Raul Gonzalez
Director of Design and Digital Production
What are your primary responsibilities at Kiterocket?
I oversee design across the company for websites, videos, social media, and branding. So, I am both a creator and an editor. And my job is really a balance between review and design.
Does that make it tough to move between those two duties?
I don’t see them as conflicting. Rather, I see them as enhancing. If I was just doing creative, it narrows possible approaches. If I am just reviewing other people’s work, it’s not collaborative. In my job, I have the best of both worlds. I can create and work with a team to refine, and I can draw inspiration from the work of other team members, and work with them on refinements.
What do you tell your clients is the most important factor in arriving at the right design?
It’s critical to always consider the end user, the people that see the final design in the wild. For example, we sometimes forget that a website is a working tool for end users. Before we start, we must understand what the company wants the user to know. Are they visiting for information, to make a sale, to find a phone number, or join a cause? Once we understand what the company wants their customers to do, that drives design.
So, you believe that functional design is best?
Yes and no. Look, I want a stunning design, but if we haven’t helped the customer get what they want from an ad, a website, a brochure, a video presentation, then the best design in history is a failure. You can’t separate end results from design direction. I want to see designs that register with viewers or users and stimulates a response.
What challenges you the most?
Time. There never seems to be enough of it. But there’s fun in that, too. Nothing stimulates creativity like a deadline. That’s a controversial thought, but it works for me.
Any final thoughts for future designers?
Try to look for approaches that no one has used before. Be a consumer of design wherever you are. Are you watching an ad, driving by a billboard, looking at book? How is the design driving your attention? Build a personal database of ideas. But generally, where design is concerned, keep it simple and solve problems.
