Hi Raul, thank you for taking the time to talk to Tendify. Can you tell us a little about yourself and the work you produce?

Yeah, of course. My Name is Raul Salazar, I'm 23 years old and a web and graphic designer based on Monterrey, Mexico, I had been a web designer for 6 years and I had been freelancing for 2. Today I work with various contractors around the globe and taking projects from almost every industry, I work primarily on my own studio thinkretina.com

 

Can you take us through your creative process?

Well, the creative process varies a lot from project to project, but I usually start with a brief, to get a proper grounding on the needs of the project and the message or story you need to communicate. Before this, I proceed to do a brainstorming and in case it is something more complicated I would do a Mind map to sort out the ideas and come with a base concept, from here I start sketching and then I execute the design and handle it over or do changes if needed.

 

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Most of the inspiration comes from the internet, I tend to pull inspiration from anywhere, I don't go and search for logos, I go and start looking for different designs, images that gravitate around the concept I had ideated. Inspiration exists but it comes while you are working.

 

Do you have a favourite piece from your portfolio?

I always tend to give 100% on every project, so for me every project is something special, but my favourite piece is my branding right now, the very same project I have here in Tendify.

 

Couldn't work without...?

Music, I know is something we all say, in my case I start hearing music once I'm in total sync with my work, then I stop hearing music and I'm just focused on the design, the useful thing is that nobody can distract you.

 

Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to start out in your field?

I have two pieces of advice:

 

1- Study, it might sound like something weird, since there is a lot of self taught designers around, I was one of those, I start to read books about design by myself, studying other people's works and learnt a lot, but nothing has made me grow bigger than actually studying the career, it helps a lot, in big part because of the people and the background knowledge you can get from a University.

 

2- Fake it until you make it! Nobody is that good a designer at the beginning, regardless of how much talent you might have you need to work, see others people work, learn about what makes great design, then apply it, breath it, live in it and once you understand everything, let it go and work naturally, as in everything practice is key, and be humble, if someone else comes to you and gives you a critique, have it in mind, especially if it is another professional, I tend to think that there is always area to improve and that there is no perfect design.

 

What are your career goals for the future?

Help Thinkretina grow and move the brand to Canada, as simple as that, I want to move around the globe and live in different places, but I want to have a nice place to start my business and make it grow to its full potential.

 

 

More of Raul's work can be found at www.thinkretina.com