Diego Aguilar Villalobos

What do you wish you’d known now when you started your design course?

Know the importance of design. Everyone should understand this prior to leaving high school. This allows for the profession to be better valued. Graphic design is everywhere, it is so common that it has become normalized. Within this very moment, you can stop and take look around, only to find something being communicated with typography.

The world without design, can not be synchronized.

What originally lead you in to design, and how has that changed - what do you want to do/are doing now?

I come from a family related to design. I have uncles and cousins who have studied many creative careers. My grandfather used to have a lithography (typesetting) set that I liked to play around with. My father studied graphic design and is the owner of Señalizando, a signage and visual orientation studio. I suppose that seeing & being involved in what they were doing, motivated me to follow in their footsteps. Even so, I began to study without understanding the fundamentals of design.

Throughout my career, I fell in love with typography, image and rhetoric. I am currently working in Aluzian, one of the best consultant brands in Colombia. Alongside an incredible team, we are creating a visual identity. It has helped me understand that the design must be coherent, eloquent and consistent. I admire a lot the work of Isidro Ferrer and Pablo Delcan (@pablodelcan). In the future, I would like to make posterism or visual poetry like them.

Any hot tips for getting ahead at uni?

I think that many designers spend a lot of time looking for their own unique aesthetic style. More than that, a conceptual logic must be developed first to find an aesthetic that communicates the purpose of the design. This can be found through experimenting with different styles, making mistakes and looking at different things. The more you do, the more you will learn & the more you will understand yourself. Risk experimenting with any idea you have, but always find a purpose. This is the perfect time to learn from your mistakes.

What do you love about the design scene in your city and what companies are on your dream list to work or collaborate with?

The design scene feels like a family. Several designers seek to boost Colombian design by collaborating with each other, doing events, talks or workshops. There are many talented Colombian design studios within the area. These include Aluzian, Bastarda Type, Machete, Siegenthaler & Co, Lip, Diantres, Contra, 703, Invade, Monocromo, Tangrama, Regio ... and the list goes on.

My dream list of companies are: Fisk, Porto Rocha, Delcan & Company, Folch, Vrints-kolsteren, Wedge, ByFutura, Anagrama, M35, A Friend Of Mine, Some Days, Never Now, Collins and Gretel.

The designers I would like to collaborate are: Isidro Ferrer, Gail Bichler, Pep Carrio, Pablo Amargo, Cristian Vargas, Santiago Carrasquilla, Jonathan Castro, Jacob Jan Wise, Leah Maldonado, Camilo Medina, Laura Csocsán, Jody Hudson-Powell ... and I can go on for days haha.