Interview
Roberto Max Salas
Young Hero, United States
Roberto is the Co-Founder and President of Young Hero, where his experience in creative advertising leads him to curating culture-defining ideas that empower the next generation.
1 Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your background.
I have a background in creative advertising that spans over 10 years, working with brands such as Apple, Nike, Google, Oreo, Spotify and The Coca-Cola Company. During my time at 360i, I was the Art Director behind the Oreo Black Out Tweet from Super Bowl XLVII. In April of 2015, I joined R/GA as a Senior Visual Designer on Nike working on projects like #TakeOnTJ, and bringing to life the campaign for the first basketball gear engineered just for women. In 2017, I joined Milk Studios as Creative Director. I
2 What made you become/why did you choose to become a digital designer/artist?
Since I can remember, I always found comfort and a lot of passion when engaging in creative activities
3 Tell us more about your business/company, job profile, and what you do.
I love purpose-driven design in general. Whenever my team and I start a project, we always try to spend enough time exploring elements where we could embed the brand
4 To you, what makes a “good” design?
Simplicity behind the message. I got my start in Advertising at the prime of
5 Describe your design style and its main characteristics.
Adaptable. I think because of my time in the advertising industry, I always try to not be too biased to what I would design but tailor the design more towards the customer. Once that design direction is established, I try to make sure that the craft is embedded into anything my team and I put together. That sometimes means bringing the right collaborators based on a particular project. We find that the more you work with people that align with the project's mission the better the output.
6 Tell us about your design process.
I always encourage my team to start with moodboards. A lot of times it is all we need as we start developing a project even from the strategic phase. Moodboards can always serve as our northstar and something we can come back to often when we feel stuck. After that, depending on the time we have, we try and create as many iterations as possible and start cutting from there.
7 Where do you draw inspiration from?
Design books we have at the office, architecture blogs, films and different design blogs. I also have about 12 different bookmark folders in my Instagram account organized by creators. Oftentimes, I love to bring designers from my moodboards to collaborate on the project, so it serves as a nice database of potential resources as well. One example where we did that is with artist @berlinmichelleart for a Lonely Whale horoscope social campaign we did recently as an extension of #HydrateLike.
8 What current trends in digital design (or really anything digital related) are you most excited about?
I
9 Congratulations! As the winner of the 2020 Vega Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?
It means so much because we did it in collaboration with Lonely Whale. They were the biggest supporters of our company since day one, and their mission aligns so well with ours. It
10 Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2020 Vega Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
As I mentioned before, this project is near and dear to us at Young Hero because Lonely Whale has been our partner from the beginning. Not to mention the importance of the message behind the Question How You Hydrate campaign. It
11 What was the biggest challenge with this project?
Communicating optimism and action in the face of eco anxieties around climate change. Through early research, we discovered that a lot of environmental causes use scare tactics in their communication, so we decided to disrupt the category by approaching the message and design with pure optimism and education. Unlike traditional PSAs, which can be dark and overly serious, we and Lonely Whale built a bright, vibrant world. The PSA includes a tongue-in-cheek sales pitch from Zooey Deschanel, vigilante work by Jason Momoa, and some wise words from Diplo:
12 How has winning an Award developed your practice/career?
It
13 What are your top three (3) favorite things about the digital industry?
It is iterative and evolves at a faster pace because it has democratized creativity. In general, there is more room to improvise and try things in real time to see if they work. If they don
14 What makes your country specifically, unique in the digital industry?
Well, I am originally from Ecuador, but I left as a teenager so I never got to work in the industry there. However, more and more, I
15 Where do you see the evolution of digital industry going over the next 5-10 years?
I think in the next 5-10 years, digital tools will be taking more practical roles and becoming accessories to everyday life. Today, a lot of new technologies and innovative tools are taking the form of entertainment (for example face filters, lenses and effects). A great example of a digital fad being used in a more practical way is (the resurrection) of QR codes at restaurants for no-contact transactions due to COVID-19. We
16 If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring Vega Award submitter, what advice would you give them?
I would say keeping an open mind and learning how to take constructive criticism early in your career. Sometimes we get married to our first or second iterations, and it is hard to let go or make necessary decisions because of that. Especially when starting out, it is important to constantly get feedback from mentors and people we admire because they will be able to see the holes quicker due to their experience.
17 What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the digital industry?
I actually loved learning to design from books. There
18 Tell us something you have never told anyone else.
The name of our agency
19 Who has inspired you in your life and why?
A big inspiration has been the fact that I
20 What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
Part of my key to success is constantly seeking inspiration around me in the form of experiences and bringing those learnings not just to design, but in the way we approach daily collaboration.
21 Do you have anything else you would like to add to the interview?
Thank you to the VEGA Award for acknowledging our work and to Lonely Whale for being such an amazing partner.
