One of the most exciting things about Designity is our vibrant creative community, a blend of colorful personalities, unique backgrounds, and expertise that adds a special “something” to each and every project they deliver.
And today, we’re shining the spotlight on one of our community’s newest creative sparks! From a kid designing Maroon 5 fan sites to a rising star at Designity, this Brazilian-born talent comes with a story you won’t want to miss.
If you’re ready to learn more about his journey into the world of graphic design, we’re ready to show you! Today’s blog is your front-row seat to an exclusive 1:1 with graphic designer Renato B!
Pull up a chair and turn on your favorite Maroon 5 song — it’s time to meet Renato!
How did you get into graphic design? What’s your origin story?
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My mom does watercolor painting, she's very skilled at that, and my grandfather used to design these huge machines for a paper company that would make paper.
I just grew up around design, watching him design all the machines and make mockups of the products. I always leaned toward design and architecture, but I didn't know at the time that “graphic design” was a thing until I was about 16 or 17 and I saw an advertisement for a graphic design course on the back of a bus somewhere.
So, I was like, “What is that? I'm going to look into this.”
And I looked into it and then that's how I found out about design and graphic design; that I could design professionally and just create stuff and make dreams come true and make ideas come to life.
Then I decided, “Okay, so this is what I need to be” and I've been doing it for 20 years now.
Did you study art in school?
I used to love drawing, and I always loved the arts; I love to dance and make a little bit of music.
But I went to high school in Brazil and high schools in Brazil just offer basic subjects so I could only get into graphic design in college. I went to the Federal Institute of Technology of Pernambuco, which is the state where I'm from in Brazil. I was part of their first graphic design class, so I was kind of like a guinea pig.
But I learned a lot, I learned how to do branding and then typography; I had to design my own font, which was really interesting, and I had to do a magazine and even learn the basics to how to make a film or a commercial, and just a million other aspects about design.
I realized that I really liked doing this; like this is for me, and then I really fell in love with branding and that's how I took off from there.
What was your first creative-related project?
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So, I’ve always been a huge Maroon 5 fan.
And back in the day nobody really knew who they were in Brazil and the internet was pretty new, so there was a lot of demand for websites and stuff and I wanted to learn how to make one.
I didn't really know how to make a website, but I knew that I wanted to make something, so I started playing around with HTML and CSS. I bought a magazine that had a CD for Macromedia Dreamweaver, and I just figured it out and ended up making a website on Maroon 5.
That's pretty much how I kept up with my web design and coding and a little bit of that. I still do it, even 18 years later, and it got me into a bunch of Maroon 5 stuff that I can talk about if you really want me to go there.
But I feel like that was my first creative project. And then from there, I just started doing everything else. And once I got into branding, that's where I actually found my love.
What drew you to Designity?
At a previous job, I had the opportunity to work with Superside while managing the graphic design needs for a personal development company. As I was a graphic design department of one, I was mostly responsible for art direction and ended up sending their designers the more hands-on work. While I appreciated the support, I found myself craving a more collaborative process that ensured a consistent level of quality across projects.
But then when I started doing more research, I found Designity and I saw you could get the same services but there’s a Creative Director too, so there's somebody already on their end doing quality control before it went to the client. That extra layer of collaboration and consistency made a huge difference and felt like a much smoother, more efficient system.
And as a creative, I loved the concept of Designity as a remote agency that combines the flexibility of freelancing with the structure of an agency. It allows us to focus on what we love—designing—without having to manage the administrative or logistical side of things. I could just focus on doing the actual job, which is what I love to do.
So, I thought “Okay, I need to be a part of this.”
What has been your Designity experience so far?
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I’ve had a positive experience so far; I'm excited about it.
My first project was working on a trial client, and we did a social media project, and then I just started on my second project.
I feel like I can learn a lot and now I think I'm getting more into the pace of it. I actually love not having to deal with the client and having somebody that deals with all of that; they just give me the list of what I need to do, and everything is really straightened out, and I know what I'm doing. It makes me feel confident in the work that I'm doing.
Everybody that I’ve had a chance to talk to has been super welcoming and nice too. Even looking at the different Slack channels for Creatives, it’s just so interesting. I love the aspect of community that's really a part of it.
What is your favorite thing about working at Designity?
The fact that we can just create our own adventure.
Like if I'm traveling and I can't do too much work, I could just slow down, or if I want, I could catch a couple more projects. So, I really get to make my own adventure.
I like having that independence but also knowing that there's more work that I can do once I'm ready for it.
What is your favorite kind of project to take on?
Recently, I’ve started doing a bunch of more packaging projects, which I'm loving. I started my career doing digital design, like websites; I started as a web design intern for a company in Brazil. I was always doing web design, so it took me a while to break out of it, because I wanted to do something more tangible.
Then, two years ago, I started working on packaging product projects. I made a non-alcoholic wine label that’s actually being sold at Target right now — it's the number two in the category. So, when I go to Target, I see the product that I did the packaging for. That was so hard to do but when I see it on the shelf I’m just like, “I did that!,” and I’m really proud of it.
*The project in question is featured above! Click here to check out Starla's product on Target's site!
What has been your most challenging project and how did you overcome the challenges?
The packaging project.
It was the most fun because I feel like I learned a lot, but also there's so many details that I had to get right. There’s the barcode, there’s the nutritional value, and you need to make sure that when it's printed it's going to read right, and the scanners are going to be able to scan it.
So, there's a lot of tiny little details that you don't really think of when you're doing magazines or websites or other types of projects, but those tiny little things really matter for packaging.
I had to just train my brain to really look into those details, which takes a while. But once they're sent to print, there's no way of going back and redoing it. So, you have to triple-check everything and make sure that you can talk to the printers just in case something goes wrong. It was a learning process but, in the end, I was very proud of the results.
How do you keep yourself up to date with design trends?
I look at Pinterest and Instagram a lot.
I try to look online too, but I also try to not look too much into it, because the thing with trends is they're moving so quickly now that it's impossible to kind of keep up and once you've started to get into it, it’s already moved on to something else.
One of my favorite things to do is just look into design books for reference. I like looking at tangible things and getting inspiration from that.
I also like to look into what the client is doing and how I can do something different using the brand guide; like looking at what the client is doing and not what other people are doing, because most of the time what's trending doesn't really translate to what the client is doing. They say, “Oh, I want to be part of this trend, I want to make this happen!” but then you make it, and it doesn't really work because it doesn't work with the client.
So, my favorite thing to do is just to see what the client wants to do, what the audience wants to do, and then just go from there.
Do you have any insight about current trends that you’ve noticed?
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I think that one of the biggest things that I'm noticing right now is, thankfully, the industry is starting to look more into diversity and inclusion, and accessibility.
I feel like it's not just about meeting accessibility requirements but making things that are visually appealing and translating it to a very big audience instead of just the traditional audience. Because I feel we didn't really used to think like that but, recently, we're just moving in the right direction and making sure that everybody's included.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
If I am not working, I am probably at a Maroon 5 concert somewhere.
I've been to 50 concerts so far.
Whoa! Have you met any members of the band?
Oh, yeah!
They're doing a Vegas residency right now and I've pretty much been to every show.
The thing is everybody at the concert is usually just sitting down — especially in Vegas — and then here I am, this little Brazilian guy, just jumping and screaming every single night.
And one night Adam noticed it and he said that I don't have to pay for tickets anymore during the residency, so that actually works! And then the story made its way to Brazil and ended up going viral! I got a call to be on the biggest morning show in Brazil to talk about that experience.
Then Maroon 5 did a show in Brazil last September, a little afterwards — I was there, of course, because I'm crazy, and then he was like, “One of our biggest fans is a Brazilian, and he is here tonight!” and then he was pointing at me!
So, yeah, pretty much that's where I'm going to be if I'm not in front of my computer working.
<div class="c-blog_comp-cta cc-component-2"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-wrap"><img src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/63695243d096983691046ac3_Potential-Creative.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-img"></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-right cc-dark"><div class="c-blog_comp-content"><div class="c-text-wrapper cc-mb-32"><div class="c-title-4 cc-bold"><strong>Like to work as a freelancer with consistent income?</strong></div></div><div class="c-text-wrapper"><div class="c-text-2">Designity's collaborative model is designed to give you all of the perks of being a freelancer without the income instability.<br></div></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-wrapper"><a href="http://designity.com/creatives" target="_blank" class="c-button w-button"><strong>Join Our Creative Community</strong></a></div></div></div>
Anything else we should know about you?
Send me more projects! I’m ready!
Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring creatives?
I think just trust your gut and have fun, and don't be ashamed of making mistakes.
Just embrace creating. Especially when we're working for a client — at least I know I am super critical of myself and I can spend hours and hours working on something that looks great, but I'll keep coming back like, “No, this isn’t good enough."
But just don't second guess it. Just trust your gut and just enjoy the process of creating.
