We recently connected with Austin Ventola Multidisciplinary Designer and have shared our conversation below.

Austin Ventola, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

The main thing I see amongst creatives is an incredibly curated and public web presence. There are so many places to have a presence online from Behance to Instagram to Dribbble to Pinterest, not to mention work-for-hire gigs like Fiverr and UpWork. I think having an online presence is a great thing especially for designers with global reach, or agencies with a very strong reputation. At this stage in my small business, I prefer to work with my local community, meeting my clients face-to-face. I find my work more satisfying when I can onboard with my clients over a cup of coffee. And I have more time and energy to focus on my projects and lifestyle when I’m not worried about my online profiles.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a Florida native born and raised. I earned my BFA in Illustration with a minor in Business from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota. Since then I’ve been focused on graphic, product, print, interior and branding design. I’m glad I chose the illustrator-to-designer route because I still love to draw and paint, and I feel my background in fine arts and good technical training makes me a more adept designer. As such, I still engage in illustration and fine art endeavors, despite my main focus in design.

I started Austin Ventola Design LLC last year because I wanted to have an official entity for my passion. For a creative person, I think more logically, so discussing business problems, discovering human problems, and manufacturing a better experience through design for my clients is my greatest source of accomplishment, beyond the visuals themselves.

My main focus recently has been on branding and visual identity systems. This includes things like logos, colors & type, stationery, print and web graphics, signage, etc. Sometimes the most challenging part of this process can be justifying your decisions as a designer, so I like to provide mockups and use case examples and walk through the benefits, as opposed to flat artboards. Ultimately I love seeing a project come together and satisfy my clients!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Recently I’ve been replying to Reddit posts asking for help in Adobe products. I’m glad to help, and I wish I was on Reddit sooner so I could have learned the things I had to figure out myself sooner. That goes for any online community or resource. In school, I think I expected to just figure everything out myself, or otherwise my instructors would tell me. But I missed out on a wealth of knowledge at my fingertips because I didn’t know how beneficial it would be.

Something that’s saved me uncountable hours was the consistent mentality of “if it feels like there’s probably a better way to design something, there probably is.” The tools we use as designers are far more sophisticated than they were yesterday, so there’s pretty much a workflow for everything. Save yourself the time and keep your designs flexible.

I also use a physical handheld controller called TourBox for my design programs. It’s a huge time saver because it allows me to execute all kinds of commands and shortcuts without having to look down at my keyboard; it’s all tactile.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The creative act is a way of being, and everyone has the potential. Creativity is innate to humans, curiosity is what fuels it. Being genuinely curious will open more doors than information alone.

Additionally, creative work goes far beyond the finished designs or performances. It’s built on layers of strategy and reasoning and personal experiences. Sometimes a simple solution may seem easy, but behind the scenes, it’s taken a considerable amount of time, resources, and expertise to reach that final version. A deliverable isn’t just about what it is, it’s also about everything it’s not. Things were eliminated for equal or greater reasons that others were included.

Contact Info:

• Website: austinventola.design
• Linkedin: @austinventola