“I draw people sitting next to me on the London underground” – D&AD’s Illustration Jury President Noma Bar on where he finds inspiration

The red cloaks worn by ‘handmaids’ in Margaret Atwood’s Booker Prize-winning novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, have been etched into the memories of a generation. They’ve been meticulously costumed in the HBO show adaptation of the novel, worn symbolically by protesters advocating for women's rights in a world where the themes explored continue to be eerily relevant, and perhaps most ubiquitously seen on the book’s cover, which was illustrated by this year’s D&AD Illustration Jury President Noma Bar. The cover exemplifies the style that Bar has become known for, using negative space and bold imagery to convey more than what meets the eye. At first glance, it depicts a pregnant handmaid draped in scarlet, but on closer inspection, readers will spot a man’s face, which seems to be pushing into her body.

Inspiration for this illustration came to Bar when he was reading in the park (something he does on a daily basis), and noticed a man approaching a pregnant woman's silhouette, his face in the shadows. “It struck me that he was invading her space, creating a very vulnerable moment,” says Bar. “If you look closely at the book cover, there is a little dot on it and people often ask me what that dot is. Imagine that dot as the eye of a person, and a man’s nose and chin becomes visible. He’s leaning towards the pregnant silhouette, almost shoving his head into the image.”

For Bar, this is a cover that encapsulates what he tries to achieve when designing book covers because it reveals itself metaphorically, and in layers. “Illustration goes beyond what people typically perceive,” explains Bar. “They might think it can be done in five minutes, viewing it as iconic and flat. However, there's a whole world lurking beneath the surface. I’m exploring negative space and different perspectives, showing that illustration is a much broader and more philosophical endeavor than it often appears to be.”

Below, we ask Bar about how he developed his recognisable visual style, where he finds inspiration and what he’s looking forward to seeing in this year’s Illustration entries at D&AD Awards 2026.

D&AD: What has been your artistic evolution as an illustrator?

NB: I started drawing my neighbours as a child, and in a way, I’m still doing the same thing. My businessman neighbour inspired one of my recent works, and my current portrait work also draws from the sketches I was making as a child. It has filters of course. I studied graphic design, and I've learned about conceptual design, advertising and branding, but there are also elements in my work that I just learned through life.

I started working with black and white when I moved to London because I lived in Camden in the 90s and 2000s and saw all the goths, with their black lips and black eyes and white powder. That taught me to remove colours and features from the faces I sketch, and emphasise simplicity in my work and focus on small ideas.

It’s a process, and it’s a long process. I didn’t consult a machine that told me to do this or that, or take this style; it evolved slowly. When I couldn’t express myself with words because my English wasn’t great, I started to draw with my hands, and I began to discover things in the negative space of my fingers. What I see today – and this is my fear – is that this process of being with yourself and learning and developing your craft is slowly being lost. I’m still in the process.