Excellent Latinx Designers, Part One
Designers are valued for their creativity. We get paid to be imaginative, original, curious. Yet somehow, so often, when asked to name someone who inspires us, our brains shrivel up like lumps of old gum. Ask a design student who inspires her, and she’s STILL almost certain to say, in a tremulous uptalky squeak, “Errrrm… Sagmeister?” Meanwhile, ask a design educator the same question, and she’ll start manically listing 1990s-era Pentagram partners.
Why is it so hard to remember more than ten names? Why is it so hard to learn new names? Why is it so easy to remember sooo many white guys? We can’t help ourselves! Our neural networks have hardened along deeply grooved paths. We can’t possibly keep track of all the hip young things, the folks whose websites Google offers to translate, the bookmarked and forgotten.
For creative people, this is a shamefully uncreative, incurious way to be. Want to be less that way? Here is a list of excellent Latinx designers. (Latinx people have heritage from the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America and Europe.)
In part one of this three-part series, I profile excellent Latinx branding, experimental, and motion designers.
Branding
Anagrama
Founded by Sebastian Padilla, Mike Herrera, and Gustavo Muñoz in Monterrey, Mexico, Anagrama is a multidisciplinary studio that specializes in the full spectrum of branding, from strategic brand consulting, to visual identity, logotype, naming, peripherals, packaging, and illustration design. By breaking the traditional agency scheme with its multidisciplinary approach, Anagrama has consistently created unique branding environments for its clients.
http://www.anagrama.com
Mucho
Mucho is an international visual communications and graphic design studio with offices in Barcelona, Berlin, Newark (Nottinghamshire), Paris, San Francisco, London and New York, and led by partners Marc Català, John Dowling, Rob Duncan, Pablo Juncadella, Tilman Solé and Loran Stosskopf. Their creative capabilities encompass strategy for communication, brand identity, art direction, graphic advertising, editorial design, packaging, signage, websites, apps, motion graphics, and more.
http://wearemucho.com/
Futura
Futura was founded in 2008 in Mexico City, by Vicky González and Iván García. Futura aims to push the boundaries of Mexican design using shapes, new strategies, and narrative to deliver projects that have a clear message and smart incentives, while maintaining Mexican wit and charisma.
http://byfutura.com/en/
Sabbath
Sabbath is a multidisciplinary creative consultancy based in Monterrey, Mexico. It was formed by passionate individuals dedicated to the highest standards and to creating new visuals and methods of thinking.
http://www.sabbathvisuals.com/
Experimental
Ana Serrano
Ana Serrano is a first generation Mexican American born in Los Angeles in 1983. Inspired by both of the cultural contexts in her life, she creates work utilizing a variety of mediums including drawing, collage, sculpture, and motion. Her work references those in low socioeconomic positions, with particular interest in the customs and beliefs, as well as the architecture, fashion, and informal economies present within this segment of society.
http://www.anaserrano.com
Nicolás Pradilla
Nicolás Pradilla is an editorial designer and publisher. Since 2010, she has directed an Economic Publishing Workshop with Gabriela Castañeda: a micro-editor that publishes books with Mexican artists, as well as texts and other contributions that seek to contribute to the discussion of the image in the contemporary local context.
http://www.nicolas.soundsister.com/
http://www.t-e-e.org/
Pep Carrió
Pep Carrió, who is a graphic designer, is not only that. Pep Carrió day draws infinite; illustrates own and others’ books; edits books that were not there; builds memory enclosed in dream objects; shares his knowledge and his questions in courses, workshops, and blogs.
http://www.pepcarrio.com/El-fabricante-de-cabezas
Veronica Corzo-Duchardt
Veronica Corzo-Duchardt is a Cuban-American artist, designer, and printmaker who is fascinated by traces of history embedded in the objects we use, collect and leave behind. Her practice is rooted in memory, heritage, and material culture. Winterbureau is her studio and shop.
http://www.winterbureau.com
http://www.designsponge.com/2015/11/whats-in-your-toolbox-veronica-corzo-duchardt.html
Maru Calva
Maru Calva is a book designer living in Mexico City. Her work explores the boundaries and limits of the publication as a support for artistic practice. She is a founder of Aeromoto, a public library devoted to contemporary culture in Mexico City.
http://marucalva.com/
http://aeromoto.mx/
Motion
Pablo Ferro
Pablo Ferro is a graphic designer and film titles designer originally from Antilla, Cuba. He is most well-known for his title design work on Dr. Strangelove, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Addams Family, and Men In Black.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/designer/pablo-ferro/
Flaminguettes
Flaminguettes is a girl-girl creative duo from Mexico City formed by Daniela Villanueva and Mara Soler. After a career as designers, animators, and directors in recognized animation studios, Daniela and Mara decide to team up to explore a more personal, playful, and feminine side of their work. This duo specializes in high end, handmade, feminine creation and concepts for a wide range of clients and situations.
http://flaminguettes.tumblr.com/
David Ruiz
David Ruiz is a creative director, art director, and graphic designer. He is the founder of Ruiz + Company in Barcelona. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his studio, he decided to take a 3-year break to sail around the world on his boat Thor.
http://www.ruizcompany.com
http://thorcinco.squarespace.com/about/
Please suggest other excellent Latinx branding, experimental, and motion designers who are missing from this list! In part two of the series, I profile excellent Latinx creative directors, environmental designers, type designers, and poster designers. And in part three, I profile digital designers, illustrators, and book and book cover designers.
