Derek
Torsani

multi-disciplinary designer • multi-instrumentalist • multi-media artist

As a child, art was always the way I expressed myself, drawing Dragon Ball Z characters on the backs of napkins. At fifteen, I knew I wanted to be a designer. My uncle, a graphic designer for the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, had just passed away. His legacy drew me to the practice of design, and the allure of communicating in a language all its own.

By 2008, I wanted to make art for bands like my own, and I entered the graphic design program at the Maryland Institute College of Art. In just over three years of experimenting in various digital mediums, I graduated with a new dream to animate title sequences for films.

After years working professionally in motion, graphic, and web design, I found my way into digital product design, doing my part to make software feel more tangible and tactile. The more time I spent working alongside engineers, the more I began speaking their language, and I gravitated toward building the systems that helped us work better together.

All the while, I still get to design the art which accompanies my music.

design language for the world

It only took two years after joining the Wikimedia Foundation as the Lead Visual Designer on product and design systems to start making moves in regards to visual design. Good things take time — especially when there is ample context, historical decision making and thinking, and preparation to do.

As of 2026, Wikipedia and its sister projects have a new visual design language honoring the origins of the projects and the internet, shaping a new aesthetic and experience. The language does so across multiple design systems through graphic elements such as a hand drawn icon library, a color palette optimized for change, interactions that feel tactile and approachable, and guidelines composed for both humans and agents.

Live automatic translation between the audible and visible spectrums.

Sprout is a young sapling searching for a sense of belonging in a lively, vibrant forest. Despite the beauty around them, Sprout feels isolated. Guided by their guardian, Sprout meets a community of trees and discovers the importance of celebrating one’s own individuality.

long play.

10 minutes each

Curating a concert with 9 different artists on the floor with the audience encircling in a half moon shape was a bit like an Abbott and Costello skit.

It was 8pm. The room dimly lit with the days fading light peeking in the old church stained glass windows. We opened with acoustic guitar, followed by ambient synthesizer with the sounds of nature. As the sun set, an electric guitarist played free pulse, mimicking the meditative rhythms of the days end. Next, the electronics continued with an experimental synthesist bringing the noise. After that, the mood shifted back to electric guitar but into a new path accompanied by folk vocals. We're a little over half way through. A poet takes the floor and recites a contemplative piece nurturing a theme of the natural world. Back to electric guitar, a mantra. This time more rhythmic, bringing programmed drums and structure in a way we haven't heard yet. The penultimate player performed an airy saxophone, blowing out any air left in the room. And last, was me, playing classical guitar, bringing us back to the origins of the evening with an acoustic, raw performance from Fruit & Labor.

A collection

of musical releases.

Various