How Rob Farmer turns half-baked sketches into New York Times covers

The Melbourne-based motion designer discusses procedural software, editorial deadlines and why perfectionism is the enemy of good work getting seen.

Dawn Of The AI Drones. The New York Times Magazine. (2026)

"You can look at anything around you and wonder how you could interpret this in design or motion," says Rob Farmer . A walk after dinner, a flock of gulls, the static hiss of a TV screen – all of it gets filed away as potential creative material. "I often like to find patterns in nature and try to think of them as design algorithms or codes, such as how repeating shapes and forms can mimic those patterns found in nature."