Alex is one of the most consistent, earnest and dialed designers I know. He approaches design with a near complete lack of ego yet never sacrifices his drive for quality. Without further ado:
Dogs or Cats?
I will go with dogs, because I have two of them and they are making my days better. Me and girlfriend got a beautiful female golden retriever called Bella, 8 years ago and a few months ago we adopted Lotta, a 3 year old white labrador.
How did you get into design?
In high school, I was part of a rap group and we needed posters for our events, covers for our materials, and other stuff like this. I started to play in design software and kept “designing” things for my band. After high school, I got into an economics college, but it was really boring, so I got out after 3 months and started preparing for the admission in the visual arts university. Did not had any real background in art/design, I finished a maths/ natural science high school. My mother is a fashion designer / painter, I might have got some skills for this in my DNA. It’s now like 10 years since I’ve got my diploma in visual arts. So I got into design thanks to rap music. haha.
What’s one thing you learned over the last year?
I learned to transition from a lone designer to a team player.
What’s a typical day in your role at Nextiva look like?
See the tasks, complete them, start over.
What’s been the most rewarding part of being a designer?
Sitting alone in my office while listening to audio books and playing with shapes and type. I like silence.
What’s one piece of work you’re exceptionally proud of?
I don’t have a favorite thing. I design, and am very enthusiastic about it when it is fresh. One week later I forget about it, since I’m working on new stuff with enthusiasm. Started a portfolio this days and I’m reminded of many cool projects about which I almost forgot.
What’s one tip you’d give to someone starting out?
If you are serious about it you’ll find your place in here.
What’s been the largest challenge of your career?
This sounds quite dramatic. I feel that the biggest challenges are always regarding the deadlines. In execution everything is pretty solvable. In 2019 I finished in a weekend all the artworks for a music and arts festival. From artworks for the website, branding, posters, flyers, tickets, t-shirts, invitations, artworks for projections, everything. Haven’t slept much that weekend, but on Monday morning, everything was sent to the print shop or uploaded online. 35.000 people attended the festival. I had a serious discussion with the organizers after that and in 2020 I had everything prepared 4 months before the actual event. It got cancelled due to covid19. The work I did in 2019 was decent, nothing more, but without it I’m not really sure how that event would have been held. I liked a lot what I did for 2020, I will probably keep it for 2021.
Where can people find you? Anything you’d like to shoutout or promote?
Started a Dribbble account a few weeks ago. dribbble.com/
