What led you into design?
I’ve been exposed to design and visual arts since I was a little one. We have architects and designers in my family and my dad attended a technical high school. I remember he had a beautiful set of drawing tools (for blueprints and technical drawings).
When I was a senior year in high school, my cousin was finishing design school, and I remember how he would show me his projects (T-shirts, prints, cartoons and a large etcetera). Instantly, I got hooked and started researching more about graphic and industrial design. My mind was blown while I learned about the many paths and specializations that design had.
I graduated from Graphic Communications Design, and started working on web design with advertising agencies, and I started doing product design 5 years ago.
What does a typical day look like?
For the last month I’ve been dog and cat sitting for my friends and staying at their apartment, so right now a typical day is waking up early to get ready and cook breakfast for 1 human, a dog, and a cat.
Almost every morning, I read a physical book for 15 minutes (don’t read many books but I’m trying to improve on that matter with this one). I walk the dog for 20 minutes and make my way towards the office that is about a 10 minute commute in one of the prettiest neighborhoods of the city.
At the office, I get fresh espresso, then check my work email and agenda. If it is a calm day, I always go on Dribbble and Medium to see what's new on my feed. Then I have daily meetings for each project I’m participating in as a product designer. Right now, I'm participating in 2 client projects and 2 startups powered by a startup studio that agave is running.
After morning meetings, I go through the tasks I have to deal with, some with the PM’s of each project and some others (regarding design) just by myself, but I always show the teams involved what I’m working on and ask for opinions.
I take a quick lunch break in the middle of the morning, and then I take one later where I go back home to eat a proper meal. During the evenings is when I usually prepare the final delivery of the tasks I worked on.
Some afternoons, I go straight to my favorite bar that is 3 blocks from the office to relax or plan freelance projects, and almost every week day I go to the gym.
What’s your workstation setup?
Company office
Workstation
Where do you go to get inspired?
Eating (and drinking) out is always a great idea for me to get inspired, you can pay attention to the music, ambient noise, the people coming in and going, smell, flavors, etc.
Attending concerts and music festivals is another great way to keep me inspired, watching musicians perform, engineers and staff working on delivering great live experiences, and the crowd enjoying the music in their own diverse way- is a very fulfilling way for me to get inspired.
What product have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?
As a digital product, I came across maze.design and it blew me away. It is a great product beautifully crafted and very well thought out and designed.
The way they let you prepare and run AB testings, the metrics... everything looks, feels, and works great!
What pieces of work are you most proud of?
Everything I did for Voxfeed made me really proud because it was executed in a short amount of time. There were big challenges to tackle so we could stay alive as a company, and the team contributed a great deal of effort to make this happen. Recently, I worked on the base of a design system and I believe it will produce great results.
Recently went back to a brand design project for a great friend and I really liked the results.
What design challenges do you face at your company?
Getting our design processes polished and truly implemented for a company that runs different teams with diverse skillsets and mindsets is the biggest one I am facing right now. Also communicating proper design processes to our startup founders and stakeholders so that their products will succeed is another one.
What music do you listen to while designing?
Any advice for ambitious designers?
Keep your mind open to new opportunities, grow your craft, reach out to others in your field and do not hold anything back. If you are having trouble meeting strangers (like me) force yourself to go to meetups, get to know more about the industry where you work. Always show up and never fail your deadlines. Be consistent.
Anything you want to promote or plug?
Keep an eye on Alt, it's a creative community organized by 2 great designers and I (currently on a small hiatus after 2 and half of monthly meetups with free beer, prints and great people).
If you come to Guadalajara, reach out!
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