Interviews with Deborah Avila

I have over 15 years of experience as an Art Director and UI/UX Designer. I’ve been in leadership roles and have experience managing creative teams. Throughout my career, I have honed my skills in designing and developing user-friendly interfaces, not only for apps, but also for games.

I was applying for History school when I was 17 years old. My father told me to search for other options, since I have been drawing since birth. Then, he sat next to me on the computer and helped me find a new course, and he found it: a new course was starting at the closest University in our town. He said: “This is Graphic Design. Do you know what it is?”, and I didn’t. I didn’t have a clue of what it was. He said: “Look at the pictures. Some people are drawing. You like to draw, don’t you?”, and I answered yes. I applied for this course without even knowing what a designer does. And here I am, after 15 years working as a designer, as happy as anyone could be.

My priorities are always the best quality I can give to my work, and how fast I can be when doing it. My techniques are within the time management I can give to all my demands, I am highly organized and I can work under pressure and in fast-paced environments. I would describe my design style as flat, modern, and vectorial, especially for illustrations. I feel like this style matches my lifestyle and gives me the best results I can when I’m creating new layouts.

All kinds of emotions. It can be anxiety when I am struggling with a challenging design. I can be happy and proud when I finish it with all the excellency I wanted to give. I can also be sad or angry when I feel a client isn’t honest, and I finish the work all the same. But, mainly, my emotions are as if I were an adventurer climbing a tall mountain - all very thrilling, challenging, and worthy.

I guess working under pressure taught me how to be so fast. I can create the best layouts for websites, apps and branding within a day or so, using a time management skill I developed with experience. I come from an aggressive environment in my family, since an early age, and it taught me to have patience and to be focused on the important things ahead, like a due date during work or not to get too distracted.

I started as someone who didn’t even know what design was, to someone who can’t live without design. I started very young and worked for several companies, having some difficult bosses and great ones. I can’t even count the time I spent working all night to deliver the best design I could to the clients. All this experience taught me everything I needed to be a successful designer now. My future plans would be to work more, and more, until I get comfortable enough in life and rest. My dream job would be to release an app that everyone around the globe would use.

Patience and tolerance with critiques. During a designer’s career, they won’t hear only good things. It’s more likely they’ll get more critiques and will have to redo an entire work if they must. But this is all experience and fuel the designer can use to achieve even more success in their career.

I would say never to stop working and creating the best design they can do. It is normal to feel insecure sometimes, but never let that overcome your heart. Always trust yourself, your knowledge, and your experience. Bring design to your life, and you won’t ever work a day.

Well, I wake up around 5 am in the morning and start working. I take a look at my priorities and start in there. I don't stop and don't get distracted, ever. There's never a boring day, since I am always receiving a heavy workload.

I am always taking a quick look at websites such as Awwwards, and Dribbble. The best UI/UX Design releases are there, and the best professionals are also. The trends flow in these places; I get the best of them by watching videos and reading articles.

A successful design is one that can be used, no matter by who. It is also that one where you can see you’ve earned experience to keep going, advancing in your skills. For me, almost all Apple products are like that: simple, clean, beautiful and practical.

To be honest, a design is never completed. You can always give new inventions and qualities to your designs, features, and trends. There’s always a way to improve them, but basically, I decide a design is ready to go, as a first version, when it achieves all the requirements the client wants and also has the quality and cleanness I wanted to give.

My biggest design work that came to the public and got famous was the Black Beans Design Branding. I created their logo and identity, and that earned me an A’ Design Award & Competition prize. It was a big challenge as well. I had to create their full logo and identity in one day, and to see how important it got, made me very happy.

For me, the best designer and inventor will always be Steve Jobs. He revolutionized technology as we know it, bringing the start of new design products, new design thinking, and all.

I live in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most beautiful cities in Brazil. The bright colors are very important to our culture; I think my colorful work comes with this environment. The pros of designing are the beautiful color palette I have at my disposal: so many bright and clear colors representing the happiness of my country. I suppose that the cons are related to not all the clients and companies will understand this happy, bright side of design - some would prefer monochromatic works and perhaps would consider it juvenile.

My work culture is basically to give excellency all the time. Not only related to the quality of the design itself, but also during the call with the client, the time I will have to work on it, and how I approach the client if he doesn’t approve immediately the art I created. It’s important to keep in mind how excellent you can be if you want to. The challenges are always in giving the best experience to the clients, without losing time, and mostly always being flexible.

I am always creating pro bono designs for people who don’t have ways of paying me. I treat the pro bono works as if they are regular tasks, and deliver them with the same excellency I work for all the clients. They are all equal to me. I am also always mentoring new designers, giving workshops and tutorials on how to use design tools, all for free. Knowledge is important to pass on, and not everything has to be paid with money. The simple fact that people are also learning and becoming designers is the payment for me.

It was very nice to earn the Silver prize and to be able to display and show it to the world. It earned me several more clients, and I believe that’s just the beginning. Design competitions are relevant to professionals who are aiming to be discovered among the best ones in the market, and to become a better designer by having more experience when earning prizes. I am proud that all my years of work sent me to this place now.

Beans are the essential, basic nutrition to all Brazilian families. It is a superfood that is strong and indispensable. There is why the logo needed to be as bold as its meaning. Modern and elegant premium brands, such as Uber and Mastercard, served as great inspirations for their simplicity and minimalism.

I wanted to achieve an elegant, clean, and modern style for this brand work, using the concepts of beans, union, and strength.

My plans are to earn more incredible clients like this one and win more awards.

The research took one full day, and the next day was spent creating the brand. Meaning, two days.

This brand design is for Black Beans marketing agency only use. There was a blend between two strong agencies in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and from this union, Black Beans was born.

This design is currently being used by Black Beans, the company that invited me to create the brand project.

I have more than 15 years of experience as a Graphic Designer. I am used to creating brand designs for many companies, especially those working in a fast-paced time. Black Beans called me because they trusted my work.

Yes. Companies such as Uber and Mastercard served as inspirations for this design. Their clean and elegant style is what I was aiming for for this brand project.

Marketing companies and clients who need the incredible marketing work Black Beans offers.

This brand design is very concise and bold. The art is harmonic and deep. Every single aspect of it has a meaning, even the patterns were carefully designed to be part of the beans concept.

I helped the board of directors choose "Black Beans" as a name for the brand. Initially, the challenge was to direct the new name into something related to flame, hence the two previous logos have flames in them. Eventually, the strongest idea was that of using beans and their powerful, strong meaning as nutrition for every Brazilian family.

I used Adobe Illustrator to create all the drawings, from the logo itself to the patterns. I used Adobe Photoshop to create mockups and presentations for the client.

The elegant typography, with serifs. Not all companies use this bold idea for the font in this market.

No, I created the logo and all the brand identity by myself.

The easiness to design a logo using only one app: Adobe Illustrator, and bringing to it all the aesthetic I wanted to give to the brand.

My research was all related to the competitors and the newest design trends. I could see that most of the competitors stay with sans-serif fonts and are always using elements for their brand identity that don't make sense.

The due date was extremely tight. I had only two days to create the entire brand identity and present it to the board of directors.

A friend found out about this competition and called my attention to it. She encouraged me to submit my newest piece of art, and so I did.

I improved my fast timing in finding solutions on a tight due date. I also can say I improved my ability to create brand works.

Black Beans earned two other awards for this brand: A Silver Wolf for Naming and a Bronze Wolf for Brand Identity. This is one of the best Brazilian awards in Sao Paulo's region.

I have a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from 2010, but before graduating, I had worked in the field since 2007. My first job was at a print shop, creating all sorts of stamps for t-shirts. I never stopped working as a Graphic Designer.

I've been drawing since a little baby. As a child, I started drawing ads for products as a hobby, inventing all sorts of campaigns. I used to draw comic books and sell them in my school. When I was 17, I started my Graphic Design bachelor's degree at a University, and since then, I never stopped working in this field. I believe this shows that Design has always been on my mind, since I was a child.

I was applying for History school when I was 17 years old. My father told me to search for other options, since I have been drawing since birth. Then, he sat next to me on the computer and helped me find a new course, and he found it: a new course was starting at the closest University in our town. He said: “This is Graphic Design. Do you know what it is?”, and I didn’t. I didn’t have a clue of what it was. He said: “Look at the pictures. Some people are drawing. You like to draw, don’t you?”, and I answered yes. I applied for this course without even knowing what a designer does. And here I am, after 15 years working as a designer, as happy as anyone could be.

The area of Design I have been working more lately is UI/UX Design. I wish I could be working on UI/UX Design for games, though. I love the gaming experience and I'd love to learn more about this field.

Learn English as a second language if they're not native speakers. Study all about the latest trends, and all they can about the History of Art. When starting to work, never become hard or difficult with their team, be always flexible, and be careful with complaints. Remember that the more you work and produce, the more you learn and surpass all the obstacles ahead.

A great designer is always one step ahead with more knowledge, experience, and, especially, more flexibility. A great designer can overcome frustrations, difficult obstacles, hard clients, and so on. It is someone who never refuses a challenge - on the contrary, it gets them even more motivated.

A successful design is one that can be used, no matter by who. It is easy to understand, simple, fast, and meaningful. It is also that one where you can see you’ve earned experience to keep going, advancing in your skills.

A good design prioritizes the needs and expectations of users, resulting in an enhanced user experience. It can help businesses stand out. A good design can establish credibility and professionalism in a brand.

I would design for the A' Design Award & Competition website. I love this award and think their website could be even better with my help.

I wish I could have more time to design mobile aesthetic games.

I think my secret ingredient would be persistence. I never stop, never give up. If I have to work until 4 am, I will, and I will not complain because it adds value and experience for me.

I love the art from Os Gemeos. It's impressive how one of the brothers starts creating a drawing and the other one continues, and they finish together. The colors, the style, it's all magical and beautiful.

Ron Muek's sculptures are perfect, in my opinion. I can't pick a favorite. They're all incredible. The hyperrealism in his pieces is impressive, and I didn't find any other artist achieving this kind of realism yet.

I would say it is the Black Beans brand design I worked and it earned me the A' Design Award & Competition silver prize. Not because it was rewarded but because the clients highly accepted it. They loved it and are proud of their new brand, showing the world what they have now. I am very honored and proud of that.

I started as someone who didn’t even know what design was, to someone who can’t live without design. I started very young and worked for several companies, having some difficult bosses and great ones. I can’t even count the time I spent working all night to deliver the best design I could to the clients. All this experience taught me everything I needed to be a successful designer now. For people to improve, they need to love their careers, and do everything to learn and become the best they can.

I would have become an Archaeologist. I would study old things instead of new trends, as I do now.

Design is everything you see, touch, and taste. It can be the chair you're sitting on, the beautiful garden in your neighborhood, or the tasteful dish you probe. It can be everywhere, as you walk the streets and see many different things. That's what "design" means to me: everything.

I had a friend once, a long time ago. She motivated me, helped me when I was feeling down about my work, and most importantly, she believed in me. She continues to believe, I suppose, although, unfortunately, we lost contact.

Having patience and perseverance at moments when I needed them most.

I couldn't choose my clients or the companies I wanted to work for. Many companies didn't believe in Design and wouldn't give it the value it needed.

For all the work you get to do, you have to be at your best in the presentation. The most important presentation is the pitch you'll give to defend your project, ideas, and decisions, and it must come with a beautiful and impressive design. You have the power to sell your work, your idea, and the best way is to present it with a nice and eloquent design presentation.

I have been art-directing a few apps and games for did.lu, and we are developing the craziest ideas possible.

I design to help people have the best experience while using a product. I aim to become the best designer I can be for the users and clients, so my work can reach different cultures without issues.

People expect excellence from me. Fast deliveries, perfect communication, impressive quality, and the best solutions for their problems.

Design thinking encourages a human-centered approach to problem-solving. By empathizing with people's needs and experiences, designers can develop innovative solutions to complex societal problems. Also, a good design strives to make products, services, and spaces accessible and inclusive for all individuals, regardless of their abilities, backgrounds, or demographics.

I am currently a Senior UI/UX Designer for Soulbound.gg. It is a game platform that enhances gamers' reputation across the web. I love their Japanese cyberpunk style, and creating artwork for them has been thrilling.

A while ago, I used to work for Panini Comics, a publisher from Italy that mostly works with names such as Marvel, DC, and Vertigo. I was a Digital Designer then and used to create several campaigns for their new comics releases. Seeing my work displayed at the Comic Con Experience in São Paulo, Brazil, greatly satisfied me, since it is an incredible pop culture convention.

I would like to see the companies understand more about design and give its deserved value. Designers are not always valued, and suffers greatly before achieving their success.

It is walking towards the high technology companies have been inventing. New user experiences are being invented, and new forms of working and solving problems are being developed. Design is going to play a crucial role in all of it.

It depends on the project. If it is a brand project, it can be in two days or a week. I am known to be very fast during my work, since I've trained myself for that for many years.

I start with searching for references for what the client need. Then, I start to sketch some ideas and finish the work afterward.

Be as fast and highly productive as I can be.

The relationship between design and trends is often symbiotic, with each influencing and responding to the other.

It is the basis of my designs. I am walking among the newest technologies and trends possible.

I always use Figma and Adobe Creative Collection software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. These four softwares are the most important ones for my career. I also use all the Apple equipment.

Color has a profound impact on human perception, emotion, and behavior. In design, color choices can evoke specific moods, create visual hierarchy, convey meaning, and enhance communication. The choice of materials can impact the perceived quality, durability, and functionality of a product or space. Also, designing with ambient factors in mind is crucial for creating immersive, comfortable, and functional experiences. Lighting design, for example, can enhance visibility, create focal points, set moods, and improve safety.

"How long did it take to get to the results?". They would be amazed at how fast I can be when designing quality pieces that many would think got me a week, when I only spent a couple of hours.

I think about how technology and new products are coming to make everyone's life better. I am thrilled to be part of a world where we have people always thinking of how to make things easier.

My ideal design partner is someone who can give the work the same excellence and priority as I give.

It was around 14 years ago, at a very small company of one man. I had a boss called Daniel Rothier. He taught me how to create websites and also taught me how to be very fast during my work. I will never forget it. He style of modern art, using lights, textures, and effects, influences me until this day.

The New Typography Weimar and Now, from 1928. It's an excellent read for all those who love typography and the history of things.

Patience and tolerance with critiques. During a designer’s career, they won’t hear only good things. It’s more likely they’ll get more critiques and will have to redo an entire work if they must. But this is all experience and fuel the designer can use to achieve even more success in their career.

I would love to meet my favorite painter: Caravaggio. I would talk to him for hours to understand his techniques, using such a well contrast, the perfect anatomy, and the balance of bright and dark.

I don't feel different at all. I am still the same designer as I've been for 15 years, still studying, still working very hard, and giving my best to work.

My favorite color is teal. So beautiful and matches so many other colors. My favorite place is in the woods, next to the waterfalls. My favorite food is carrot cake. My favorite season is winter. My favorite thing is my MacBook, and my favorite brand is, of course, Apple.

Once, a clothes company asked me to create their logo with a hidden "666" message. The client said he was a satanic person. I was very scared but needed the money - and I never refused work, even now. So I created his logo with the numbers hidden in a way that only if you pay attention, you'd see it.

When I wake up early and turn on my computer to start working, it’s all very quiet, and I can only hear the birds' songs at the beach. It gives me all the creativity I need.

Yes. I've been drawing since childhood, and not just normal illustrations. When I was around 10, I used to create advertising for products I invented. I used to create the product's package design, its labels, and its advertising of it.

I suppose we will be exploring other worlds. We will meet new species. We will build new ways of making our lives easier. No more cables, less bureaucratic solutions.

I’d say to have patience and be persistent. If you find a bump in the road, don’t give up - use it as fuel to earn more experience and learn more about your trade. Work as hard as possible to earn all the success you need in your career, and never stop learning new things.

I've been drawing since a little baby. As a child, I started drawing ads for products as a hobby, inventing all sorts of campaigns. I used to draw comic books and sell them in my school. When I was 17, I started my Graphic Design bachelor's degree at a University, and since then, I never stopped working in this field.

did.lu is an incubator of people and ideas for apps and games. Our main task is to develop careers for people and teach them how to invent new apps using no-code platforms. We are always searching for new trends in tech, implementing them in our jam sessions to create new ideas and perform them into the craziest apps.

Design is everything you see, touch, and taste. It can be the chair you're sitting on, the beautiful garden in your neighborhood, or the tasteful dish you probe. It can be everywhere, as you walk the streets and see many different things. That's what "design" means to me: everything.

I like to create new platforms and websites using my UI/UX knowledge. It is beautiful to think about the usability and how the user will use the interfaces and experience I create. It’s almost like a puzzle, one that I invent myself. It’s challenging.

It’s a difficult question. We are surrounded every day by the most incredible designs on each thing we use, wear, or taste. For me, the best I can think of now is Apple’s product package design: they are absolutely gorgeous and clean, and the start of your excellent experience starts with the package.

The first thing I remember designing for a company was a t-shirt. I was an intern at a printer shop, and one of my main tasks was creating t-shirt stamps design.

Apple’s technology is the best I know. The amazing integration between their products, the strong quality, and the impeccable service are mind-blowing.

When I wake up very early in the morning and turn on my computer to start working, it’s all very quiet, and I can only hear the birds' songs at the beach. It gives me all the creativity I need.

The user experience. Are they going to understand what’s in front of them? Will their experience be good? How much time will they spend when using it? Will it impress them and make them come back?

All kinds of emotions. It can be anxiety when I am struggling with a challenging design. I can be happy and proud when I finish it with all the excellency I wanted to give. I can also be sad or angry when I feel a client isn’t honest, and I finish the work all the same. But, mainly, my emotions are as if I were an adventurer climbing a tall mountain - all very thrilling, challenging, and worthy.

I feel as if I have climbed a difficult mountain and reached a beautiful view that I’d never regret in my life.

A successful design is one that can be used, no matter by who. It is also that one where you can see you’ve earned experience to keep going, advancing in your skills.

I consider the user experience. It has to be easy to understand, clean, fast, and without too much effort.

A designer is always inventing new ideas to improve a product, a system, or anything else people use. It’s important to be aware of how it will approach people. It has to englobe everyone: women, LGBTQIA+, black people, indigenous, and so on. It also has to focus on the environment, as non-pollute products, nothing that could harm our planet.

Yes, all the time. The design has been evolving since the first pre-historical humans stepped on Earth. The future of design, I suppose, would be for people to have more and more clean and easy-to-use products, something that gives them more time, flexibility, and education.

I didn’t have any exhibition so far. My work has always been digital and around UI/UX design and brand design.

My sources of inspiration come with simply living. I watch movies, play video games and read books. I also love to see newly awarded websites so that I can inspire myself with new trends.

I would describe my design style as flat, happy, cute, and vectorial, especially for illustrations. I feel like this style matches my lifestyle and gives me the best results I can when I’m creating new layouts.

I live in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most beautiful cities in Brazil. The bright colors are very important to our culture; I think my colorful work comes with this environment. The pros of designing are the beautiful color palette I have at my disposal: so many bright and clear colors representing the happiness of my country. I suppose that the cons are related to the fact that not all the clients and companies will understand this happy, bright side of design - some of them would prefer monochromatic works and perhaps would consider it juvenile.

I work remotely for companies from all around the globe.

Not everything is related to a good portfolio. I believe there are many talented designers all over the place, but not all of them would fit a fast-paced work environment, for example. Therefore, it’s important for companies to understand their own ambiance and style of work before hiring a designer, and specify it during the interviews.

I am used to working in a fast-paced work environment, so I don’t have much time to think of solutions or search for references. Based on my +15 years of experience, I check the priorities and select the urgent ones to start - then, I spend about 20 to 40 minutes exploring references and understanding better what the client is requesting, before starting to work. When I start, I won’t stop until it’s ready.

I have a painting created by a street artist in Buenos Aires, one that I love very much. I also love my Apple work products; I think their design is like masterpieces. I don’t owe much things, since my life is basically work and work…

Well, I wake up around 5 am in the morning and start working. I stop by noon to have a quick lunch. Then, I go back to working and won’t stop until 7 pm, most of the days. Then, I go to the gym and come back home around 10 pm. I take a bath and go to sleep. Simple and plain as that.

I would say to have patience and be persistent. If you find a bump in the road, don’t give up - use it as fuel to earn more experience and learn more about your trade. Work as hard as possible to earn all the success you need in your career, and never stop learning new things.

I would say that the positive side is always to exercise your mind to create new ideas and solutions. Your mind never stops, and all can be transformed into inspiration for you. The negative side would be having to be in front of the computer for several hours every day. If you don’t take care, you can have back problems or headaches from the screen exposition every day.

Clean and simple. I guess that would be the golden rule, always. Never pollute an art (only if it’s what you’re aiming for), and make it as simple as you can.

Patience and tolerance with critiques. During a designer’s career, they won’t hear only good things. It’s more likely they’ll get more critiques and will have to redo an entire work if they must. But this is all experience and fuel the designer can use to achieve even more success in their career.

I always use Figma and Adobe Creative Collection software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. These four softwares are the most important ones for my career.

By waking up early and separating tasks by their priorities. I never procrastinate and get focused the whole time I’m working.

It depends on the object. If it’s a logo, it can be a day or four hours. It depends on the difficulty and on the number of requests that would come with the object.

“Can you create a business card for me?” — Every now and then, people who discover I’m a designer ask this question.

It was around 14 years ago, at a very small company of one man. This man is called Daniel Rothier. He taught me how to create websites and also taught me how to be very fast during my work. I will never forget it.

I’m currently working for Snappy Kraken, Stagwell Marketing Cloud, Soulbound, and Tilda.cc.

The type of work I enjoy the most is UI/UX Design. I really love to create platforms and apps, imagining how people will use them, and how I can make their lives better.

I see myself working until my hair gets grey, and then I’ll stop eventually and enjoy the comfortable life I built with my work.

I work with a team most of the time, but I have responsibilities as a Senior Designer, creating the designs myself and sharing them with the rest of the team.

I am directing the creation of several apps using no-code platforms, at did.lu, my own company. did.lu is an incubator of people and ideas, and right now, our staff has been inventing several ideas for games and apps, and I help them to achieve their best results.

People can send me an email (dehbavila@icloud.com) or a fast message on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahavila/).

I don’t think so. Thank you very much! :)