We were lucky to catch up with Alexandra Lobo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alexandra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I started a website, shop, and one-person-design-studio under the name Synthetic Animal a few years ago. I got the name from the My Chemical Romance song “Zero Percent” which has the lyric, “synthetic animals like me never have a home.”

The band has been a main source of inspiration in both my personal and creative work-life, so I wanted my moniker to allude to them in a small way. That line has always stood out to me when listening, and I love how it also describes my art style— the merging and contradiction of the artificial and natural.

Most of my work is inspired by or for music-related clients, so I love having “synth” in the name. And aside from drawing a lot of animals, my designs have a lot of organic qualities in the textures and line work, but also feels structured and unreal in a lot of ways. Lastly, I have a lot of favorite specific words or phrases that I just love either hearing aloud or how they look while written— I’m not sure how to describe it, but Synthetic Animal just visually looks cool on paper and rolls off the tongue while spoken.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Alexandra Lobo, a multidisciplinary creative director, illustrator, and designer based in New Jersey. I specialize primarily in creating for the music and entertainment industry, designing everything from poster / admats, merchandise, album artwork, branding, client decks, video / animation, websites, and more for local DIY bands and world-renowned musicians. I also run an online shop selling my own designs on shirts, totes, stickers, magnets, pins, and more and sell at occasional vendor events here and there.

Aside from that, I also have a range of experience from designing for consumer brands, trade unions, hospitality and real estate, data & insights, and science & research collectives— from start ups to legacy companies, I’ve dabbled in it all!

I’ve always loved drawing and arts & crafts as a kid, so becoming a visual storyteller always was in the cards for me. I started out studying illustration at The Fashion Institute of Technology and later graphic design at Rutgers. I’m so lucky that all my jobs have pretty much been art related. For many years, I was an assistant to an art teacher who ran art classes for kids. Then I interned as an assistant at The Cotton Candy Machine art gallery in Brooklyn as well as The Bowery Electric music venue in NYC, where I got the first taste of designing flyers for bands and concerts there.

I was then an assistant at Cognitive Surplus, a sustainable goods and stationery company that creates elegant science-related products. This role was a huge turning point in my life, as it gave me organic hands on experience in all parts of a small business— from ideation to design and production to marketing. It was a huge inspiration for me wanting to eventually be self employed and run my own business in the future— so I owe a lot to the founders Geoff and Kristen for bringing me under their wing!

During this time around 2015, my partner was in a band and they brought me on to design all of their flyers, album art, and merch as well as printing and cutting stickers and screen printing the shirts and totes myself at home. A lot of our friends were in bands as well, and I became entrenched in the Jersey music community primarily in Jersey City and New Brunswick, going to local gigs at bars and DIY shows hosted in basements.

Soon, I began getting a slow trickle of requests from various bands in the area for designs they needed, and so I started taking on occasional freelance work for local musicians and events. I absolutely LOVED working on flyers, merch, and album art and having such meaningful and hands on collaborations in all these projects.

Since this wasn’t always the most profitable and consistent work, I’ve always had full time a part time jobs alongside it. I worked as a designer at a few companies and agencies for a few years up until I was affected by lay offs at the end of 2023. Luckily, the freelance work I had planted the seeds for over decade became more consistent each year and has allowed me to pursue it full time since then.

It’s hard to pick a favorite project or role— I’m pretty proud of all the work I’ve been able to do over the years, from the corporate branding and presentations to merch design and flyers for basement shows. I love fusing my fluid illustration style with my design work, and feel like even though I have a ton of variation in my art, cohesively it all feels like me.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

In the beginning of my career, I was very much winging it all the time and didn’t know how to price the value of my artwork and experience. In general, a resource that I have now that I lacked when started out in freelancing for the music industry, is that I wish I had the community of other creatives to ask questions and look to for guidance when getting inspiration, navigating my freelance rates, presenting my work, and general advice / feedback.

The music industry design world has felt the most transparent and community oriented. There really seems to be a push amongst creatives in the field to create a more fair and diverse culture. I’ve rarely felt the same taboos of sharing ideas, pricing, or client insights.

One tangible resource that I would recommend is the Wage Transparency Spreadsheet that the amazing designer Emma Bers put together where new and seasoned creatives shared their rates based on experience and location as well as general insights! I wish I could show this to myself ten years ago to avoid charging $15 flat for flyers that took me days to design and edit, haha.

Check it out here –> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19c5HPHap-RkOFnAsveB19HngLVowYn4IoTOgZr7D3OA/edit?gid=0#gid=0

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Being adaptable has been a constant in my creative profession throughout the years. In the beginning of starting my freelance design and illustration journey, it definitely wasn’t always the most profitable and consistent work.

I’ve always had a full time or part time job alongside it (or both at the same time!). I did everything from working as a print production assistant, painting instructor, design and marketing supervisor at a school campus TV network, and a designer and associate creative director at a luxury real estate branding company.

Then my last full time design role was at a small data and insights agency and I loved it! I am so extremely grateful that I ended up with a great team where I had a lot of creative and personal flexibility with my work and schedule. The role wasn’t too demanding, I got paid well, and I also took it upon myself to push and challenge my craft, so it never felt stagnant. I am all too aware that not every company has a fair and flexible culture like the one I was lucky enough to be a part of. Even though there are always some complaints here and there, it really felt like this was the ideal role I could have ended up in.

I began thinking to myself and telling others that I hoped this was my last job working for a company— that I would either work here forever or, if my freelance work ever took off more, eventually leave to pursue my self employment dream that I had kickstarted long ago.

Unfortunately, just as I had begun to settle into the job after a few years, the rug was pulled out from under me when I was affected by lay offs at the end of 2023.

Even though the timing of it wasn’t my choice, luckily, the freelance work I had planted the seeds for over decade became more consistent each year and allowed me to pursue and rely on it after being let go.

With the effects of the pandemic still looming on the economy, a tumultuous political landscape, and the rise of AI threatening so many creative industries, there is always an uncertainty in where my next pivot will have to be— but until then, I’m trying to be pragmatically optimistic!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.syntheticanimal.studio/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/synthetic_animal/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/synthanimal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexthelobo/
• Twitter: https://x.com/synthanimal
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@synthetic_animal
• Other: Patreon: https://patreon.com/SyntheticAnimal

  Cara: https://cara.app/syntheticanimal

  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/synthanimal.bsky.social