Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, November 28, 2023: Mucho, a Spanish design firm (#1969)

The Mucho team is scattered all over the world! With offices in Barcelona, San Francisco, New York and Paris they've pretty much got it covered. Let's chat with Barcelona based Creative Director, Marc Català, about the importance of visual language today; their public funded research project that's in the works;

We design with meaning. We find meaning and use images and ideas to convey it. Visual language is key, it is essential, it is how we speak today and brands too, through websites, videos, posts on social networks. Visual language is the 21st century language, and it has overcome the written word. And to say things with this language of images –like with any other– you need meaning. If you understand this, you can see how essential it is to design with meaning.

Who are your top five design crushes right now?
Marshall McLuhan. A media philosopher who understood media in the digital era better than any designer, and predicted the internet and social networks (including snapchat), 40 years ahead of his time. Elon Musk; to dream it is to design it, design and engineering to save the world. Socratic Design; it's not a person but a philosophy based design method to design how we could live, and to design moral codes for any project. It is being said that only moral companies will survive. That’s why it’s important.

All the partners at Mucho are involved in teaching. It is a fantastic learning process for ourselves, because it forces you to structure your knowledge so it can be explained. Teaching makes you think of what you think you know, and so it is a great experience which develops your own critical thinking. We also ask some of our designers at the studio to help us with the classes and come and teach, for the same reasons. Finally, we are preparing a big education project due to start next year in which we will concentrate all of our teaching and knowledge. It is an ambitious project of the highest standard, and we are very excited to be doing it.

What qualities and skills to you look for in a graduate?
There are really just three things. They are key and all the rest you can learn or doesn’t matter.
1. The capacity and the will to think.
2. The attitude and the character to want to work.
3. The curiosity to know the world and oneself.
It's easier said than done, as most people don’t want to think. With those actions all is possible. Without them there isn’t much to be done. I don’t believe in talent as a thing you are born with. I think that keeps people wondering if they have it or not, which is the wrong way to think about it. The thought is preposterous, toxic, and kills creativity.

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