Creative Swell Blog

I recently had the privilege of interviewing one of my favorite graphic designers – Andrea Austoni of Cute Little Factory. I employed Andrea to create a set of camping icons a few months back and was very impressed by his professionalism and creativity. Its not every day you are able to find a designer that can take your ideas and re-create them as perfect little illustrations. Andrea currently works as a freelance graphic designer specializing in icon design and illustration in Krakow, Poland. He was gracious enough to let me interview him for this blog. Andrea offers some unique perspectives on design, the culture surrounding design and how he gets inspired by the world around him in this interview. Please read the full transcript after the jump.

1. Why did you start designing and how did you decide this was the career for you?

The first thing I remember doing is drawing characters from comics when I was a little kid. Then came the love for music. So I was a creative person right from the start. I studied Architecture but I chose graphic design for its faster pace, higher earnings and creative possibilities. Employee work had left me uninspired, though, and I was seriously contemplating changing careers. I decided to give it another shot by doing it right this time, that’s why I’m self-employed. Let’s see if I can make it work.

2. Where do you get inspiration for your tutorials?

I have a list of tutorial ideas and periodically add to it. Ideas just happen but sometimes I have to think long and hard to find a plausible subject.
Usually I browse through the leftovers on my hard drive or walk around and look at buildings, storefronts, vehicles, people. There’s always an interesting object, effect or texture that grabs my attention and if I don’t know how to recreate it I know I’ve found my next tutorial. Sometimes people make specific requests and I happily comply.

3. Do you have a blog that you MUST view every day?

I like to believe I don’t depend on reading blogs too much, especially since most of them deal with web design, which to me is of marginal interest. I taught myself how to create websites for my own needs but I don’t design them often. These days Twitter is my go-to blog. I trust the people I follow with good taste and they usually post interesting links. Besides, I prefer to spend my time doing actual work than reading about someone else’s.

4. Do you only do freelance work or are you employed in a design firm? or both?

I quit my job last August and have been a happy full-time freelancer ever since. Before that I freelanced on the side for a few months.
I’ve worked as 3D artist, graphic designer and lately package designer. At my last job I was also involved in marketing, inventing brand names, slogans and copy. That was a horrible experience for me. From what I saw, marketing is an evil industry that manufactures needs in order to sell products with little or no value to unsuspecting customers. I really felt guilty for doing that. Mostly, though, I quit because I wanted to have control over my career, creative output and income. After 10 years doing graphics as an employee I’m convinced freelancing is the only way to ensure quality work, therefore there’s no going back for me.

5. Whats your background? (i.e. writing, art design, marketing…)

I have a degree in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano University. That was a tough faculty but I learned to design there. The tagline is: “From the spoon to the city”, meaning you can design anything provided you learn about the field first. Once you develop a design process there’s no limit to what you can accomplish. While still a student I started freelancing as a 3D artist and my clients were architects. Architecture is tough in Italy, though, with crazy hours, low income and uninteresting jobs. So I chose graphics and soon moved to logo, print and package design. My first love is drawing, though, that’s why I’m a freelance illustrator. I specialize in icons, which are the link between illustration and logos, which I absolutely love to design.

7. Where do you live? Do you think your career is limited (in any way) by your geographical location?

I’ve been living in Krakow, Poland for 4 years now. Before that I spent all my life in Milan, Italy, where I was born. I also spent one year in Weimar, Germany, on a scholarship at the famous Bauhaus University. Studying abroad is an experience I cannot recommend enough. Poland and Italy certainly limited my career with their low-paying jobs and business attitude. I’ll also add that my experiences working for Italians and Poles have left me very bitter. I became a freelancer out of frustration, too. Now that I’ve turned my career over to the internet I’m able to choose who I work for and I can set my rates accordingly. I can live anywhere in the world, provided there’s an internet connection, so I intend to exploit this in the future.

8. Do you believe that graphic designers are taken seriously in the business world?

Sadly no. When I was doing 3D work for architects they treated me like a young kid who did nice pictures, no respect. I received a similar treatment while working in agencies and design studios. The problem is people with an MBA making creative decisions because “they know the field”. There’s also a bunch of amateurs out there who ruin the market by doing spec work, lowering their rates and putting up with unacceptable treatment from their clients. Design is rapidly becoming a commodity. We need to raise the bar, improve our skills and demand to be treated with respect. It’s very hard, though, when stock websites and marketplaces attract young designers with the promise of easy earnings. The design community is also partly to blame. There’s too much emphasis on Photoshop tricks and not enough high quality content. There should be blogs dedicated entirely to the culture of design. Without culture there is no design.

9. How do you differentiate yourself from other designers?

I try to exploit my background in architecture and 3D to offer a different approach. When it comes to organization, architecture is king, so I try to offer my clients integrated solutions. If we take a web application, for example, I can design the structure, the interface and the single icons in a seamless fashion. That’s what you do when designing buildings. On a smaller scale I try to give my icons a three-dimensional and photo-realistic quality that is reminiscent of 3D art. I also have a thing for languages, having learned a few over the years, so that gives me a more international approach to things I guess.

10. Have you ever had a client that you didn’t get along with? What did you do?

Of course! There was a lot of irate phone calls and a lot of unpaid money. I’m not good at fistfights and I can’t afford a lawyer so I let it go. In Italy we say “clear pacts, long friendship” so today I protect myself by having a very clear contract and by using the standard practice of 50% up front and 50% before final delivery. No incidents so far.

11. Do you have a personal brand? If so, what inspired you to create the mark? (I knew the answer to this one but had to ask it!)

Yes I do. I wrote about it on my blog. It’s a capital A that opens up and starts puffing out creative smoke (see it here). It expresses identity, openness and creation. It’s fun to look at and it works well with the name of my blog, Cute Little Factory.

My thanks to Andrea for answering all my questions in great detail. Please see some of his portfolio below and visit his site – Cute Little Factory - for interesting tutorials and freebies!