“I’d rather make an impact on your heart than your eyes.” (Self Portrait: Melody Hansen) Melody Hansen is an LA-based Swiss graphic designer and artist whose art and words have captivated the Internet since the beginning of Instagram. From gaining the attention of Jennifer Garner to working with hip-hop duo group therapy, Melody’s work manages to capture the complexities of being human in simple designs, transcending genres, and the boundaries of digital art. In our ever-evolving world of social media and AI, Melody continues to create by hand. Her unique hand-lettering—what her audience fell in love with in the first place—and her collage techniques have found a growing home within the music industry. Hansen’s latest work includes a collaboration with former child actors Coy Stewart, Jadagrace, and Tyrell Jackson Williams on the visuals of their latest album. “I was mature for my age, but I was still a child.“ Melody not only creates the album art but a world for the music to live in, too. “Album covers have this creative openness to them. The artists I work with give me permission to experiment, which makes these collaborations so fun and creative,” Melody explains. The covers feel tangible, something you can touch through your screen; they build an intimate closeness between the artist and the listener, something Melody Hansen is evidently brilliantly good at creating. You may also recognize her work from rap artist GoldLink’s album “And After That, We Didn’t Talk,”  an album directly inspired by her viral illustration series, “Because, Honestly.” The series is a collection of simple line drawings and one-liner thoughts exploring emotions and states of mind that are often difficult to articulate, which she put into a book. The series grew a wide fanbase on Instagram and Tumblr. Unlike her drawings, Melody Hansen’s trajectory has not been simple or linear. Melody Hansen was born in a small town in Morges, Switzerland. At the age of 8, her family immigrated to South Florida in pursuit of the American dream. “I moved a lot growing up, which is probably why I feel no limitations when I create. In a sense, my parents taught me that there is flexibility in being human, and you can mold your life to whatever you want it to be if you really want to believe it’s possible,” Melody says. Hopping between Europe, America, and later Canada as a teen, Melody found it hard to fit in. Instead, she found a sense of belonging in theater, Photoshop, and Neopets, where she first learned to create graphics for her pages and guilds. Now, entering her fifth year as a Los Angeles resident, Melody Hansen finally feels at home. For more on Melody, follow her on Instagram. The post From Small Town Switzerland to Big City Los Angeles: How Melody Hansen’s Handcrafted Art is Redefining the Digital Space appeared first on LA Weekly.