Juan Esteban Guzman Catalano interviewing cousin Felipe
What inspired you to become a graphic designer?
To be honest, the reason I wanted to do graphic design was because of your father. Our family is rooted in design and art and all that stuff, and my uncle Alfonso was the start of that because he was a big inspiration to us because he was a great artist and that made us want to do something art related. But, your father is the one who made me want to do graphic design because seeing his work inspired me to work in a similar field. That’s why I also do web design because I think your father taught me that having both would serve me in my career.
How did your education or training help you prepare for this career?
How it helped me was learning the basics, like I went to a university in Bogota and there I learned the basics of graphic design and stuff like that. Your father also sort of taught me because at the time I was living in Bogota he was in the states. And because of this he was much more advanced than I was, so what he would do is every time he learned something new he would teach me it. That’s sort of the reason I got into web design is because your father would send me these CD’s of web design and all of these videos about web design and through these videos I learned how to actually do it. So I would say that those are the two ways that helped me.
Can you walk me through your creative process for a new project?
My creative process when starting a new project is just a lot of thinking. I’m not one of those people that sketch out or draw their ideas. The reason I don’t do that is because I’m not skilled enough, so what I do instead is I just think. I’ll research the topic and after that I’ll just think, like when I go to bed I think nonstop which is probably why I don’t get a lot of sleep. But, after I think of an idea I’ll just go straight to the program. Sketching just isn’t for me, if I was actually good at sketching I would do it, but since I’m not that good at it I don’t do it.
How do you stay inspired or overcome creative blocks?
How I overcome creative blocks is by meditating. It sounds very hippy, but meditation helps me a lot. I have this app called Headspace and they have a section for creative blocks so whenever I get a creative block that’s an option I use. Another thing I like to do is just turn off the computer and go out to the city. I’ll go walk outside and try to look for influences or ideas within the city. I think the main thing is to just turn off the computer, because we spend so much time on them that it starts to get repetitive, and when you have access to unlimited references and stuff like that, going to a place that has limitations can take you out of that block.
How do you balance your own creative vision with a client’s needs?
This is a difficult question. When I was younger and doing client work, it was very hard for me when they couldn’t see my vision because when you’re young, you’re very stubborn and when they can’t see your vision it hurts and you might start to not like your clients very much. Especially because I used to do album covers for bands, and they were the worst because they would have such a specific idea of what they wanted in their head that if you deviated even a little bit from it then they would tell you to change it. They were just a big pain in the butt. But now, since I’m employed and more mature, I just do whatever my bosses want. You just have to not care and not take it personally, like if my boss wants red text instead of orange, I say “sure thing boss” with a smile on my face. When you're young it hurts to hear someone critique your work, even when they don’t know anything about art, but as you get older you stop caring about that.
How has being a hispanic man impacted your career?
Uhm, I don't think I could answer this question because it hasn't really impacted my work. Being bilingual has helped me, but being hispanic hasn’t changed my work all that much. I was born in Colombia, but came down to the states when I was very young, so all of my influences are very American and mostly based on comic books and video games and stuff like that. None of my influences are really from my heritage. Like one time back when I lived in Richmond, I had two Colombian dudes ask me to make a festival poster for a festival they were going to have in Colombia. That project was very difficult for me, I had a very hard time with it because none of my influences come from my heritage so it’s hard for me to make art about it.
What advice would you give to a graphic design student going into the workforce?
My first piece of advice would be to not fight AI. Don’t try and fight it because it’s everywhere. My second piece of advice is to get more hands on. Doing stuff with your hands can really help with preventing burnout and just your overall enjoyment of art. Also try to read more, collect more books on fashion design, logo design, illustration, web design, stuff like that. Reading a design book is something different than just going to pinterest or something like that because it has that tangibility. It’s right in front of you and you can feel the texture of the paper and that kind of thing. Just read as much as you can and try to get in as much information as possible and retain it, because you never know when it might be useful.
