IED and Forbes Next Leaders continue their shared journey with the development of the third cover of the magazine, created for the month of April.
Forbes Next Leaders: the April cover designed by Giada Boselli
Date
27 April 2026
The collaboration between IED and Forbes continues through a project that involves IED students in the design of the monthly covers for Next Leaders, the Forbes magazine dedicated to younger generations.
This initiative brings together education, creativity and international publishing, offering emerging talents the opportunity to engage with real design briefs and with themes that are central to the present and future of the professional world. Visual design thus becomes a tool for storytelling, critical interpretation and professional positioning.
Giada Boselli designs the April cover focused on new pathways to work
Following the first two covers published in February and March, the April illustration has been designed by Giada Boselli, a first-year student enrolled in the IED Milano Bachelor of Arts in Illustration and Animation.
Entitled “Le nuove dstrade verso il lavoro”, the cover was developed in partnership with LinkedIn.
Work seen from below: the student’s perspective
The cover conceived by Giada Boselli addresses the theme of contemporary work from the perspective of those who are about to enter it. Rather than portraying work as an abstract or distant system, it is presented as a destination viewed “from below”, rich in complexity, opportunity and challenge.
At the centre of the image, a student depicted from behind becomes the reader’s point of identification: a single figure, symbolising individual talent, confronted with the imposing scale of the company. The enterprise is represented as a living ecosystem, composed of connections, people, data and technologies.
Networking, technology and growth
The visual concept integrates, in a non-didactic manner, the key themes of the issue and of its partner, LinkedIn:
- Networking, evoked through lines connecting points and pathways, recalling the idea of professional relationships;
- Technology, suggested by digital flows, geometric structures and visual references to artificial intelligence;
- Growth, expressed through elements of ascent, transitions and directions that indicate development and future possibilities.
A narrow path, a staircase or a beam of light symbolically connects the student to the structure ahead, representing access to the professional world as a transition marked by challenge and opportunity.
Line art as a contemporary visual language
From a stylistic perspective, the cover is realised in line art, characterised by a clean, geometric and minimalist approach. Variations in line weight distinguish the main elements - the student’s silhouette and the outlines of the enterprise - from the finer details that construct an internal universe of data, connections and architectural structures.
The resulting image is both essential and refined, fully aligned with the visual language of Forbes Next Leaders.
With the April cover, the IED x Forbes project once again highlights the value of collaboration between education, publishing and the professional world, giving space to the perspectives of younger generations and to their interpretations of the future of work.
View all the Forbes Next Leaders covers, created month by month by IED students and Alumni.
Original artwork by Giada Boselli
Student IED Milano - First year, Bachelor of Arts in Illustration and Animation
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