Jessie Duke
Email address
moc.kooltuo@noitartsulliekudWeb Portfolio
dukeillustration.comBiography
I’m a multidisciplinary graphic designer and illustrator based in London, working across editorial design, illustration, and photography. My practice is rooted in research, visual storytelling, and a strong interest in culture, symbolism, and history. I’m drawn to work that blends concept and craft, whether through print, image-making, or narrative design. My approach often explores how design can preserve, document, or reinterpret, by using visual language as a tool to investigate place, identity, and overlooked stories. With a background in both independent and collaborative projects, I value design that feels thoughtful, intentional, and communicative. Whether it’s a publication, a brand, or a piece of illustration, I aim to create work that connects—visually and meaningfully.
Portfolio
Self Directed Project—London Chronicle: East
London Chronicle: East is a self-directed project developed as part of a final-year major project brief. It explores how elements of London’s history, specifically East London, can be reinterpreted and made accessible for contemporary audiences through illustration, symbolism, and graphic design. The project focuses on six key locations: Tower Hamlets Cemetery, Spitalfields Church, Whitechapel Bell Foundry, Brick Lane, the Prospect of Whitby, and West India Docks.
The project began with physical site visits and primary research, including photography and archival reading. These findings were translated into a single illustrated flash sheet, created in Procreate and later refined in Photoshop. The illustrations combine architectural details and motifs from each site with symbolic elements that reference deeper narratives; such as a gin bottle representing the East End’s gin epidemic, or a crow skull alluding to the biodiversity recorded at Tower Hamlets Cemetery.
The final outcomes of the project are a printed zine and a limited run of screen printed garments, including both t-shirts and long-sleeves. The garments were produced using hand-pulled screen printing methods, and function as wearable archives, transforming historical research into accessible, everyday design. The zine offers a deeper look into the locations, symbols, and processes that informed the work.
London Chronicle: East is published and distributed under KUTNPASTE, a new brand and store I have created, separately from my main practice at Duke Illustration. Garments and future editions of the zine will be available at www.kutnpaste.co.uk.
Deep Dive
Deep Dive is an editorial publication focused on urban foraging and everyday cooking. It documents over twenty wild plants commonly found in London, showing where they grow, how to identify them, and how they can be used in simple meals. The publication includes five park maps to highlight specific foraging locations across the city, making the content practical and location-specific.
The book combines photography, cooking notes, plant facts, and mapped information. Each plant entry includes identification tips, habitat, taste, look-alikes, culinary use, and personal notes based on direct experience. Meals range from stir-fries and soups to pasta and sandwiches, using ingredients like wild garlic, rosemary, garlic mustard, and nettles.
Visually, Deep Dive is influenced by vintage field guides, recipe books, and practical manuals. The design uses a simple, grid-based layout with minimal ornamentation and a focus on clarity. The goal is to create a usable, honest guide to urban foraging that sits between reference book and cooking journal.
