About

Hi there!

I am Karen Lilje, founder and award-winning, lead designer-illustrator of Hybrid Creative. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, I do creative work for clients all over the world.

I hold BA honours degrees in both Information Design (University of Pretoria, 2000) and Illustration (University of Stellenbosch, 2010). I have also completed studies in UX and UI Design (2019).

With 20 years of corporate, commercial, publishing and non-profit design experience, my work covers a wide variety of print and digital projects. Whether designing for screen or for paper, I love the craft of beautiful typography, and when possible, incorporating custom illustration into my design work.

I have been a guest lecturer at the University of Pretoria and Vega School Cape Town, delivering courses on branding and the integration of illustration in design. I have also provided student mentorship for the Red&Yellow Creative School of Business internship programme.

In 2015 I co-founded Fire and Lion, a digital agency that specialised in multi-format publishing. I headed up the design team, conceptualising cross-platform, interface design for multi-format publications. Fire and Lion has subsequently amalgamated with Electric Book Works and I continue to do UI design for their projects on a contract basis.

I take great pride in the work that I do and show careful attention to detail and user functionality, as well as an appreciation of concept and quality. I am very driven and have a strong work ethic which demands professionalism and the delivery of first class creative. Above all, I love what I do and have fun doing it.

If you have a project that you would like me to work on, or would just like to chat about design, please get in touch.

Email: karen@hybridcreative.co.za