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A little chat with Cyla Costa

Cyla Costa is a graphic designer born from the complex mix of cultures that is Brazil. She designs the most varied letterforms for all kinds of projects in which typography play a leading role. Her studio is in Curitiba, her hometown, where she works for clients from all over the world. Over the last 15 years working with type, she has become a reference in her field. Her work has been awarded and published several times and is known for its vibrant palettes and versatility of visual languages.

A little about your design process…

Fido: What does your process look like? 

Cyla Costa: It really depends on the project, but I always try to enjoy the stages of the process, as a moment when everything is free and I don’t need to worry about restrictions that may arise later on. I’m not going to lie, some projects start with very well-defined expectations, and this makes us less fond of the conceptual and formal paths that everything can take. But in general, I try to encourage myself and my team to create more freely and experimentally, which opens up creative paths that end up leading to more interesting deliveries, both for us and for the client.

F: Personal projects are part of your design practice? If so, how?

C.C: Yes, and a lot! Since I started working with lettering and typography, personal projects are very important in my practice. I come from a graphic design background, then I studied illustration and then typography. So, people knew me for my previous skills, so I needed to create ways to showcase the new ones. To this day, I really enjoy creating without barriers, and that’s how my most recent personal project was born, my color font Juma, which began as an exercise in expanding my visual language and ended up being a unique and widely awarded font. Murals have also always been part of my practice, generally as personal projects, in which I take the opportunity to free my hand and work on a huge scale, which is always a pleasure.

Let’s talk business!

F: How has it been to create  your own studio? 

C.C: I consider that I set up my studio in 2012, when I rented a place outside my house and started to better plan the direction of my work. At that moment I was starting to explore the world of type and lettering, so I pursued this type of project and tried to take courses and workshops to develop myself further. Having a one-woman studio, as it was at the time, was challenging, as I needed to manage everything by myself, but I always tried to prioritize interesting projects, which could add substance to the studio’s portfolio. I have always worked with partnerships for some projects, but since 2021 I have more people on my team, which helps me a lot to focus on the creative direction, which is the natural way for me. Because my studio is named after me and I have a certain style, clients want that when they hire us, which has been an interesting challenge that I and the people who work with me have been taking on with courage over the last few years.

F: What difficulties did you face? Which advantages did you have?

C.C: I think the main difficulty has always been the business side of things. When I opened the studio, I had no idea what it was like to also be an administrator, salesperson, producer, and all these side activities that we end up having to do when you have a creative studio. I can say that over 12 years I learned a lot, but I still try to balance all these personas. I also consider that my main advantage was having the opportunity to specialize in illustration, editorial design and typography, as I was able to offer a bigger professional scope at the beginning, which meant that I always had work, for one specialty or another.

F: How do you balance the conflict between the economic aspect and your own requirements on the quality of your work?

C.C: Always difficult! But I see that I also had some ease in this matter, and I attribute this to my personal projects. When I started working with typography, as I wasn’t hired to do it yet, I started creating a portfolio through these projects. This attracted the attention of clients, who already came to me with this reference. So I had at that time, and continue to have, the opportunity to work on projects that are both profitable and creatively interesting. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but I try to prioritize projects that challenge us and make the studio’s portfolio grow, even if they can sometimes pay less.

F: How do you deal with your work-life balance?

C.C: Another difficult one… but what is life if not an eternal dealing with challenges, am I right? I think I always managed to deal with this balance well, until my son was born two years ago. Since then, I have learned a lot in this regard, especially the power of prioritization. It’s simply impossible to handle everything, especially as a woman and mother, so I try to find peace in the thought that I do my best and some things are sacred and will always take priority. It has been an great path of personal development. I once read that some moments of imbalance are part of a balanced life, and I have taken that as a mantra, specially in this moment of life.

Equality

F: Do you think there are special challenges for women in the design field?

C.C: I’m sure there are special challenges for women in all walks of life and in all fields of work, and design would be no different. The details are very much related to the culture in which the woman is inserted. Even though we live in a global job market, I am primarily seen as a Latin American woman, for example. This label brings with it expectations or prejudices, the most diverse opinions, but never free from pre-judgment. I try to take advantage of this label as I position myself very proud of my origins as a Latina and feminist woman, and if this bothers any client (as has already happened), we stop working together because there was no match. I also see that I have had great opportunities, like my Fuerza Hermana project, precisely because I am a Latina and feminist woman, so I conclude that along with the challenges also come the glories. 

F: How do you perceive female models in design? Do you have references around or you feel an absence in that matter?

C.C: I see many incredible female designers, with unique and remarkable work. What happens is the erasure of these professionals throughout the history of world design. Nowadays there are some wonderful research areas about women designers whose work everyone should know about. In recent years, I have met so many female models that I had no idea existed and I am amazed to know all these universes. What remains is always the feeling that this historical rectification will never be enough to alleviate the lack of recognition that many of these women had in life.

*** All the images are property of ©CylaCosta, you’ll need her explicit permission to reproduce them 🙂

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