We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mercedes Bazan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mercedes, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I studied graphic design at the University of Buenos Aires. At first, I wasn’t sure if graphic design was for me, but since I didn’t have any other option in mind I decided to take a chance. I am glad I did, because I loved the process of learning and creating things from scratch.
In my illustration work I try to apply all the learnings I had from those university years. I believe learning about composition, balances, color theory, morphology, and typography overall are great skills to use both in graphic design tasks and in illustration tasks.
I think speeding your learning can be good, but I believe that taking your time to make sure you truly understand what you are doing is crucial. There is no timeline in learning, it should be something natural that motivates you. If it feels like a burden, probably you won’t learn much out of it. Taking your time to learn and enjoy the process makes it easier, learning should be fun, not an obligation.
Mercedes, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Mercedes Bazan, I am a argentine graphic designer and illustrator. I studied graphic design at the University of Buenos Aires.
I got my first job as an office manager in a digital agency back in 2014. Math and finances were not my forte so they fired me and re hired me as a UI designer at the same time I also worked in an underground fashion magazine for a year. Definitely learnt many things in there including how editorial design works for real clients.
A couple of years later, I interviewed for a role as a visual designer at Stripe, and in 2016 got my first job abroad. I moved to California and started a new life there. Since then I have been living in San Francisco, and I am still working for Stripe.
My illustration “career” developed as a need to sort out my feelings and express them. I started drawing again in 2018 and since then I didn’t stop. I used to draw a lot when I was a teen, but definitely I was not great at it. However, it was a great outlet for me and my emotions, that is why I decided to try it out again as an adult.
I found a great community in the illustration world and they started providing me with great opportunities. I am very grateful for all of them who believed in me.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding thing is to see my work out in the world.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I want to be better at what I do, one step at a time. In the meantime I am having fun and letting life surprise me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.behance.net/mercedesbazan
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mechibaz/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercedes-bazan
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mechibaz
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/mechibaz
Image Credits
All the images are mine.