An Interview with Adam R. Garcia

This is only being put up as reference for an assignment. There are some excluded questions which aren't relevant to that assignment, the full interview will be available when "The Others" is released later this year. A big thanks again to Adam for taking the time to get these questions to me on such short notice.

Adam R. Garcia // ThePressure

- Kind of general questions about you and the industry--

1) How did you start out? Did you know what a Graphic Designer was from the beginning or did you find the profession along the way?

I didn't know what a graphic designer was until high school. My background before that was in comics and role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. I've always had a love of storytelling, image-making and performance, and in a way design and art have become a merger of those things. After getting into hip-hop in the Twin Cities, dancing, writing graffiti and rapping, graphic design kind of become the energy that continued that momentum for me. 

2) What educational qualifications do you hold?

I have my Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Before that I spent some time at the Art Institutes Int'l of Minnesota as well as taking a few courses (in Creative Writing) at the University of Minnesota.

3) What in your career has influenced you; or perhaps been a "game changer"? Any specific projects, places you've worked, collaborations etc?

Starting to work with musicians in Minneapolis was a game changer for me. I used to work at a CD manufacturing plant in the early 2000s, and designed hundreds of albums for independent musicians as my first job. That taught me how to convey an idea or theme and tell a story through packaging. MCAD was the next "game changer" for me. It taught a different way of thinking. Then at 160over90, the agency, which taught me how to think from a big picture perspective, present my work and communicate with clients. And then working in product design AND global brand design at Nike. Everyday was an evolution of thought and ideas.

4) How do you see your role in the industry and how do you think the role of a Graphic Designer is changing? How do you feel about the changes?

I think that there are many new opportunities with the web, and the sheer amount of visibility we have to different facets of creation. If we want to make products, we can. Throw events? Absolutely. Start a business? Of course. I think that mediums don't bind us anymore, and we can use design thinking to create whole new platforms for engagement, and we are doing more and more of that. Design is now seen as an imperative part of business practice, and that is incredibly empowering.

5) What do you think are the key attributes for a Graphic Designer? Be that attributes as a person and/or attributes as far as skills/abilities when you leave college going into the industry.

I like how Adrian Shaughnessy puts it in "How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul..." He says that the main attributes are Communication Skills, Cultural Awareness and Integrity. The communication skills are vital. We communicate for a living as designers. We must be able to articulate ideas and themes to clients, to collaborators and to audiences, both verbally and visually. Cultural awareness is the result of the curiosity that drives us. It's what keeps us up on trends, ahead of the game, on top of news and makes us "experts" on what's happening in the world. We are watchers and listeners, and with critical design thinking and the right lens, that will make us visionaries. And Integrity is a point-of-view, an ethos and a voice that enables you to not only do the right thing from a design standpoint, but do the RIGHT THINGS in your life to be happy and do the best for your community, clients and the world around you.

-- Collaboration questions --

6) You worked with Nike and along side a shoe designer by the name of Nate VanHook to create the Air Yeezy II; how did that project come about?

I was working in Nike Sportswear Footwear as a graphic designer for shoes. My role at the time was to create storytelling pieces around color, graphics and materials for footwear at a pinnacle level. Because I had a background in music packaging and at record labels on top of my branding background, they thought that I would be a good fit to work with Nate and Kanye's team on the graphic voice and direction for the shoe. It was a fun process, but it took more than a year to get it out!

7) How did you find working with a different kind of designer? (a shoe/footwear designer)

I love collaborating in all its forms. Nate is a good friend, so that only made it more fun. 

8) How was the workflow on such a diverse collaboration different to if you were doing standard Graphic Design? The workflow is so different that it's hard to explain. Designing a pair of shoes and getting it to market takes months, if not years. From the initial idea, to creating CADs, working with creating a prototype, and more prototypes, then talking with factories, sourcing materials. Getting back the initial samples and doing rounds and rounds of revisions takes a long time. To put it in perspective, right now at Nike they're working on Spring/Summer 2015. To make a print piece could take a few weeks. It's a totally different experience.