1 - Introduce yourself:

I’m a publicist, designer and animator who works on his own graphic studio called Byte & Pencil together with my partner, Ángeles de la Horra. In my spare time, I was able to develop my alter ego: Basto Design, inmersed in a world of flat colours, old school perspectives and fun animations, influenced by the 90's aesthetics.

2 - Which artists inspire you and why?

Kaikoo Studio -They're conceptually perfect. 

Andrés Momo - His designs are tremendously brainy. 

Alejandro Parrilla - Simply a graphic design BEAST in an ample variety of styles. 

Bnomio - He doesn't even need color to transmit whatever he want's to.

3 - What’s the most important thing to know about you? (3 most important things, not necessarily related to work)

I believe there are 3 basics to my profession that can be applied also to life. First of all you must value your own work. In the graphic design world (as in other professional branches) it seems way too easy to forget from the clients perspective the amount of time the job and the results require, so it's important for you to stay mentally strong no matter what and always confer to your effort it's fair value. A second basic for me is to always show respect for others ant their work. It's a simple rule we can all follow on our daily basis and makes a big difference. And last but not least, my third advice is to stay humble. It's so easy nowadays to loose yourself in this egotistic world transformed by social media that the hard thing is to keep your mind clean and open, away from the constant ego fights. If we'd do this, our projects can only be greater.

4 - What qualities and skills should a designer have?

Creativity is like a muscle, you can train it and improve it while developing other skills. There's the art of becoming very observant and curious minded, like a kid, it will always wind up you inspiration. A designer should also never stop looking for references, study all sort of styles, to eventually find it's own "signature". Being happy about what you do is also a must.

5 - What are you most proud of?

Possibly, to have managed to earn a living on the profession I love, It's been a long way until I've reached this point. Also I'm proud of the sense of helping others that a well finished job can give you.

6 - What advice would you give for a young designer?

Learn as much as you can! Internet puts the whole world into your hand, don't overlook that wonder and always take advantage of the infinite flux of information that it is. Then you just need to keep yourself motivated at all times and ready to put out a fight.