Interviews with Juan Ospina

I've been designing as an independent designer since 2020 (when I graduated), although I've worked for big brands well. I've become great each day doing great concepts thanks to all the creative work ive done in the past.

My mom was a graphic designer, she inspired me a lot into art, conception of symbolism behind each great work and then I wanted to learn how to help humankinddoing physical products to help everyone day by day.

1) Finding the purpose of the product/project 2)self iterations until you know what you're doing from memory 3) trying to destroy your finished work until it's strong enough to speak for itself 4) Tell a story without speaking 5) do physical prototipes to learn about ergonomics 6) don't spent times rendering and modeling if you don't know about manufacture; be a geek.

I get anxious when it becomes to starting some projects from zero because I wanna get the best conception for each work, they deserve it. Then when I discover the greatness core of each one I get really excited. Then when I finish each project I feel so much peace of having achieved this goals.

I used to be a volunteer in Ywam full time back in 2012-2014, in Chile after a huge eartquake took place, we helped build lots of homes for the people who ost it all. I was part of homes of hope international in Mexico as well and my dream was to learn how to wood work to be better every day/ faster helping people in need, thats why I took an ultimatum of studying industrial design.

I'm 29 and im already winner of 2 big design world renowed competitions, i got married 7 years ago, I have a 2 year old toddler, and my wife is currently pregnant with twins. I don't need anything else I already fullfilled the best dreams I could have dreamed of. Now I have goals: winning more contests, making money to help others with design, adopting two children at least and give the best to my family as a present father.

Don't compare nor compete with others, always self evaluate yourself hard so you improve yourself everyday, find a meaning in life to center your live on it, never give up, stand for wht's right even if you're standing alone.

Don't be materialist, be a person with goals and life valuable principles. If you aim those you'll achieve anything. Last but not least, never run alone, have a team/family; if you work in team youll get farther.

I get up at 6am everyday, have breakfast with my family, then I shower and plan the day ahead. I work remotely on some proyects from 8am-1pm. I get lunch and then i work on some personal projects from 2-5pm. I get dinner at 6pm and then I take care of my children, shower them, put pj's on and spend time with my wife from 8-10pm, then I do some rendering on different projects from 10-12pm and finally go to sleep.

I follow various design magazines and press profiles. I think trends are important but not all the times because sometimes the greatest designers set those trends before they arrive so I don't worry much about it. I care more about product's meaning than trend.

I think there is good design when I can read the implicit aspects of the product, when a story is being told in a so obvious way that great pre design research is notable.

When im sure I expressed all the aspects conceived in the meaning of the product according to all prior research and conceptualization, I have to get to the perfect balance where there's no more nor less needed.

Im really proud of the last Adesign awards I won due to the simplicity, versatility and possible mas production that can be achieved. There's another great project I'm currently working on to nominate for a red Rot but I can't talk much about it atm

I really like Karim Rashid when it comes to conceptualization of products.

Im not much influenced by the culture/society around me when it comes to design. I'm more inspired for what I live/have lived in the past; to help others live in a better way what I already lived

I use to procrastinate a lot sometimes when I work alone or in a lonely space, so I prefer working surrounded by other peers to motivate myself. When I;m with a team i work really really hard to do my best for the team. I become a better designer of myself than i was the day before to be my best version to the ones surrounding me in all aspects.

I volunteer as part of Youth with a mission international anytime i have a chance. Designing, being a staff on free times or sending money donations from my work for them to help people world wide with mental health and hard economic conditions.

1) Geting to know great new peers to share life with 2) Geting fame and rename on my now prestigiously proteted designs 3) Geting great uncomparable opportunities because of the weight the winner labels add to my resumes and portfolios.

I do a lot of sketching daily, for both my creative processes and working. One day as I was working I ran out of ergonomics and couldn't continue to use my pencil, which had like 8cm left still. That got me thinking that we use 2/3 approximately of pencils in full comfort regarding ergonomics. So I thought, why dont we give pencils one last stand, to use at least 90-95% of them and not 60%. Of course I added aesthetics, and more but the main focus was to to a secondary product revolving the main one which already exists but is not valued as much; the pencil.

My main focus was to benefit both designers with more pencil usage and pencils with a symbolic honor/value retribution from us; like a "hey I appreciate you for helping me work, design, etc. I aint gonna let you die this fast, I got you"

I'm currently working on prototyping some to check markets before I go into the final production to sell in design houses

Two days the most

I pursuit an inspiration. Made it a part of my daily practice/concepts. and then evolved into a loyalty meaning between human-pencil, a story worth of telling.

I intend to sell this design, either making it myself and selling the final products or selling the lease and gaining a % per production yearly/monthly

I was doing my hourly creative practice, came up with the idea, liked it and then one of my peers told me "hey this looks like one of those design magazines/profiles/press posts, why don't you go for it with this one, then I was like: "yeah why not, I'll check my to do's design competition list, choose one and win it". Next thing I know is I won

Mostly designer/arquitects/artists with a preppy sense for products. It's not a so expensive product but do to the technology required to make it's not the cheapest either so...

This design elevates the value of pencils, not itself alone. People all have families, friends, someone to look for when going htrough hard moments. We can all relate to this meaning behind this product's interaction

The product represents humans' loyalty translated into a secodary product to help the first product's lifespam. Last stand it self is nothing without the pencil, it's a secondary player meant to be so. It's help translated into partnership

I used Solidworks to 3d model, Solidworks visualize to render, and a fdm 3d printer to check human proportions and factibility (I won't give credit to the 3d printers brand unless they wanna sponsor me)

There are 3 actually. 1) As I said above, this product is intended since conception to be a secondary product with no value by itself 2) It's kind of tricky to put a metal centerpiece in a closed resin 3d printed/plastic inyected loop 3)The metal and plastic mix creates an explicit statement, the core of this product is not the product itself but the interaction on loyalty

It's huge, to put a floating metal piece inside a closed plastic main body needs a lot of knowledge in materials behaviour and manufacture processes

I did research on pencils lifespam to see if it was justifiable to make this project or leave it as a digital concept

Other than technical none.

I was confident of winning based on the preliminary score. I knew I had a huge chance to win

I assured the importance of well done conceptualizing more than designing something purely aesthetically appearing without meaning

My mom studied graphic design, she taught me all she knew since I was a little child, grew up loving to make prototypes and models and translating to physical everythingIi imagined as I grew. Went to youth with a mission and volunteered building homes to people in need. Started to study industrial engineer, then changed to industrial designon second semester; I got desperate of not doing anything physical regarding works/projects. got my bachelor degree and won a german design award with my thesis, worked as a creative for a famous local brand. Got independant and started to help bachelors thesis with their concept achieving amongst other processes. Won an A' design award, im currently aiming for more until I win every single competition and design just winning concepts.

Help others, and tell a deep story behind every concept

I chose, I was born to be one

I do physical designs, I love doing non electric physical products, they make me feel like a genius

Have goals in life and move daily to chieve them, dont let themselves say "it's not possible"

a Good designer achieves what asked for, a great designer asks himself whats need to be achieved

It has to tell a deep explicit story

It's hard to replicate because it goes deeper than aesthetics, it's about meaning

People in need/ people who wanna achieve the "impossible"

work for a huge brand, create a design district/lab to help others create and sell their products

I involve my family in the process, it's about narrative not work

karim Rashid

don't have

My last A design winner project, it's simple yet greatly meaningful

auto destroy your work until you can't destroy it that easy

I would have been a Volunteer full time at YWAM

A remembrance of life though objects

My parents, and my wife

Having a team behind me

ignorance, then I read and did research and became a geek on the subject I loved, from then on it was easier

As they know why they make it, not trying to convince anyone but being convinced on their meaning

I'm working in a project to win the Red dot design awards, I wanna win a desing competition for each design I own

To sell my concepts and share my emotions and stories with everyone that finds them valuable

To jawdrop on any aspect involved

Taking down the "not possibles" one by one until we can achieve anyhting

I'm doing some great projects with Robin Greene design studio

The latest, I had the idea pretty fast, a great concept and a quick win. It made me know I'm becoming better every single day.

For manufacture tech to become cheaper, innovation regarding manufacture time and methods and finding design sponsors who love design

re designing everything and saving the planet from pollution.

Depends on the design

The meaning I wanna achieve through that design

It's always possible, we just haven't find how yet

design sett the trends for sure

Making manufature the most efficient regarding time and cost effectiveness

Soliworks, visualize, Cura

Depends on each design's concept

What do I see behind the visible

What was going on on this designer's head

I love co-designing, my ideal partner is someone who wannts to create more than compete

My design friends, they know me really well enough to be hard on me until I achieve what they know I can

every single one

Working on them everyday, thinking the background behind every single design i get to see

Karim Rashid, Lamborghini's CEO, Ferrari's CEO, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Raymond Loewy

It is, but harder than fame is design ignorance. It's hard to be no one in your country and a design standard outside.

I love Black, Violet. I love Italy, Denmark, Finland, UK. I love any season. I can't say anything regarding thing nor brand.

Once I was an assistant professor on prototypes and models at university while I was studying. I went to some of the students and said "you're wasting material" I didn't even know them yet nor hadn't say hello or anything... They hated me for 3 weeks, then became close friends and now they know I was right.

I see my family and I think of all the great future I wanna give to them, then I work my a** off for them

No, I was depressive and suicidal, I hated myself and I didn't think I could achieve anything big back then. Then my life changed and so did my fate

People will go to ridiculousness trying to defend any human idea, then they'll be like "noup, let's start over"

I wanna help everyone grow up economically and finding a purpose in life, if you need more than design from me, like mental health help, counseling, a prayer etc anything just dm me

When I was a child I grew up surrounded by many graphic design students, my mom alone was one. She inspired me conceptually doing great art projects, she gave me the best tools to learn how to conceptualize in such a special way I can't cover using words. Later on I mixed that passion for concepts with love for tangible products and decided I wanted to be an industrial designer.

OU design studio is a family studio based on customers insights, we cover all the experience behind every product. we use a lot of psychology into our insight hunting process. and we bring meaningul and eternal moments through design with all the info we gather.

Design is to us language telling a story from an exterior perspective, and we as designers are called to help people remember these memories through our symbols and concepts. we revive already lived emotions and backgrounds.

physical projects

don't have one atm

My first job as an industrial designer was with a plastic injection brand. which focused on house goods and my job was to conceptualize 5 new ideas per day. The first thing I designed for them back then was a set of outdoor plastic furniture

I use Solidworks a lot, however im trying to learn new tech all the time. My favorite materials are natural made such as wood, stones, ceramics and clays. I Love metal as well

All the time, I'm thinking all the time all day long.

symbols and concepts. I hate ornamentation, and bad design. I'm convinced every design process should revolve around necessity+symbols+concept and they should generate a memory which will later on translate into a buying desire

I feel realized and curious about all the possible outcomes I can generate

For it to generate a memory. if it's just a functional/aesthetic product it's not enough

Symbols, Easy to use, manufacture complexity, function, aesthetics

For society to raise dignity of all human beings through design, with environment to take into account the post use life of each product

The future of design is eventually to re design everything for something more legible and easier to use. It's a never ending story.

In 2023 alone it's been exhibited at Italy, India and China. I don't know where the next one is but Germany, Uk or Denmark sound really nice to me.

Firstly my stories, secondly my memories, thirdly in the human insights present in human interactions.

I love minimalism, I'm convinced less is more regarding aesthetics, I'm to conceptual as well, dont like being focused just on the function and i loe modernism regarding most present manufacture processes. I focus on desgning special things not designing nonsense stuff.

I live in Colombia atm. I dont think my culture affects my design. The cons are a lot such as economics, material costs, tech limitation when it comes to manufacturing.

I do a lot of remote work atm

Focus on the designers mentality, that'll show their commitment with design.

I dream big and never let myself think nor say "that can't be done" then I just figure out how to do it, pay it, produce it etc.

I spend a lot of time with my family, and in the free times specially at night I design a lot of projects at same time

Never give up or let yourself say "it can't be done". Everything can be done, you just don't know how atm and don't let your stress eat you alive in the process. Do what you can while you learn what you actually can't

We dream a lot, that's both great and bad. Great because we like seeing things get done, that gives us a huge non words satisfaction, bad because somtimes we get so creative our queue grows a lot before we see final products done.

Everything can be done, we just don't know how to sometimes

Being able to translate whats on their heads to a phyisicall product

Books for adequate processes searching, solidworks, 3d printing, etc

I do what I can and let go what I can't until I can do it

It depends on the project. 1 month-3 years

What's your best methods to do this and that.

Being a creative designer

Bachelor students, Robin Greene design studio, other peers

Sustainable design is a blast because you get to go beyond already known design, now having to take action on whats going to happen with the product when it becomes waste

Having more children, winning more design contests, placing different new products in market and creating a design district for newcomer designers and their beautiful work. Also wanna keep studying a lot

I ask my wife a lot regarding human interpretations of symbols and language, also ask my first born (now 2) to use every single prototype to make sure its safe for children to use as well as grown ups (unless the product is intended to be sharp and cutting)

I have many but their reserved atm

Through my phone, email, linkedin profile. I answer any.

I make sure I rest, that's really important for my mental healt. Mental health is essential to keep growing as people