By Miguel Mike Medina
Graphic design is vital in movies, sports, TV networks, and more. The 90s had terrific graphics, and it was something that drew to the viewers because it provided great promotion and marketing. There is an upcoming graphic designer that his work is impressive. His name is Geordano Abreu. Geordano was born and raised in Washington Heights. His journey with graphic design began in the Summer before entering High School, right before Facebook gained popularity over MySpace.
“I got into graphic design primarily to make cool profile pics to post on my homepage. It started with simple photo manipulations like cutting myself out of one photo and putting myself into another,” Abreu said.
“Then I got a little more complex like me holding a lightsaber or turning myself into an avatar. Then I started doing that on photos of my friends for laughs, and it would get some notoriety on social media. I noticed I had a talent for it when friends of friends started asking for specific photo requests. Some just for fun and others for more nefarious purposes. Even though I was using industry-standard programs like Photoshop and doing small design jobs for cash throughout high school, I never considered myself a graphic designer back then. It wasn’t until my junior year that when it came time to choose a major for college, I started to see myself as a graphic designer. I figured If I’m seriously thinking about pursuing this as a career and not just as a hobby, I better start viewing myself as one.”
Geordano has done some fantastic work for many artists, but designing movie posters helped him gain exposure.
“I did for the short film “The Luck Two.” It’s the poster that granted me more opportunities to designing movie posters. From events to films, designing posters has brought me the most work and pride in my career thus far,” Abreu said.
Geordano elaborates on what he loves about his work and some of the pet peeves that he has experienced.
“Expressing oneself is one of the most liberating things you can do, and graphic design is a great outlet for that,” Abreu said. “Learning something new like a technique or a skill on any of the design apps I use builds up my confidence and meeting new people from all walks of life and at the same time expanding your social/business network. The option of making your schedule as a freelancer or working with an agency and other industries with a graphics department. My pet peeve is not enough for me to quit graphic design altogether, but things that really grind my gears is when clients are vague with design instruction or feedback,” he continued. “Asking for your designer to take creative liberties on what you want is one thing, and understandable, because that’s what you’re hiring them to do. But when it comes to making corrections or changes to an ongoing project, giving vague feedback like” spice it up a bit” is a problem. The design process should be a collaborative effort between the designer and the client. The client’s role is to provide as much information as possible so that the designer can give the appropriate solutions. When there’s vague instruction, it leads to many back and forth with edits that probably could have been avoided. You can’t expect every client do that, so it’s also your role as a graphic designer to set that expectation. Also, the font Comic Sans is every designer’s pet peeve. If a client of mine ever recommends I try it, I will shut that down immediately. Never use Comic Sans. Never.”
Like any profession, Geordano has goals that he wants to reach, and with hard work and determination, he can accomplish those goals.
“The goal for the immediate future is just to continue doing what I love, which is just more of what I’m doing now,” Abreu said. “I was a freelance graphic designer for most of my design career with a full-time day job doing something else. However, since the pandemic, I’ve been focusing more on graphic design and made the decision recently to pursue it full-time.”
While talking to Geordano, he gave a surprising answer in who he would like to work with if he ever gets a chance to with that person.
“I’d like to work with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez,” Abreu said. “She’s a major voice of my generation who speaks truth to power, and I’d love to do my part to amplify that voice for the greater good. It’ll be cool to work on a re-election campaign for her one day.”
Is there anything else that Geordano Abreu desires besides the arts? If so, then what would it be?
“I like riding bicycles,” Abreu said. “It clears the mind, and it’s one of the things I like to do if I’m in a creative funk and need to step away from a project. Video games are dope too. I’m more into RPGs and other non-linear gameplay games.”
What would you tell someone that wants to get into graphic designing? Any words of wisdom?
“If you’re into the arts in general, just explore what you like, a little bit of everything that sparks you’re interested so that you know what you like the most,” he stated. “When you finally do find something you like, work on that. Please don’t wait to go to college to learn it; go to the internet and be resourceful. I was using illegal photoshop software up until college because it’s expensive. I can proudly say that now because I’ve gotten myself into a place where I can pay for it. It can get frustrating and sometimes makes you doubtful when you can’t get something right but what gets you through that is that initial passion that got you into it in the first place.”
Geordano won Best Poster at the Indian Indie Awards for his work in ‘Room 526.’
He currently resides in Washington Heights, Manhattan, NY with his wife.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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