This was originally posted on disengaged.org. It has been preserved for posterity here, as it no longer exists.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself to break the ice.
A: My name is Bryan Veloso, I’m a 20 year old Filipino college student and web consultant. I currently live in Providence, Rhode Island with my wonderful fiance and I attend school at Johnson & Wales University majoring in Entrepreneurship with minors in leadership and sociology.
Q: Very interesting major. Can you tell us how you winded up in the design world?
A: I started designing with the early Photoshop versions when I was 13, my first sites being based along the lines of Final Fantasy and anime. That’s when I still used FrontPage. After I had lost those sites, I decided to try something different, and then kind of jumped into more personal design with the help of a lot of sites that are no longer here. It’s been my hobby, my way of expressing myself, and I don’t think I could have found a way that’s more liberating than pixel pushing.
Q: One of the most interesting aspects of your work is the powerful message it says about our culture. Why do you choose to create pieces like that?
A: On the outside, I seem to be a very light, sometimes quiet, and sometimes outgoing person. However, inside me there are voices wanting to scream out about everything. Art and design should come with a message, it should tell a story, whether it is about the artist who made it or something the artist would like to express. I’ve always tried to pack my pieces with a message that sort of jumps out at the user, because I believe not only that work and meaning should be one in the same, but that the meaning in a work will make a viewer give it more of their time. Also, I just like to make people think. I would never like to look at a piece and go blank or not know what to think.
Q: Who or what has been inspiriting or influential to you?
A: The world, being so vibrant and busy, has been my inspiration, different parts of different cultures, phrases, words and structures have all taken a place as part of my inspiration. When it comes to people closer to my life, my fiancé would get the most thanks. She has kept me from quitting and since she has artistic talent herself, always has a good view on the things I do. She’s not only my inspiration, she’s my reason to keep going now. My friends and family also have a profound effect on the way I design and what I design. I try to take all aspects in my life and just throw them into my work. It’s what inspiration really should be - not to be inspired by only one person or one thing, but to take everything and apply it.
Q: What do you think of the evolution of the modern day digital art scene?
A: I heard a good quote from Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson when they were being interviewed about the new NBA generation on ESPN lately, and they said that “they don’t love the game, they just want the money and the fame and the cars, they don’t play because they love to play basketball”. This more than explains my feel for design. It’s all about fame, who can get the most linkage, and who can make friends with the “big guys”. I haven’t seen many people that design… just because. I could be terribly wrong, but this is my view from what I have seen go on lately. It’s really a great feeling when I meet somebody that is so passionate about their work. In a way, I really hope I’m wrong. But to make a long story short, the design world today is one huge bureaucracy.
Q: How do you compare designers and artists?
A: I think the biggest difference between designers and artists is the medium and the approach to work. Designers are a different breed of artists, most of them working with a purpose or as a job. Designs are usually more structured work rather than traditional art, which can be about anything. It’s like there’s an unwritten set of rules when it comes to design, digital or whatever else. It’s a hard line to draw, and a thin one at that. But I can confidently say that all designers are artists but not all artists are designers.
Q: As a web consultant, where do you see web development going in the future?
A: I see it becoming more like TV. With the leaps and bounds in Flash and new media, especially with the integration of video into Flash and how much can be done with that. I think it’ll take a few years for clients to get the funds and see what these new technologies can do, and by then people that can encompass both compliant static design as well as eye-catching motion work will be the most successful. We see a lot of great companies on either one side or the other, but none with a successful balance.
Q: Do you have any closing comments, words of wisdom?
A: Be true to yourself, and be true to your design. No matter what people might say, just stay true to what you do. Find your own style in life and it will reflect in your design, don’t settle being a copy of somebody else - there’s no respect deserved for doing that. Keep smiling, and have fun. Why live life any other way?
Finally, I’d just like to thank you guys for interviewing me, and I wish you the best of luck in your work and in your lives. Peace.
Q: Thanks so much Disengaged!