We recently connected with Sofia Salazar, the Founder and Creative Directress at Magma Design: a studio that helps companies to audit, strategize and launch brands in order to grow their business. You can see our conversation below.

Hi Sofia, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is to create a bridge between designers and clients, so that they can both achieve their goals. For designers, this may look like creating work they’re proud of and can include in their portfolios, while doing it at a pace that’s respectful of their personal lives and being fairly compensated for their effort.
For clients, this may look like being truly listened to and understood when they come to a service provider searching for solutions to their business challenges, and getting value in the form of high-quality design, attentive customer service and a stress-free work process.
My role is to create the space where all those things happen. Bumps in the road are inevitable, but clear communication is the key to overcoming them.
So even though I lead a Brand Design studio -Magma-, my mission is to make clear, effective and empathetic human communication happen.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Hi! My name is Sofia, I am a latino woman and the Founder of Magma: a Brand Design studio focused on helping our clients audit, strategize and launch brands that help them grow their business.

My path to design wasn’t linear, though: I majored in Literature and became an advertising copywriter. After that first year, I switched to being an Art Director, then a Brand Designer and Illustrator, and finally a Founder.

It was at the first ad agency I worked at as a copywriter that I reconnected with my passion for visual communication. I asked my Creative Director to allow me to switch to the Art Direction department and he was happy to let me do it. That changed everything.

After 3 years working as an Art Director, I left the ad world to start freelancing as a Brand Designer.

I always tried to include illustration in my brand work –mostly for packaging-, and that became the main reason people would hire me: a custom illustration style went a long way in helping them stand out from their competitors.

With the portfolio I created while freelancing, I got a job at an Argentinean studio I really admired at the time: Aerolab. I had a double role there as a Brand Designer and Illustrator – and had the pleasure of meeting the most talented Product Designers I ever worked with, from whom I learned the basics of UI/UX design.

After two years working at Aerolab, I went back to freelancing because I wanted to travel around. I visited a couple of places is Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, and ended up in Costa Rica right before the pandemic hit. For almost a year I lived near the ocean in a small and quiet town, which gave me enough time and peace of mind to think about my next goal.

Freelance life can be lonely, specially if you’re also a nomad. So I founded Magma moved by a desire to work with a team again.

And, thanks to that, I get to do the one thing that brings me the deepest sense of purpose: helping other people.

I get to help designers do work they’re proud of, and I help clients to grow and accelerate their business through design’s power to shape “what is” into “what could be”.

And even better: once our clients get to reach their desired audience thanks to our collaborative brand strategy work, they can -in turn- help improve their own customer’s lives through the products or services they’re offering.

It’ a wide net of collaboration and I’m proud to be a part of it.

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

Oh, I’ve had to pivot many times –and it has always been terrifying. But 100% of the times I did it, it was totally worth it.

I majored In Literature and thought I was gonna work in the editorial industry. While doing an internship as an Editor, I realized that making books was not as amusing as reading them. So I moved to Argentina -I’m originally from Venezuela- to do an annual course on Copywriting for Advertising . Plot-twist #1.

I made it into an ad agency as a copywriter and, because it was a pretty small company, I also had to do some design work. I realized that that was my thing and became an Advertising Art Director. Plot-twist #2.

Because I had a Jr. role with an entry salary, I had to work on side-gigs. I started doing Brand Design for small businesses and absolutely loved it. So I quit advertising to be a freelance Brand Designer. Plot-twist #3.

I’ve been drawing all my life, and through my brand work I realized that I could integrate illustration into packaging, merch and websites. For a while my Brand Design and Illustration commissions were pretty much 50/50, but eventually I pivoted into being a full time Illustrator. Plot-twist #4.

When the pandemic started and I had some extra time to reflect on my career, I realized that I had been lucky to try many different areas of design and I loved them all. But I also realized that being a generalist could prevent me from doing truly high-quality work. I’m not saying it’s impossible to be good at everything, but it’s extremely hard.

So then it hit me: it was time to team up with specialist who were better than me at seeing the details and subtleties that turn good projects into great ones.

Based on my past experience -and likely thanks to my major in Literature- I was good at enabling communication between design teams and clients to turn a vision into a reality.
So I founded a design studio. Plot-twist #5.

I don’t know what plot-twist #6 is going to be, but I’ll do my best to welcome it with open arms.

If life was predictable, it would be terribly boring.

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

I don’t think anyone is a “non-creative”. Some professions are associated to creativity more than others, but -in essence- every human is creative.

You have to be creative to design a poster, as you have to be creative to cook a meal, to travel with a low-budget, to solve a very complex math problem or to convince investors to back up your business.

Being creative is what makes us human. However, there’s one thing that the most inspiring people who work in the creative industries have in common: a drive to pursue work that challenges them and gives them a sense of purpose.

Being the first one in my family to have a career in design, I’ve heard this famous speech multiple times: “choose a job that gives you money”. And although I realize that it comes from a place of love, it also comes from a place of fear. The fear that doing what you love won’t provide the material support for you to have a good life. But one thing doesn’t have to exclude the other.

I don’t think that a job title defines how good or bad you’ll do in life. If I had to point out two things that could be better predictors of it, I’d say discipline and financial literacy.

It’s important to have a vision of your end goal -and be flexible about the process-. It is just as important to have at least a basic understanding of how money works.

Lots of people -not only creatives-, find financial education either boring or intimidating. But knowledge compounds over time, so at any point in your life you can start taking baby steps towards learning how to properly set the material foundations to keep your business running.

Because that’s what will ultimately allow you to do what you love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://madeofmagma.com/
• Instagram: madeofmagma_
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/made-of-magma/