I’m starting a Design Blog

But why?

Because I like experiments and also like to test myself into pursuing different things out of my comfort zone.

First, a side-note. I’m not one of those anti comfort zone maniacs that tell people to do something so unnatural as going against their comfy place.

2 main reasons: I don’t believe that’s for everyone and I don’t really enjoy that being in that state of mind works for me. Sometimes I feel like a creative masochist.

Back to the point.

So in order to push myself in a direction against my comfort zone, instead of creating yet another visual concept (a digital experience, a poster, whatever… my entire career is about visual concepts) I decided to try something else. Something I don’t really know how to do it. A blog. A design blog. A proper design blog.

What is a “proper design blog”?

I guess we’ll find out. Honestly I like how it sounds. The English language is so melodic… I even created a little animation:

I’m not a motion designer, but still I think it looks very cool.

“Ok, I’m starting a blog… Worse yet, It’s about my work.”

Yeah, I know. You might think:
—Another designer talking about himself…

Well not quite.

Here’s the idea. To explore some professional design-related issues that I’m sure will be useful for other fellow designers/creatives thru the exploration of the work I made in the last 15+ years.

Here’s an example of issues I will write about: Self promotion, Self doubt, “How to know if I can design something”, Learning processes, Personal branding, etc.

A personal approach to universal topics. Sort of.

I don’t know the final result of this journey. Time will tell. All I know for sure is if I want this experiment to work, I have to follow some rules:

1. The blog needs to be a consistent thing in my life for at least a year
2. It has to be updated frequently. I’m deciding whether to do it weekly or monthly
3. Above all, it should be personal. A reflection of me. So expect contradictions and bilingual articles (“global” ideas in English, local ideas in Spanish)

Before I wrap up this first entry, I want to say one more thing:

Although this is a personal experiment I’d like very much to interact with fellows colleagues. So every thing I might write from now on is open for further discussion and opinions will be welcomed.

Also, if there’s any particular issue that you want me to address, let me know.

That’s it for now.
Thanks for reading.

Pablo Zarate is a Designer and an Independent Art Director from Buenos Aires, Argentina. You can buy his posters and get in touch with him on Twitter & Facebook.