jobs: working as a graphic designer at CINCO

it wasn’t as smooth as some people’s paths to discovering their passions. I finished high school with no real intuition on what to do next. I knew I wanted to pursue something, I just didn’t know what that was. I always knew I was technologically inlined so that helped funnel things up a little. so, I ended up choosing my bachelors in communications and multimedia design. it offered so many different areas in technology: programming, design, photography, video production, marketing… trying and learning all this helped me realize what area I was naturally drawn to.

but I can’t say that was it. what really sealed the deal for me was seeing my classmates excited about design and about creating things just for the sake of it. it was no longer a school assignment, it was truly fun. so, I chased what I saw in them and quickly got to feel that thrill.

the rest was history!

2. what does your job at CINCO involve? what happens on a typical day?

as a designer for a big brand but with a tight small team, you eventually get to experience and help out in any task, which I love because sometimes you do need a break from your regular schedule.

my main goal everyday is to keep the socials updated with image and video content, keep the client up to date with what’s new, organize and (kinda) direct photoshoots for e-commerce and our editorial, and I also write a few articles for it. this is just what’s been on my plate in the last few weeks but again, I’ve dabbled in a lot of other tasks and I find that to be rewarding. you get to try new things and most importantly, find empathy for every team member because you get to see their day-to-day when things are a little bit more chaotic.

3. what inspires your creative process?

I like to find my inspiration in different places, people, things… some projects are already so exciting that I don’t feel the need to actually go look for inspiration. they just talk to me and I immediately start creating. others aren’t that easy and what usually helps is research and actually talking about it. putting into words what I have in hands helps deconstruct the challenge and the thought process begins unfolding as I talk about it. even better is doing this with other people and merging ideas. that is always the best approach!

4. what are you currently fascinated by and how is it feeding into your work?

it’s hard to pick one thing because I’ve been feeding off of so much lately. I think the main thing for me right now is nature and how free I feel experiencing it, and also how exciting maximalism has been (@victoriaparis is probably the mix of those two things for me right now). this doesn’t impact my work in a graphic way because we already have such a curated brand designed, but it does affect how I work and feel. and working happy and inspired is something I hope everyone gets to experience. getting to explore and watch new fun things happen makes you excited to create and maybe even do those things you found thrilling just to think about.

5. how do you keep coming up with new ideas? and when you feel blocked, what do you do to "unblock" yourself?

this isn’t a job I do alone and I pride myself in crediting everyone for their ideias, and I absolutely love getting to be inspired by my colleagues as much as I love coming up with things. sometimes inspiration comes from research, other times it comes from the people right in front of you, and that is amazing to see.

when feeling blocked, and not to repeat myself but this goes back to my creative process really. talking things out and sharing ideas with other creatives is such a big thing for me. even if talking to myself, by verbalizing what is going on in my head, it helps me articulate those ideas and find a way to solve those brain blocks. I’ve had the fun pleasure of managing some interns and the first thing I always tell them is ‘ask anything even if it sounds dumb’. I would rather sound dumb but get to the bottom of what’s blocking me and not allowing me to move on with a project, than trying to figure thing out by myself to later find out it was actually a lot simpler and I just had to ask. so, moral of my story: talk, ask, discuss, verbalize. it will do wonders.

6. which was your favorite CINCO campaign?

this is a hard one because there are so many I love for different reasons. I think this years mothers day campaign was particularly special. we interviewed someone so dear to the brand like madalena who has been modeling for CINCO since the very beginning and who is now a beautiful mother to a baby girl, and also Li, the founder and creative director of CINCO who talked about how being a mother, and specially mother to maria clara who I absolutely love dearly, has impacted her creations and how the brand evolves. this was truly special to witness.

I also love our ‘the starter’ campaign that sadly I wasn’t involved in because it launched soon after I joined CINCO, but that was the first campaign I had in hands to promote and create around and because of that it has stayed with me and I love every pixel of those editorial photos.