X VAV I
X VAV I E R “Creative Multidisciplinary Designer & Director. Specialising in Branding, Design, UI, Web Design & Dev�
X VAV I Xvavi is a Multidisciplinary Creative Studio. Combining conceptual thinking with traditional & modern methods to create aesthetically pleasing design.
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What sparked your interest in having a creative career? ‘I think the spark was born the same time I was. Since primary school I was always drawing and sketching. By the time I hit secondary school I was downloading cracked versions of the Adobe Suite teaching myself how to use the software. With that being said I feel creatives are born with a different mindset with an ambition to challenge, create and conquer regardless of industry. They have a vision which is unique and see something different in everything. I feel personally no matter the career and path I followed or created, I would’ve made the role my own with creativity infused resulting in a “creative career”.’
Xvavier’s start to having a creative career really interested me as he seems to be successful and widely skilled. I wanted to gain a little personal insight into the beginnings of his working life and see if I could draw any comparisons with my own life: I found similarities with him drawing and sketching since primary school. I have always been interested in drawing ever since I was little and always had an art or design subject through school. I love that Xvavier was downloading Adobe software illegally during school in an effort to teach himself it, this shows ambition and dedication
to design, no matter if it was legal or not. The main point that stood out to me here was that he thinks ‘creatives are born with a different mindset with an ambition to challenge, create and conquer regardless of industry. They have a vision which is unique and see something different in everything.’ I loved his way of phrasing how he thinks him and other creatives are different and how much he sees this as a positive attribute. This is something that will stay with me I think.
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Do you have any major inspirations and why do you look up to these people? ‘My father has an incredible heart, bravery, loyalty, optimism, morals and aura. He is a great role model and led by example in which I followed in his footsteps in admiration of his positives traits, but he also helped me learn from his mistakes/weaknesses (which obviously there’s few, the man is a god). But to give an example, letting people exploit your kindness then mistake it for weakness.’
‘Mama Sallyann is a remarkable woman. She had my brother aged 16 and myself at 21. We weren’t born into wealth. As a single parent she raised myself and my brother whilst educating herself to get a degree and worked mediocre jobs to put food on the table. She sacrificed herself and her life for others and enabled us to be the people we are and have the life we have today. Me and my brother have a common goal which is to give her the world and everything she deserves within our ability. She is also my voice of reasoning, the angel on my shoulder. May not always agree or do what she advises but she helps me see the full picture. She’s an inspiration and driver behind most things I do.’
Kanye West ‘Kanye West for me is a creative genius. He may not always say the right things but the message he portrays and the thought process behind how he works is like nobody else. He will push the boundaries that need pushing regardless of consequence. Kanye sets trends before you realise they are trends without the acknowledgement that is deserved. He will lay the foundations/ the platform or inspire so other artists can build and profit.’
Charles Saatchi ‘Charles Saatchi is humble and honest. He wasn’t academically outstanding but always knew what he was good at in life and how to utilise those abilities to his advantage. With his vision he built an empire resulting in a legacy which his children will inherit and be proud of.’
I wasn’t expecting such a detailed answer for this question. Xvavier seems to hold his family dear to him and his love and devotion for his parents was especially touching. This response from him also allowed me to see more into his personal life which I think allows me to relate to him more. It sounds cheesy but it also made me appreciate my parents more as I reflected on the opportunities I was given by them to be able to be at this point in my life doing what I am doing. My dad provides everything for my mum, sister and myself and has also had a background in graphic design, doing it at college and going on to work in the printing industry, I get some of my creativity from
him. My mum is also creative as she likes arts and crafts and also is very good at floristry. She gave me the best start to life as she got me reading and writing before school which I think has put me at an advantage all my life. She also keeps me grounded and going as I can tend to be very scattered. My dad didn’t want me to come to uni to study graphic design as he wanted me to get a high paying job but other than this they have always supported me in my decisions and pushed me to do more. I think this has definitely shaped me as a person and allowed me to do well in my life.
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What has been the most challenging project you’ve ever worked on and why/how so? ‘I’m currently working on a project with a global brand which has been the biggest project we’ve worked on and definitely been the most challenging. The bigger the project/company, the more hurdles you have to jump and closed doors you’ll greet. That’s all I can say there for now unfortunately.’
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If you could give me one singular piece of advice for a future career in design what would it be? ‘One singular piece of advice... Be confident in your abilities, identify your strengths, be honest yet constructive, speak eloquently and intelligently, build on your weaknesses, constantly learn and finally provide a unique and enjoyable customer experience. You can be an incredible designer or creative but this is a growing competitive industry, you must stay humble and identify that there's thousands of people with similar skills or styles to you... but what makes a creative credible or profitable?’
‘So I would emphasise on the point of providing a unique and enjoyable customer experience as this will turn you from a creator into a business.’
u niqu e an d enj oyable cu stom e r exp e r ie n ce This piece of advice really resonated with me. This year has been a learning curve, going from creating sub par work due to illness and a bad mental state, to recovering and having faith in myself and my abilities and creating work I am far happier with. Whilst I am happier with the work I am creating, I think that I need to have more confidence in myself and my abilities as well as keep experimenting and pushing myself because I know that I can do it if I try. In my PPP presentation my first slide was about myself as a creative, and identified my strengths and weaknesses, how I felt about these and how I was going to improve or continue to build upon these. Realising these about myself has been a pivotal
moment in my creative development this year so for Xvavier to highlight these in his advice was great as I feel like I have already begun to get a start on this. Another aim for me this year was to be more professional in my presentation and writing as this will be translated to a real world context eventually. I also feel like I have fulfilled this aim. The most interesting and significant piece of advice given here was to provide a ‘unique and enjoyable customer experience’ in order to set yourself apart from the crowd. I feel like I could fulfill this expectation as I am friendly and always looking for new ways to inspire and create, so combining these attributes will come in really handy.
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What other important interests or passions do you have? ‘Nothing out of the ordinary really to be honest... Music, fashion, art, football, travel and food.’
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If you weren’t a designer what career could you picture yourself having? ‘I never knew the answer to this question until recently. So I would be an actor. Not for the fame or prestige, I'm not about that life. More because I find it interesting how you have to detach yourself from yourself and create a new persona, an alter ego, a character. You're constantly learning, developing skills, creating and living a new life for intermittent periods. When you think about it from that aspect it would be a fun life right?’
This was a question I thought would delve more into Xvavier’s personality outside of a purely creative spectrum. His answer of an actor however still shows that he would be involved the arts in some form, showing that he as a person is inherently creative and couldn’t picture himself doing something that didn’t involve creativity and creating something. I found this so interesting as I am very interested in
personality and psychology and I think that the way people think and act link to their type of personality and by choosing a still creative outlet this proves to me Xvavier’s creativity comes as part of him as a person. Also significant to me was his desire to still be ‘constantly learning, developing skills, creating and living a new life for intermittent periods.’
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What short and long term goals do you have for your studio in the future? ‘Short term goal is to build a talented team of creative individuals that can cater for a range of services across a broad spectrum of industries. Long term goal is to conquer the world and eventually the universe.’
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What do you love most about your job? ‘I love creating on a daily basis. I am fortunate to have clients within a variety of industries that trust Xvavi as a studio to express and deliver ideas from concept through to fruition. As cheesy as it sounds I’ve created a business and life that I love with a healthy balance of freedom, creativity and commitment which brings new and exciting challenges daily.’
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What would you say your greatest strengths and weaknesses are personally? ‘One of my greatest strengths personally is understanding people and their thought processes. In business this is invaluable as it enables me to understand the clients needs, direction and vision in addition to having the ability to deliver across a variety of speciality areas in design. But those skills aren’t developed overnight. So I guess the desire and ambition to learn and achieve on a daily basis also. My greatest weakness is not knowing when to stop. Sometimes you just need to “be”. I don’t do that often enough.’
As I mentioned earlier, identifying my strengths and weaknesses this year has been vital in evaluating myself and developing myself as a creative, so I wanted to ask Xvavier the same question. His strengths involved understanding clients, which I feel as if I share. I am a people person and some of my personal qualities are that I am social and
empathetic so I feel as if I can understand people in this sense. ‘The desire and ambition to learn and achieve on a daily basis’ is an attribute I have also begun to understand the importance of having this year and something I am continuing to develop. One of my personal goals is to learn more and experiment with new techniques, styles and software this summer.
Interviewing Xvavier was fascinating as I got a peek into the world of a professional creative and gained some invaluable information and advice that has stuck with me and will be using in the future. The problems I encountered during the process just proves to me that the professional world is unpredictable and you have to handle yourself with confidence and dignity and prioritise.