Marian Bantjes began her career as a book typesetter, which she learned by apprenticeship, from 1983–1993; from 1994–2003 she co-owned and operated the design studio Digitopolis in Vancouver, Canada; in 2004 she set out on her own, and began working in a more personal style, with work more closely related to art than design. It was this later work which won her international recognition.

An extensive monograph of her work, “Pretty Pictures” was published by Thames & Hudson in the fall of 2013, to critical acclaim, and was included by BookForum as one of the 20 best art books in the past 20 years. Her 2010 book “I Wonder" (published by Thames & Hudson, 2010) is an exploration of the marriage of word and image, written and illuminated throughout.

Much of Marian's work has been published in books and magazines around the world, and she has lectured on her work at over 100 conferences and events worldwide since 2006. In 2010 she spoke at the renowned TED Conference in Long Beach, California. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Emily Carr University in Vancouver, Canada. She lives and works from an island off the West coast of Canada, near Vancouver.