Interveiw with Cristina from Synaxis

Cristina Montesinos is the Creative Director at Synaxis. Andrea and I met with her for lunch last Thursday at Figo, a wonderful little Italian place in Virginia Highlands that serves the best pizza and panini. Christina graduated from Jacksonville University with a major in visual communications and a minor in art history. As soon as she began speaking I knew Andrea and I were in for a treat. This was going to be a great lunch full of thoughts, wisdom and advice from an experienced designer. At Synaxis, Cristina is part of a three person firm and enjoys it there very much. She says a smaller firm is much more hands on and you get a lot more variety where as in her old job much of her time was spent in meetings and not enough time was spent on “fun stuff.” She learned most about design outside of school, through previous jobs and internships. She says “every job you have is a step towards your next job.” A good internship is very important because not only do you get the experience of working in the field you also get to find out what you enjoy to do and what kind of design appeals to you. Networking is also key. Every job Cristina had she got through a friend that knew a friend. The Atlanta design scene is a close knit group where everyone knows one another. Its important to get out there and meet people, join AIGA, get an internship, keep a good reputation.

When asked about the work load, if all-nighters continue after graduation, Cristina says yes they do continue, if you don’t control them. The key is learn how to work efficiently and have high quality. Coordination with clients and coworkers is also very important. Having your own personal creative outlet is a must. Cristina enjoys gardening, hand crafting and painting. Without this personal creative outlet she becomes easily frustrated.
Here is the book she is reading now. Cristina is also a Seth Godin fan and enjoys reading Communication Arts, Print and business 2.0. We talked for a long time about how far technology has come and how fast. It wasn’t that long ago when business only had one computer and when you needed to use it you would go to the computer room and use the one and only lonely computer. So in the future Cristina believes the internet will be with you at all times, on your phone, on your watch. She says technology is changing social interaction. She enjoys learning and working with interactive. She believes learning interactive has made her print better. Communicating with someone is a two way process and print, at times, can be very one way but shouldn’t be.

Cristina gave us key points on our portfolio. She says your portfolio is judged by your worst piece, so don’t put anything in it that you don’t feel good about or that’s not good enough. Don’t make your portfolio too complex. Don’t put so many pieces in your portfolio that your quality goes down. Ten pieces in your portfolio is a good number, present your brand and be confident in your work. Half is the quality of your work and half is your attitude.

Cristina is happy and living her dream she loves her job because she is growing, learning and being challenged and that’s the most important part.

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