Today we’d like to introduce you to Julian Gallardo.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Julian. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in the midwest as a first generation Mexican/American. Growing up, I was always interested in the arts taking as many art classes as possible in high school. After high school, I didn’t plan on attending college as I didn’t know there was such thing as a creative field. I worked various random jobs until I got tired of it and decided I needed to get a college education to better myself.
After the epiphany, I enrolled in community college majoring in visual communication. I then transferred to Northern Illinois University and received a Bachelors in Fine Arts. I didn’t know if I could do it but I didn’t want live wondering, what if. I ended up receiving my degree and while in college I was also working and saving money to either move to California or Chicago to work in the creative field. I ended up taking the gamble in 2012, packed my stuff and moved to the west coast where I’ve been working as a creative designer. I specialize in UI/UX design and have been creating interactive experiences for Digital Kitchen -a creative experience agency in LA. I also freelance on the side and enjoy designing outside my discipline.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not at all, some of my obstacles were overcoming a lot of self-doubt and changing my mentality to a whatever it takes mentality. I also had to work part-time while in school and during summer, but always kept my end goal in mind. One of the biggest challenges was passing a lot of general education classes. I was always more interested in design courses and focused on them a lot more. Taking general ed classes were tough because I had little interest in the subjects. Also trying to figure out how I was going to pay for my education and if it was going to be worth it in the end.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Apart from working full-time, I also freelance part-time. I’m a multi-disciplined designer that specializes in User Interface and User Experience designing in mostly web design and mobile applications. I also do a bit of branding and identity design and really enjoy the process of designing brand systems for clients. I am most proud of a couple of identity systems I did for an architecture firm in Houston, TX. The client and I both shared the minimalism and simplicity aesthetic so it was a great fit.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, living in a major metropolis is great for the creative field especially living in California where both the Entertainment industry and Tech industry play a major part in the country. If someone is starting off, living in a major city is definitely worth exploring. There is a lot of entrepreneurship and business opportunities out here.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.juliangallardo.com
- Phone: 3097495135
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/designbyjulian/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DesignbyJulian
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