The Orange County Design Awards (OCDA) are approaching and this is the third feature where AIGA Orange County looks back and reconnects with former OCDA winners. Today, we’re talking with Julian Lozano to answer some questions about where he’s been and where he is going. Last year, he was selected for the Student Award for Mobile/UI Design for 1303 Interactive Telescope.
Julian Lozano is a recent graduate from Laguna College Art + Design and now works as a product designer at digital product development studio Fishermen Labs, located in the heart of Silicon Beach in LA. They specialize in creating products for web, mobile, virtual reality, and augmented reality. He works on projects for various clients and startups that includes e-commerce, publications, video games, education, real estate, and management.
“Also, we just got back from a company retreat in New Zealand not too long ago. So that was pretty cool,” adds Julian.
The most challenging thing Julian has done all year is finding the type of work that he’s most passionate about. Coming out of college, he didn’t expect to land that dream job.
Julian shares these five tips for fellow designers:
- Don’t expect learning everything from instructors, there is a lot of things that have to be self-taught.
- Be familiar with the design industry, it is bigger than one may think. Check out sites such as Dribbble, DesignerNews, Behance, Product Hunt. We do more than just create graphics, we have the ability to change the way a person thinks, we solve certain problems that can improve the world. Design can be applied to many things such as the apparel industry, tech industry, startups, environment, architecture, signage, and much more.
- Embrace critiques, even if they are harsh.
- Always Be Humble.
- Have a good online portfolio and be sure to update it. Have online presence such as Twitter and Instagram.
About being selected for the OCDAs, Julian says “it was a great honor to be selected by highly talented designers in the industry. There is a lot of talent in Orange County that goes unnoticed, so I urge designers and students not to miss out on this rewarding opportunity. ”
You can find Julian on Instagram, Twitter, Dribble and Facebook.
Instagram: julianlozano
Twitter: julianlozano
Dribbble: julianlozano
Facebook: julianlozanoaz
The OCDA celebration will be held on Thursday, November 10 at Seven-Degrees in Laguna Beach. It will be an inspiring evening with good company and great prizes. Get your ticket today!
The OCDA event is hosted in partnership with Vitamin T, Mohawk, and ChoosePrint.org.
