Daria Lada: An Illustrative Year in Review
As we're approaching the one year mark of illustrator Daria Lada joining i2i Art Inc., it’s the perfect time to share a little bit of what she's been up to. Daria had a fantastic year filled with varied editorial assignments. Her very first project with i2i Art was a particularly fun one for The Globe and Mail, art directed by Meredith Holigroski. Simply put, The Globe and Mail runs an annual feature called “Stars and Dogs” which ranks the best and worst performing stocks of the year. To keep it up upbeat and interesting Daria was asked to take the title literally and draw dogs with telescopes, astronaut helmets and so on. The result was truly endearing, particularly successful and won the editorial category Applied Arts Awards for 2025.
The assignments did not stop there. In no particular order another one of Daria's exciting editorial opportunities was working with art director Kris Nyström of Arches, The University of Puget Sound's alumni magazine. The entire issue's theme was 88 Things We Love About Puget Sound. The number 88 was a nod to the founding year of 1888. Below are 2 of the 4 feature illustrations created by Daria. The overall goal was to have the features appear visually cohesive as a set.
AI was and continues to be a central theme in many publications this year. Daria was commissioned by Domenic Macri, art director at The Globe and Mail to create two illustrations about how some people are using AI as executive assistants to do all of their menial day-to-day tasks in work life and personal life. As AI becomes more accessible, we can all understand the meaning behind the article’s title "Super Users”.
Rounding out this partial list is a particularly poignant story by The Walrus about Gen Z loneliness and how it's fuelling a boom in paid friendships. Art directed by Zoya Shepherd.
Congrats to Daria for a truly stunning first year with i2i Art. We look forward to more of her fantastic illustration in the months to come.
Interested in seeing more? Check out Daria’s portfolio or commission her yourself. She’d love to collaborate!