Shelby Putnam Tupper

Shelby Putnam Tupper

Contributor

Shelby Putnam Tupper is founder and creative director of Shelby Designs Inc., a small-but-mighty, full-service, customer-obsessed design consultancy. She graduated from Trinity College in Connecticut with a BS in biology and a minor in French. She did post-graduate work at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, where she received honors in the field of Medical & Scientific Illustration. She grew her entrepreneurial and design legs during her tenure at Harrison Design Group in San Francisco.

Since its founding, Shelby Designs has received more than 100 local, national and international awards, has had their work published in books and top trade journals and exhibited in shows at The Palace of Fine Arts, The Masonic Auditorium and The SF Center for the Book. Outside the office, Shelby is a faceted artisan intoxicated by pre-1900s scientific illustration, engraving and typography. She also enjoys fiddling with her golden mean calipers and the number 1.618, and tinkers with computational graphics and Voronoi diagrams. She makes dimensional art from the pressroom’s recycled trimmings and fires up her torches to create jewelry from glass and steel. Shelby was born and raised in Oakland, where she lives with her husband, son and daughter, four cats, a gecko—and a tortoise named Darwin.

Recent Articles By Shelby Putnam Tupper

    • Canva
      4.5 Outstanding Editors' Choice

      Intuitive, AI-assisted content creation for non-designers—plus benefits for pros

      8 months, 3 weeks By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Canva (Review Canva)
    • The Best Graphic Design Software for 2025

      Whether you're a professional designer or just want to create beautiful digital art, you can't go wrong with any of the best graphic design apps we've tested.

      10 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      The Best Graphic Design Software for 2025 (Roundup Graphic Design)
    • Figma
      4.5 Outstanding Editors' Choice

      Collaborative interface design, live prototyping, and more

      1 year, 1 month By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Figma (Review Figma)
    • Adobe InDesign
      4.5 Outstanding Editors' Choice

      The leading choice for publication design and layout

      1 year, 3 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper, Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Adobe InDesign (Review Adobe InDesign)
    • Adobe Fresco
      4.5 Outstanding Editors' Choice

      An excellent drawing and painting app for artists of any level

      1 year, 7 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Adobe Fresco (Review Adobe Fresco)
    • CorelDraw Graphics Suite
      4.0 Excellent

      An impressive set of image, design, drawing, and layout apps

      1 year, 8 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      CorelDraw Graphics Suite (Review CorelDraw Graphics Suite)
    • Serif Affinity Designer 2
      4.0 Excellent Editors' Choice

      Neck and neck with the vector competition

      1 year, 9 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Serif Affinity Designer 2 (Review Affinity Designer)
    • Adobe Express
      4.0 Excellent

      All-in-one AI content creation

      2 years By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Adobe Express (Review Adobe Express)
    • Procreate
      4.5 Outstanding Editors' Choice

      A splendid and attractively priced iPad drawing app

      2 years, 2 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Procreate (Review Procreate (for iPad))
    • Hands On: Adobe Firefly in Photoshop

      Adobe's suite of AI tools, called Firefly, can expand and alter your existing artwork—or create something entirely new—to meet your creative needs.

      2 years, 8 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Hands On: Adobe Firefly in Photoshop (News AI)
    • Adobe XD
      4.5 Outstanding Editors' Choice

      Excellent interface design and prototyping

      4 years, 4 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Adobe XD (Review Adobe XD)
    • Adobe Illustrator

      Despite some harrumphing from the digital arts community about Adobe's subscription-only model, Illustrator is the best vector-graphics editing program around.

      6 years, 6 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Adobe Illustrator (Slideshow Software & Service)
    • Adobe Fresco

      Adobe's painting, sketching, and watercolor app makes art on the iPad more natural than ever. It's still in beta, but it's already a stunningly polished app.

      6 years, 9 months By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Adobe Fresco (Slideshow Software & Service)
    • Sketch

      An intuitive interface and easy collaboration make this screen design tool a top contender for your web and app creation toolbox.

      7 years, 1 month By Shelby Putnam Tupper
      Sketch (Slideshow Software & Service)