Gui

I am an art director born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, currently living in New York. I am very passionate about design, art and my work. I believe all forms of visual communication as ways to express an idea, a thought, a concept, an emotion, a message or even a visual experiment. I also love typography, photography, and illustration, I think design means the ability to work on several different mediums, and I also believe that art and design can be very powerful ways to make a difference in the world.

Rio de Janeiro

Being from Rio de Janeiro really means coming from an amazing and inspirational place. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Everywhere you look there is something to be inspired from. Not only the beauty, but also the diversity of colors, contrasts and cultures. It is also interesting to look at it from a analytical point of view, since the contrasts between rich and poor, good and bad, fair and unfair, are so evident it is almost screaming for help, and for an artist that is something very compelling and inspiring in a way, since it makes us think about our role and responsibility as visual ommunicators.

Youth

Being young is having the opportunity to experiment, to try something new, to take risks. For an artist, that is an amazing opportunity. It is a great thing to be able to innovate, make mistakes, remix the mistakes, be inspired by unusual things, pick your favorite artists, look at their work, imagine where you will be in the future, and above all, enjoy the naive look on things that only a young mind can have. As I get older I hope I remain young inside and still go through all of these things. To me, being young doesn't have that much to do with age, but with how you look at things and react to them.

Internet

The internet for me is just another canvas to design on. It is great, it is interactive and all, just like print has always been, and will always be interesting, as well as broadcast, as well as architecture, fine arts, mobile devices, etc, etc, etc. What I am always looking for are opportunities to do something new and approach a medium in a different way. How can we combine more than one platform for an idea? What are the things that haven't been done on each of these mediums yet? What kind of canvas will we be designing on in the future? How can we rethink something conventional, and make it completely fresh and unexpected? It's pretty exciting to think about it that way.

Eyepunch

It's a design community based in Brazil, and the first of these communities to be completely geared to Brazilian designers and written in Portuguese. I founded it back in 2001, when all of the design sites were in English, and very far and unapproachable in a way. Nowadays I feel like the design community worldwide is way more integrated than it used to be, but back then it felt good to have something big started in Brazil, for Brazilians. Even now, it still feels great to see that it has made a difference and caused a positive impact in the design scene there. We are currently rethinking the site a bit, and soon there will be news about where it's going next.

Fame

I wish I was famous! :) No, seriously, that is something I don't really think about much. I mean, it must be nice to be famous and all, but I have no idea what it would feel like. At the same time that it's probably nice to know that your work is admired, it must be pretty disturbing to know that from that point on, everything you create will be seen and analyzed by much more people, and many more eyes, and the impact of your work will be significantly larger than it used to be, which puts a lot of pressure and responsibility in the work you do. But in a way that is part of it, a natural consequence of being a designer or an artist.

Love

I believe that loving what you do, and having passion in your work is key to creating good work. How would we be able to put such an insane amount of effort into our work, and go through these insane amount hours and sleepless nights for our projects if we didn't love what we do? It's like, you want to wake up in the morning and really look forward to what you are working on. You got to love what you do to be able to make something great.

Excitement

Design is exciting. From the moment you are briefed, and start thinking about the possibilities; the fun of brainstorming ideas; collaborating with great people; the thrill of coming up with the idea; gathering all the elements; experimenting with the executions; finding the right visual language; getting it approved; seeing it come to life; admiring the final piece; watching people's reactions to the work. It's not always that easy, but it's definitely exciting.

Purpose

Unless it is just an experiment, or a fun visual play, I think there should be a reason behind every aspect of design. What is the purpose of the work, what is it trying to communicate. Any design work should have an idea, a concept behind it. The elements on the composition; the typography; the graphics; the style; the details - everything should have a good reason to be there to a certain degree. It is what makes the work relevant. The simplicity of a design with purpose is a beautiful thing, and the beauty of something simple is not always easy to get, but definitely worth pursuing.

Old

Everything that has been done in the past can become great inspiration and provide lessons for us to learn from, explore and study. It is like a starting point. We look at the past, and what is already here, and then we take a step into creating something new. Getting old means to expand our horizons, and learning more and more everyday. It's all about finding a good balance between the knowledge of experience and the naive approach of new ideas and thoughts.