Conversations with Ximena Amaya

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ximena Amaya.

Hi Ximena, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and raised in Mexico City. I have always been creative but I officially started pursuing it as a profession when I started school in Centro, a design school in Mexico City. After some time there and after some time traveling around, I moved to Los Angeles to finish my degree in ArtCenter, Pasadena, from which I graduated this last summer. After coming to LA, between the cultural shock, the language barrier and school itself, I developed an interest for any expression of language which more specifically rooted in typography and it wasn’t until then that I was able to fully embrace graphic design as my medium.

Today all of my experiences and the tools I have learned, and keep learning, combine in an experimental practice that is always trying to give voice to things I care about.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Is there a smooth road? I’d be skeptical of anyone that can answer that easily but if anything, like my friend Casey, always says, it has been onwards and upwards.

I like to think of my life path, whatever that means, with a similar philosophy to my creative process, it is driven by curiosity and it can get messy but that is key for the end result. Most times I don’t know where things are leading me, I just try to let those principles guide every step.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a graphic designer who is obsessed with typography as well as with an interest in spatial and environmental design. I always try to experiment a lot in the process and find ways to bring in dynamism and depth.

Lately, I had the chance to work at Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) on some projects, most recently Mujeres Hispanas y Tipografía, a program that highlights the talent of Hispanic women in typography featuring five designers, researchers, type designers and their projects. The program was output in a catalogue that was just released in November! I also had the chance to intern for Natasha Jen at Pentagram in New York last year, which was a long-time dream of mine after I saw one of her talks in Mexico City before I could really understand why I wanted to do graphic design. As part of her team, I worked on an exhibition at the CFA, “Reset! Towards New Commons” which contributed significantly to my interest in exhibition design.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up near Mexico City in a house that always felt like it had a lot of space for creativity. With my dad being an architect and my mom also a graphic designer, they were always bringing me along and sharing that space with me, which really enabled me to be comfortable around design from an early age. I was always curious and very imaginative, since I can remember I have had an urge to create and use my hands, and this is where I feel most at home.

Growing up in Mexico also had a big influence in who I am today, the colors and the bold sense of culture, the graphic spirit, the flavors and the people made its way onto my practice and attitude, I didn’t realized until recently years how much of that shaped me and how much of my practice is in my DNA.

Contact Info:

• Website: ximena.works
• Instagram: ximenamaayac

Image Credits
Pentagram Design, HMCT.