Patricia Gustave: How did you get started in the field?

Robert Cortez: My first design job was as an assistant to a school instructor who also maintained a full-time freelancing job. It was a temporary gig, but it led me to my first full-time job at a small advertising agency, where I then worked for the next five years. It was an entry-level position, but it gave me a chance to try my hand at a variety of design projects and develop my own design principles and philosophy.

What studies and experiences prepared you for your profession?

In my high school years, I studied illustration and painting and took an interest in creative writing. While those subjects don't necessarily come into use in my everyday work now, they did come in handy in helping me learn to observe and convey ideas. The ability to use your senses, process your ideas and create a new piece of work is fundamental to being a designer. That and you have to be curious about your tools, your influences and your own skills. Being a designer (or any sort of artist) and staying creative is always a challenge and you have to be willing to test yourself constantly.

What have been the challenges of breaking into your field?

Probably the most challenging aspect I've found is simply finding work. Finding a satisfying, steady job can be very difficult. The alternative of freelancing, while very tempting, isn't always easy to manage...and there's still the challenge of finding clients. Sometimes, its just a matter of being in the wrong location--say, a small town where design isn't necessarily a commodity. Once you start to make contacts and work with other professionals and vendors, I've learned that maintaining good communication and fostering relationships is essential to keeping a steady workflow.

What advice do you have for someone starting out?

My advice would be to not give up. There are many ways you could take that and all of them would probably be right. Don't give up on your ideas, don't give up on your principles, don't give up on your priorities, don't give up on your work ethic.

Of course, that's not to say that you can't compromise. In fact, that should one of the basic principles of any designer--there will be times when you'll have to compromise. Starting out, that'll probably happen most of the time, but as time goes on and you develop and find your strengths, you may find yourself calling the shots and having to ask someone else to compromise their vision.

But there will also be times where things just won't go your way, or personal issues might interfere with your work. There's always a balancing act to maintain, and any designer has to be able to channel frustration and stress into their work, rather than just giving up.

What is your philosophy on art, art education and the art world?

I love art. All sorts of art, including fine art, film, music, performance, you name it. As with anything, art is purely subjective depending on the viewer, and maybe that's what I find so intriguing about it. How can a piece of art offend one person, enchant another and possibly go entirely unnoticed by a third? I think art at its essence is a manifestation of mankind's desire to create, that itself being an extension of our natural instinct to procreate and survive.

Art education, on the other hand, has been a mixed bag for me. I love it in the sense that it provides a sense of history and perspective, but I don't think it's been made palatable enough for anyone other than art aficionados to casually delve into. It's as if I've had to sometimes disregard art history as a whole, focusing instead on the history of graphic design and designers.

As a professional designer, something I rarely get to do is appreciate art for what it is. Most of the time, I look to the art world for inspiration and creative stimulation, but not necessarily as something to extract ideas or visual concepts from. It's always interesting to spot trends and see how far they go, but I try not to fall into the trap of liking something and then wanting to do something just like it. You'll never find an original approach (not that anything's truly original anymore) if you just do something that other people are already doing.

What do you most like about your profession? What do you least like? (If there is anything you dislike.)

I like the fact that I go to work every day and do exactly what I enjoy doing. Not everyone can say that. I suppose there's somebody out there that truly loves to work at McDonald's, but I haven't met them yet. I love the fact that I can go to work, just cook up ideas all day (both good and not so good) and just boil them down to something that works. I love being able to show my friends and family what I've done and get their reaction.

The only downside I've found are deadlines. Some people live for deadlines, look forward to them even...like they're holidays or something. Fortunately, I've found that I can actually get some good work done while under pressure. And that's probably a good thing, because when you have too much time, you can over-think and over-design a project and go astray. When the clock's running down, I've found that my mind gets into a mode where I immediately scrap bad ideas and can usually work through the so-so ideas to a perfectly acceptable solution. Of course, that's not always the case...then it becomes procrastination, and that just leads to more stress.

How do you see the future of you profession and the art that correspond's with it?

At the moment, I think the graphic design industry is in a semi-healthy state. For the last ten years or so, there's been the looming threat of not desktop publishing (once thought to be the downfall of print design), but of prefabricated design tools. By that, I mean tools for the non-designer to "design" their own projects. Look at how many web sites you can order business cards with cookie-cutter designs or that allow you to upload your logo and *presto!*--professional business cards! There's more to design than a piece of technology and your credit card number. There's a creative and collaborative process involving both the designer and the client (and most likely others as well) that shouldn't be bypassed.

What other art field would you have chosen to enter had you not enter your current field?

I probably would have gone into some area of illustration, even though that's a much tougher business. Maybe that's why I was so determined to work in graphic design, considering the alternative. I also had the notion of working in video or film production, but I could see early on that I was much more adept at design than the technology behind motion work.

Where do you see yourself career wise in 5 to 10 years?

I don't know if I'll be working for the same company, but I'll definitely be in the design industry. I think some designers would like to eventually take on a managerial or administrative role, but for now, I find that less satisfying than getting in there and cranking out work. One area that I can see myself possibly moving more towards is web design--a field that I've always worked in, but recently taken even more of a liking to. With that said, I think there are always more skills to learn and opportunities to grow as a designer, so there's a sort of unknown quality to what might come in the future.