Tell us about yourself.

I am Angello Torres, designer and graphic artist. I was born in Peru and I have the privilege of living and studying in Argentina at the University of Buenos Aires. I worked for many years in Branding and Web Design studios as art director and lead designer. Currently I have my own design studio with my partner Fiorella in which we are dedicated to create graphic identity projects, having our focus on maximalism. More is More.

Which design topics are you most passionate about?

Everything related to the fantasy world of nature. I like to invent projects where the context is surreal or at least unknown. For example a poster for a musical artist living on Mars. Or an exhibition poster for some sculptures from an unknown planet. These briefs allow me to fly with my imagination mixing a lot of design layers and levels. This is where my most graphic expression plays, which is maximalism, where I can combine different fonts, images, illustrations and compositions, but always keeping my visual sensibility.

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time I continue designing posters to keep practicing and absorbing graphic languages. Music and manga help me to expand my imagination. I usually listen to a lot of Japanese music, like ''Watering a flower - Haruomi Hosono 1984'', while reading a chapter of Berserk or Kingdom. Then the process is very natural to turn it into a piece of graphic design.

Share a project / exhibition / creative person / anything that you found recently and sparked your imagination.

I'm a big fan of horror, whether in movies or video games. And I'm following a lot of artists on twitter that generate content using new technologies like AR-VR and historical ones like sculpture. These are two of my favorites: 村上仁美　ceramic sculpter, 安岡 篤志 / Atsushi Yasuoka.

What’s the hardest thing about being a designer?

The constancy of obsession and security when designing. These parameters are very variable in our profession and have a lot of impact on the visual quality as well as on our mental psyche.

It also complicates the tasks that are not related to design, such as making a good budget, writing a good email, organizing a project with its working time, and in case of leading a team, having the soft skills to enhance the work.

What’s the best thing about being a designer?

Being able to have the opportunity to work remotely from anywhere in the world. As well as being able to quit your job and be a freelance designer. It is a very chameleon-like profession that is related to technology and the senses. So we will always be evolving in our profession as design is a living organism in movement that continues to mutate in any medium or device. The design does not flinch in the face of the information revolution because it is in its origins.

What's the best advice you've received (and from whom)?

One of my first bosses when I started working in design had told me not to pay attention to the briefs of the actual jobs, or what my leaders or the client told me. This way I could have absolute control of myself when designing, and be more free, obtaining disruptive results that would later be molded for a final delivery to the client.

What do you do when you feel stuck and uninspired?

I go for a long walk to relax my mind. I also try to take 1 or 2 months off, it's quite healthy for creativity to be able to disconnect from work for a while. I even recommend if you have the opportunity to get away from design for a year and then come back to it. You will see a big change in your creative process after spending so much time away from the computer.

Recommend a book / movie / TV series / podcast / playlist to our readers

I recommend the movie ''Summer of Kikujiro'', directed by Takeshi Kitano. The soundtrack belongs to Joe Hisaishi who is the composer of most of the films of Studio Ghibli.

Thank you Angello!