Felipe Magario, Co-founder at Estudio Pum dishes out some stelar advice from lessons he's learned along the way, how he found his own path to design and how working on a variety of projects is both exciting and a little scary.
Give us the elevator pitch on what you do.
Hi :) I grew up and live in Brazil, where I have a studio called Pum (Estudio Pum) alongside my business partner Javier Cifre. We both do pretty much everything from business proposals, photos, illustrations and branding. I'm currently working from Sao Paulo, but I’m always trying to leave home for a few months, so please invite me for any design experience across the world. I’ll go!
What I enjoy the most today as a designer is that at Pum’s we can work with different clients, partners and colleagues. For instance, we’re currently working with some Canadian tea packages and at the same time drawing animation screens for Google Brazil and working on a exhibition print for London. And next month it’s going to be something different that really excites and scares me.
When did you fall in love with design and how did you get started?
From modeling Pokemon characters on clay to drawing on t-shirts for my band, graphic design and illustration was one of those things that I was always related to and found of, but it seemed more like a hobby. Years later I mistakenly choose to study business & marketing, but my lifestyle and those buried hobbies of mine prevailed, so I dropped that career and I fell in love with design. At that time, design was a personal lifestyle in Sao Paulo that I could talk to strangers, visit places, travel, make friends, maybe even dress myself… All that led me to be happily involved on years of investigation and all the theoretical and practical learning.
Like many designers in Brazil I didn’t start at ad agencies. In my early design career I worked with illustration and fashion, and this had a lot to do with the creative path I took. By the time I got to work with and inside agencies, I realized that I had a different approach and technique to commercial stuff.
I also got lucky to work with really loving people that I learned a lot from :)
What are some of your earliest creative memories and what lead you into design?
I remember years ago seeing photos of working places around the world and thinking “Oh, it would be awesome to work there”. Then I wanted to work with skateboards. Then music. I guess it’s just cool to remember how designers can and should change their career inspirations from time to time. That really had good effect today on how I can work with different people and businesses.
Who are your top five design crushes right now?
Pretty brands on this Italian blog called Visual Journal
Brazilian illustrator, Barbara Malagoli
And always Buck, because they’re always doing something new
I personally don’t like that kind of infographic curriculum with the Adobe expertise level, and we get that a lot. This level should speak for itself by your design work.
What qualities and skills to you look for in a graduate?
We know that they are and supposed to be raw for commercial experience, so we do appreciate uniqueness. Like a Flickr filled with analog photos, a personal creative project on going or weird and interesting hobbies. Those things help us a lot when choosing a scene to illustrate, on drawing a character, to come with ideas for posters and editorials.
I personally don’t like that kind of infographic curriculum with the Adobe expertise level, and we get that a lot. This level should speak for itself by your design work.
Any passion projects/collabs you would like to share?
I’m really passionate about the wooden toys we created using small parts of furniture. Some of them became rattles for percussion and we played music with it (you can listen on the Behance page ), others were more like a decorative toy. Then we sold them in one of those independent art fairs where you have the chance to talk about it and show to people.
It was just a pleasure from start to end. Move away from the computer and sit a lot on the floor, get dirty, search for wood.
What three naughty things have you done in your career to get ahead?
I lied about how much I was expecting to earn, which wasn’t great. They thought I deserved it and CASH. No regret on that particular moment.
We founded the studio even before I left my last job. I wasn’t happy and I wanted to test some sort of freelance life, but we didn’t have any investments. Two freelance jobs quickly became Estudio Pum, my boss found out, things got uncomfortable and I finally arranged my exit. We’re friends today. I like working in teams, but I guess sometimes you got to take care of yourself.
We pay for softwares. But I may or may not be using 2 cracked softwares. Idk.
What advice would you give students starting out?
Ask more, investigate, read from different sources, search on different platforms. Then go to Pinterest :)
2018 for you in a sentence.
Personally, this year brought me some bad juju, but people have been more kind then ever and I was still able to avoid stock photo images. All good.
