    Congrats D! … you have some terrific skills! I look forward to seeing more of your works …

    Reply January 26, 2012 at 8:32 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks Scribe! I will do my best :)
      Your designs are awesome!

      Reply January 26, 2012 at 9:14 pm
  19. Alex (“babakonda”)

    Dmitry, awesome work! Congrats.

    Reply January 27, 2012 at 1:38 am
    • Dmitry

      Thanks so much Alex!

      Reply January 27, 2012 at 2:48 am
  20. GiaKenza

    Original idea, great concept, awesome works, Congratz!!

    Reply January 27, 2012 at 6:07 am
  21. Dmitry

    Thank you very much GiaKenza!

    Reply January 27, 2012 at 7:50 am
  22. untungs

    Congrats Dmitry!

    Reply January 27, 2012 at 9:46 pm
    • Dmitry

      Thanks so much untungs!

      Reply January 27, 2012 at 10:41 pm
  23. Sam2305

    Great work Dmitry, congrats!!!

    Reply January 30, 2012 at 7:38 am
    • Dmitry

      many thanks Sam2305!

      Reply January 30, 2012 at 8:12 am
  24. goldpen

    Congratulations .. work is very neat, interesting, inspiring me .. so want to learn from you ..

    Reply January 30, 2012 at 8:11 am
    • Dmitry

      Thanks so much goldpen!

      Reply January 30, 2012 at 10:28 am
  25. freshinnet

    Класс! Приятно видеть здесь наших! Удачи!

    Reply February 2, 2012 at 7:47 am
    • Dmitry

      Спасибо большое! И мне взаимно приятно!

      Reply February 2, 2012 at 9:46 am
  26. xygo_bg

    Great work!

    Reply February 3, 2012 at 4:09 pm
    • Dmitry

      many thanks xygo_bg!

      Reply February 3, 2012 at 10:43 pm
  27. kartika2011

    креативненько!молодчина

    Reply February 13, 2012 at 9:22 am
    • Dmitry

      Спасибо огромное!

      Reply February 13, 2012 at 11:48 am

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