Deanne Cheuk is an artist and illustrator from Perth, Australia. She graduated from Curtin University with a degree in graphic design when she was 19 years old.

Cheuk has directed and designed for numerous publications, including a three year stay as art director at Tokion Magazine. Her major clients include Dell, Nike, Levi’s and Target.

Editor’s Note: Yesterday, we announced an upcoming series on Ram’s Ten Principles of Good Design. However, we are still planning content and contacting potential designers and writers. The series will take place over the next few weeks; we apologize if there has been confusion.

We are very excited to be coordinating what we feel will be an important educational exploration on design. Readers may track our progress via our Twitter account.

Jim Tierney is an illustrator and designer studying at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His Jules Verne book covers, part of a senior thesis project, have been making the rounds on the internet.

“Being equal parts book-nerd and design-nerd, I naturally decided to re-design some classic Jules Verne novels,” Tierney told Faceout Books, a website devoted to book cover design and process.

Faceout Books features sketches with Tierney’s commentary on the entire process.

His concepts are developed with thought and clear intention. Each illustration has conceptual ties to its novel, adding depth to Tierney’s work.

Interactivity is important. Book jackets are more than protective covers: they are a collaboration with the hardback cover. The results are colorful, playful: true to Jules Verne’s classic stories.

Stuart Kolakovic is an illustrator based in Rugeley, UK. His work appears in magazines, on book covers and concert posters. He even designed a skateboard deck. Kolakovic has illustrated for many major clients, including The Telegraph, Wired Magazine and Sony. He is currently working on Lichen, his first comic book.

Color is part of what makes Kolakovic’s style unique: his palette is faded, desaturated. The same teals and turquoises, yellows and oranges are present in many of his pieces. Shapes are simple, geometric and cut-out. Kolakovic applies a subtle texture to his work.

Illustrator Raúl Colón’s work has appeared in the New Yorker and the New York Times, and he also illustrates children’s books. He was awarded a 2009 Skipping Stones Honor Award and a 2009 Sydney Taylor gold medal for his illustration in As Good As Anybody.

His expert use of color and composition make for moving, dynamic images. His style is simple yet pleasing, and his organic shapes are compelling.

After this flood of top 10 of 2009 lists over the past week, it was really refreshing to see Wolff Olins post a list of ten things they believe are to come in the year of 2010. Its always interesting to read future predictions others have for technology. Some are realistic, and some seem like they will take a bit of time to be comfortably implemented. Designers and artists alike need to be thinking with this mindset, of the future in relation to inventions of the past.

So yesterday I was testing out Google Reader as a new RSS aggregator after deciding that Arcylic’s Times just wasn’t doing it for me. I came across a post with some Criterion collection DVD covers, and was just blown away. I remember back in film school my teachers would always mention Criterion DVD’s but I never really took the time to check them out. Now I’m regretting I didn’t earlier… These are some of the most successfully designed conceptual pieces I have come across to date. Each one incorporates an emotion or aspect of the film in unique creative ways, through elements such as film stills, cut out shapes, and even color schemes.