Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel Murgueytio.
Hi Gabriel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been drawing my whole life since I was a kid, but growing up, I never thought you could make a living doing something creative. As a kid, I wanted to be a doctor. I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, before moving to Florida with my family when I was around eight years old. Before I learned English, I relied on art and drawing as a way to express myself. I’ve kept several sketchbooks that helped me hone my illustration skills and even into middle school and high school, I always took art classes and participated in art shows. But I still believed you couldn’t make a living doing art. I ended up going to UCF for my bachelor’s in Nursing.
Eventually, I actually changed my major to Psychology and graduated with a Bachelor’s in that, hoping to be a counselor instead. But in college, I began to be more confident about my work and started posting illustrations on Instagram and showing my friends this side of me more. As a result, art became a much more visible part of my identity where before it was something that I kept mostly to myself. I ended up getting a free trial to Adobe Creative Cloud and started scanning my pen and ink illustrations using a flatbed scanner. That’s when I really started to mess around with the idea of “graphic design”. I’m someone that has to go all-in on an idea, I find it really hard to half-ass something. So I ended up following as many illustrators as I could, immersing myself in the culture and field. That’s where I started to see how freelance designers would combine several disciplines like illustration, typography, and identity to create branding. Something clicked for me then and I remember feeling really inspired to experiment with brand design.
I worked really hard to learn Adobe software like Illustrator and Photoshop and found ways to work around my limited hardware (I had a super old Mac Air.) But the idea of design still felt more like a hobby than a career. Eventually, I started doing logo work for friends who were either starting businesses, playing in bands or wanted personal branding. I’ve never really leaned into the whole influencer culture, though. I barely marketed myself online, I just had friends who spoke highly of me to others and got more and more work through word of mouth. When I started out, I was really uncomfortable with the idea of sharing my work and didn’t even consider myself much of an artist or designer. When I graduated college, I had a job lined up in the psychology field but I wasn’t super excited about it. I would still need to go to a two-year program in counseling. But I stumbled upon a posting for a local magazine that was hiring a junior designer. I impulsively applied and was surprised to get an interview the next day. I didn’t end up getting the job and I was very upset by it. And that’s when I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer. The fact that I was so upset and not getting this one job made me realize how badly I wanted this in the first place.
Over the next couple of years, I ended up freelancing while working as a junior designer at a couple of places. I ended up landing an amazing opportunity to work at a local agency called Maven. I think I learned more in my one year with Maven than the past five years as a designer combined. The team there made me feel valued and celebrated my strengths. It did a lot for how I viewed myself as a designer and I’m forever grateful for that. A couple of things shifted during the pandemic but now I find myself working as a designer for an agency in New York called Jones Knowles Ritchie. It’s pretty much my dream job before I even realized it was. I have a poster on my from my favorite YouTuber that reads, “there will be people that will say you can’t make a living out of something you love to do. But are you really living by not doing it?” (Olan Rogers.) I pretty much stumbled onto my career as a designer. I’ve taken a lot of risks and made a lot of mistakes. But I think that’s what you have to do in order to find what you love.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road. I didn’t go to school to be a designer so I’ve been basically figuring it out as I go along. I freelanced for a while but I realized that wasn’t what I wanted, I really love working with a team. The thing is, when you freelance, you only get the kind of jobs you put out. It’s hard to branch out. That’s why when Maven gave me a shot, it was such a shift in my career. I ended up learning so much from working there and was exposed to a variety of projects I wasn’t able to land as a freelancer. There’s also a lot of internal struggles I’ve had to work to, and still am. Being a designer is a really weird job because your work is yours but it’s also for a client. It can be easy to give in to negative thoughts of yourself and your work or compare yourself to other designers. A lot of people refer to this as imposter syndrome and I’ve definitely experienced it. It’s taken me a while to own my identity as a designer and find value in my own work. At the same time, I think it’s healthy to remain humble and remember there’s always something to learn and work on.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a graphic designer and specialize in illustration, art direction, identity design and packaging. I think a lot of people recognize more of my illustrative style, a lot of my freelance identity work combines illustration and hand-crafted typography to create branding that feels unique and timeless. I don’t have a favorite project or one of which I’m most proud. I genuinely try to give it my all with each project, so it’s hard to pinpoint one. I think I’m most proud of how I have arrived at where I am. Art and design have always been my thing, no one in my family was creative when I was growing up. One thing my parents did teach me, though, is to persevere and be independent. It’s been really empowering to arrive at where I am despite not having a degree, being an immigrant, and not really coming from an affluent family in terms of wealth. It’s made me believe that you really can make something of yourself if you work hard and put your mind to it.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I care a lot about people, I’ve always been very empathetic. Even in design, I find that getting to create a visual representation of someone’s dream or passion is really special. During my time freelancing, I loved being able to connect with my clients personally. My process is very collaborative and I always invite my clients into it. You don’t always get that being part of an agency but it can be just as rewarding when your team encourages you or when we wow the client with a presentation. I think some designers can get lost in the creative side of things but forget we’re always creating for someone who’s on the other side of this project.
Contact Info:
- Email: murgueytio.gabriel@gmail.com
- Website: gabrielmurgueytio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabicus/
Image Credits
Photography by David Lawrence
