The Creator Behind Vektorama
"The illustrations have a lot of energy, they are very lively and fun"
Luisa Sirvent, designer and illustrator based in Barcelona and founder of her own design studio in 2016 - which she named Vektorama - admits in an interview that, despite always seeking her own style and dedicating herself passionately to illustrated graphic design, it is "very difficult to break with what is established, even if only in an ethereal way".
Sirvent declares herself a follower of the Memphis Group (a movement of architecture and industrial design that arose in the Eighties), graphic designer Wiktor Gorka, and painter El Greco, because "each one in their own style, broke" the rules.
Although she finds it hard to choose which of her designs has been groundbreaking and disruptive of the status quo, she leans towards an old personal project called "Pégate un miembro", with which she created temporary tattoos. "I received many kinds of opinions, some very funny", says Sirvent.
Many more projects have joined that one: notable among them are the project to illustrate the postcards "Save the Arctic" for Greenpeace or the creation of an iconography universe for the mobile application Smartee. Among her latest collaborations, we can also mention the one she has done for the technology brand SPC, with which she confesses something happened to her that “usually doesn’t happen,” which is having “a lot of free rein” to create her drawings. “They gave me three key words and from there I let my imagination fly,” says Sirvent.
To be able to carry out her work, she also assures that it is “super important” to know the people behind the company commissioning the design and to know the product and the spirit of the brand. "The illustrations (for SPC) have a lot of energy, they are very lively and fun", explains Sirvent while adding that, although each design is different, they all "have a common thread" that would allow making a giant illustration with all the designs that would look "great."
Do you want to know more about her style, her projects, and her work for SPC? She herself gives us all the answers:
Occasional restlessness, beneficial to help improve
The founder of Vektorama does not consider herself a restless person, but admits that once in her life "she has been, especially in the work field". "I believe that occasional restlessness can be beneficial, because it helps you improve and be clear about what you want in this life", she reflects.
Sirvent recalls that Vektorama was born "many years ago", when she was studying a master’s in web design and one of the exercises was to create a domain to host a first website and she thought the brand Vektorama "would be a good name".
But the "leap," she recalls, came when she finished her last job as an employee: "I had some projects on my own and I decided it was the moment to do it, to try to be my own boss,” she confesses.
One of the first feelings she had when taking that first step in founding her own business was a mix of conflicting feelings, "on one hand freedom and excitement" and on the other fear and uncertainty. "Changes are always scary, you don’t know what will happen", she explains.
Vektorama: creating a design style of her own
Sirvent says she was not sure she wanted to dedicate herself to the world of graphic design until the last day of high school, when her technical drawing teacher of geometry "opened her mind to another kind of graphic expression". "That was the moment when my passion for vector illustration and graphic design began. It still seems amazing to me", she stresses.
When you ask her what she does, she is clear: "I say what I do is illustrated graphic design, I think it is the perfect definition. In my illustrations there is a lot of graphic design and in my design commissions there are usually touches of illustration."
Thus, Sirvent, who had always loved to draw but did not see it as something to dedicate herself to professionally, now, "like any working person", sets her own hours day to day and tries to have a work routine and fixed hours. "For me it is very important, in the end you manage many things and you have to have order, things don’t end when you leave the office", she points out.
Her designs start on paper, sketching and jotting down ideas, and end on digital support. Even so, the choice "depends on the project, what you need to express and how", she specifies. “For me one does not exist without the other, in my way of working I use both. I have done digital projects that are going to be printed and hand-made designs for digital supports".
And the moment of inspiration?
Sirvent says that if inspiration comes at a strange moment she usually writes down the ideas in a notebook, since to work she is "totally a daytime person"... unless the project requires staying up late sometimes.
The bad thing is that inspiration "does not come by itself and many times it is not there when you need it", so she believes there are also some tricks to exercise it and make it easier to find. What works for her to seek the creativity she needs is, she confesses, going "to the hills and taking a good walk".
However, despite seeking inspiration on screen or paper, in the mountains or the city and by night or day, what makes founding Vektorama special is not knowing "what kind of commission the next one will be", admits Sirvent.
Therefore, when facing the new “challenges” that her next commissions bring, her starting point will always be to let her imagination fly to capture that spirit she seeks in each of her projects.
