Marian Bantjes is a designer, typographer, writer and illustrator working internationally from her base on a small island off the west coast of Canada, near Vancouver. She is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), and regularly speaks about her work and thoughts at conferences and events worldwide.

She started working as a book typesetter in 1984 and opened her own design firm in 1994 employing up to 12 people. In 2003, she left all of that behind to begin an experiment in following love instead of money, by doing work that was highly personal, obsessive and sometimes just plain weird. At the same time she began writing for the design weblog "Speak Up", and her cheeky but thoughtful articles soon gained her recognition in the blogosphere. Through this two-pronged approach, Marian caught the attention of designers and Art Directors across North America.

Marian’s art and design crosses boundaries of time, style and technology. She is known for her detailed and lovingly precise vector art, her obsessive hand work, her patterning and ornament. Often hired to create custom type for magazines, advertising and special projects, Marian’s work has an underlying structure and formality that frames its organic, fluid nature. It is these combinations and juxtapositions that draw the interest of such a wide variety of designers and typographers, from experienced formalists to young students.

Among her international clients, she counts Saks Fifth Avenue, Penguin Books, GRANTA, Wallpaper*, The Guardian, WIRED, Stefan Sagmeister, Winterhouse (Bill Drenttel & Jessica Helfand), Maharam, Ogilvy & Mather Chicago, Young & Rubicam Chicago, Random House, Houghton Mifflin, Print Magazine, GQ Italia, and The New York Times, among others from Europe, Australia and South America.