Interview with MarkaBranka

MarkaBranka ("MarkaBranka") interviewed on Saturday, 2 May.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

MarkaBranka : I'm 31 years old. I've been a Professional Designer for 11. I took a professional Course in Graphic Arts. Later, when I started to work, I took my degree in Graphic Design simultaneously. I won 2 national awards, one in a contest for a poster (FITU - Festival Internacional de Tunas Académicas, Oporto 2009) and another for a newspaper cover (Feiras Francas 2011 - Palácio das Artes, Oporto).

How did you become a designer?

MarkaBranka : identified the design as my passion, it was already there. I always drew a lot, not only draw fonts, graffiti. I took care of the appearance of my school's daily notebooks. At this stage, I just knew that I liked the arts in general. The design appears much later, in an almost fortuitous way. My parents did not want to let me study the arts, at the end of basic education, a situation that made me went to high school without any motivation. Therefore, I almost lost three years. When I reached the end of high school, I told them that they would either let me go to an arts-related course or drop out of school at that very moment. The course closest to my town was Graphic Arts, a professional course, but I was completely uninformed of its content. For me, because the course is arts and being close to home, it was enough. From that moment, I knew what I wanted to be for the rest of my life. It all made sense. I realized why I spent the day designing fonts, being careful with the graphics on my notebooks and everything else. I completed the 3-year course, with an internship in Romania in between, won two national awards and started working, in a design studio, at the same time as taking a degree in graphic design.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

MarkaBranka : We don't have a stated design style, nor do we want to. We think that design is a discipline in which we have to solve problems. As they are all different, we have to take an appropriate approach to each project and idea. For example, in our view, some ideas are best expressed in minimalist illustration, others in surrealist photography, and so on. The company consists of a designer, a marketeer and an illustrator. Our approach is to try to make the best of the three, so projects with illustration and storytelling are often born. But we also work with the ultra-luxury sector and make a minimalist design. This is the challenge, finding the best solution for each project.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

MarkaBranka : In the creative process, until we get to the "idea", the main emotions are anxiety and frustration. We want to get to the big idea, we want to open up the possibilities as much as possible, but it is difficult to stop and choose one, we always thought there was still more to explore. But we have deadlines. Then, when we finally get to the idea, the emotions are enthusiasm and motivation, and willingness to present it to the client.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

MarkaBranka : The ability to transform all types of information into images, symbols and colours. The strength of how my brain processes information.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

MarkaBranka : Our ambition is high. From the beginning, we defined that we wanted to develop projects that would make the difference. We don't care about the size of the client, but the dimension of the project. We want to do creative things. There are no reasons, today, for an agency to only do work close to its geographic area. With mobility and flexibility, we can work for any corner of the world. We hope that this award will help us to go further, win new clients and develop projects that enable us to win this and other awards. The rebranding of a country would be a very exciting project.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

MarkaBranka : Look for a company where you would love to work and do the kind of work you like, in an environment where you would like to be. Do everything to get a job there and work very, very hard to earn your place, in the company and the industry. Because after entering this world, we don't want to leave.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

MarkaBranka : For us, the fundamental point is to work on what makes us happy. After all, we all pursue that dream. It is fantastic waking up every day to do what we would do, even without being paid for it. So, the advice is this, looking for projects that enjoy working every day.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

MarkaBranka : We place a high value on visual culture. We are devourers of content, the more things we see, the more creative we are. I don't believe in the aha moment, that almost magical moment which happens only to predestined people. The process goes on every day, without exception, to take 30 minutes or 1 hour to research projects, from all over the world, from different areas. This helps us to build a visual culture that allows us to think about different possibilities, conceive our ideas and chart our paths.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

MarkaBranka : The surprise aspect. We live in times of stupidly large amounts of work. Social networks brought the need to create daily genius. To stand out in this creative jungle, we have to have something original. Framing is also important, as not all ideas are good for all brands, and we cannot fall into the mistake of imitating the success steps of other brands. What works for one brand may not work for another. The big projects are the result of this positive dynamic, where everything seems to fit naturally.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

MarkaBranka : We never know.

What is your biggest design work?

MarkaBranka : The project that won this award, the Advertising Campaign of Feira do Alvarinho. It was exclusively designed for the client, Municipality of Monção, to promote the 2019 edition of this annual wine party, one of the main cultural events of this municipality. In this project, we managed to seek universal concepts and adapt them to our values and culture. We spent about 4/5 months, from February to July 2019, in the creation process. Feira do Alvarinho is an annual wine party that takes place in Monção, in Portugal, more precisely in the middle of a leafy park nearby the Minho river, close to the Galician border. This event had been using “Brindamos Monção” (which means in English “Cheers Monção”) as a slogan in the previous years. After in-depth research and analysis, we decided to empower the uniqueness of this event by performing a multimedia advertising campaign with the slogan “The Biggest Wine Party in Portugal”, that is also a new signature, a new promise and a new commitment. The creation and story of The Kingdom of Alvarinho make it matter. To communicate the event, we created an ancient and fictional kingdom, unmentioned in the history books. With own name and civilization, The Kingdom of Alvarinho, designated so because Monção is known as the cradle of Alvarinho wine, was inspired in the real history, places, iconic people and legends of Monção. The biggest challenge of this project was to carry the real story of the territory into the character design. Regarding other projects we are currently working on, let me tell you that, even this year, we will launch and present Monção’s new graphic identity, the project for which we were invited two years ago.

Who is your favourite designer?

MarkaBranka : Stefan Sagmeister

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

MarkaBranka : We think specialization is boring, less risky and creates habituation. We always prefer to have new problems. Learning has to do with new experiences, so we want to have experiences that make us learn something new. Qe believe it is important and necessary to release the talent and passions of those around us (employees and clients) to create good projects. We want to create a world where everyone wants to live. For that, we need creative leadership, abstract ourselves from conventional notions of leadership. The company's philosophy is: Stay Small, surrounding us with the best employees available to tackle each project. We want to have a small structure to have time for big ideas to be born, we don't want to have countless accounts and do creative work in series. We want to maintain relationships with employees and close clients, and clients feel better about connecting with the head of the company than with a chain of people.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

MarkaBranka : So far, the experiences have been sensational. The feeling of receiving the award is great. We hope it will bring us good things. The organization of A' Design Award & Competition is simply extraordinary. Everything is very well organized and planned. Amazing.

MarkaBranka Profile