Today we’d like to introduce you to David Machuca.
David, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a graphic designer. My journey to becoming a graphic designer was not easy. I graduated high school in 2006, with no clue on what I wanted to pursue. I never was a fan of school, I was an average student. After I graduated from high school, I started working and going to Los Angeles Community College (LACC) just to start my general ed. giving myself time to discover what I wanted to do. After a year I decided I wanted to be a cop…. but I soon discovered that was not for me.
I then transferred to Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC) because now I had my eye on becoming an electrician… but again I soon discovered that was not for me. I liked it but it was getting complicated as the semester went by. So I decided to talk to a counselor (sadly, I don’t remember her name). She is the one who helped me discover GRAPHIC DESIGN!
Now knowing what I wanted to do 100%, I had to redo and take more classes to transfer. So for the next year, I busted my a$$ off! I was taking night classes, Saturday classes, it didn’t matter what time/day the class was on, I was taking it. Within one year I passed all my classes and was accepted at California State University of Northridge.
Starting CSUN, I was really nervous because I knew nothing about graphic design, not even the design software. So again I was ready to bust my a$$ off and I did. I was living in South LA so I would stay the whole day at CSUN when I had classes. I would leave my house at 6am and return around 11pm, three days out of a week. When I was done with my classes around 6 pm I would go to the library, would go over my notes, and practice using adobe photoshop, adobe illustrator and adobe indesign. If I would to go home after my last class, it would take me around 2 hours because of the lovely 405 freeway. I didn’t want to waste that time just sitting in traffic so I used it for my benefit and stayed at school.
My senior semester at CSUN was the toughest because I was freaking out if I was going to be able to land a job after graduation. In this semester I participated in all the events that my professors would have to help us out. I would like to give a shout out to 2 professors that put the extra effort to help us out and that Nick Longo and Paula DiMarco!
I graduated in May 2016 and guess what? I was hired as a junior graphic designer at an advertising agency called Circus Marketing. I met some great people and learned a lot of things, not just in graphic design but also about advertising, filming, social media, etc. I was here for about two years, I decided to start looking for another because advertising is not for me and my wife and I were expecting a baby girl on the way. I wanted to be there for them and working in advertising I wasn’t going to be able because advertising requires a lot of hours.
I got contacted on LinkedIn by an HR person from Yapstone asking me if I was interested in a graphic design position. I said yea and went through the interview process and got the job. Yapstone is a payment platform for some of the world’s largest marketplaces, it processes over $20 billion dollars a year. My role here at Yapstone is to strictly follow the brand guideline to design assets.
In the past couple of years, I have been thinking about what I want to do with my graphic design skills. I tried a couple of things and either I wasn’t able to master it or I wasn’t really into it. Until one day I was thinking how much I love sports and graphic design so why not put those things together. Which I did and create my “Passion Project”. For my passion project, I design sports graphics of players from a different sports team. I develop a system which is to focus on football, baseball, basketball, and soccer. Each week I pick a sport and a team to focus on. I design one sports graphics daily and post it on my Instagram (@_ma_chuuu) and on Tuesday of the following week I share it on LinkedIn.
Another reason for my passion project is to get my name out there in the world and to grow my network. I have received great feedback on my designs and it has given open other opportunities. I never thought about having an article to my name and now I have two, one on LinkedIn and this one. This is great motivation for me and it shows that I am on the right track to reach my goal, which is to work for my favorite team, the Los Angeles Rams!
Has it been a smooth road?
One of the struggles was not knowing what I wanted to study out of high school.
Starting CSUN with no experience or background in graphic design.
A Current struggle right now is not having enough time for things I want to create, I wish I wouldn’t need to sleep to have extra time.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a graphic designer that combined two of his favorite things to create a passion project. My passion project is sports graphics that I design daily for fun to get my name out there in the world and to practice my skills.
My passion project is what I am most proud of because it has done way better than I expected it too. It has helped me grow my network, landed me interviews with companies and some freelance opportunities.
I think what sets me aside from other designer is I try to design with a purpose, every element I use I try to make sure it has a purpose for the design.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
My favorite thing about LA is the weather, especially because I love to wear shorts! Also, there are a lot of things to do here from going to the beach to going to DTLA to see some cool art.
The least thing I like is that rent is going up and traffic is getting worse. I wish the city could improve public transportation by making it more available and safe for people to us.
Contact Info:
- Website: machucadavid.com
- Phone: (213)245-8606
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @_ma_chuuu
- Twitter: @_ma_chuuu
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damachuca/
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
