We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Ximena Ureta ("XU").
She is a designer who can harmonically communicate, with an artistic and aesthetic sense, while meeting the strategic objective of her clients.
Ximena Ureta Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Ximena Ureta.
Ximena Ureta Design - MontGras Handcrafted Wine Packaging
Ximena Ureta Design - Rivalta Wine Packaging
Ximena Ureta Design - Organic Wine Packaging
Ximena Ureta Design - Butterfly Acrobat Wine Packaging
Ximena Ureta Design - Day One Wine Packaging
Ximena Ureta Design - Diablo Black Wine Packaging
Ximena Ureta Design - Rose Wine Packaging
Designer Interview of Ximena Ureta:
DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
XU : I have been working as a graphic designer actively and uninterruptedly for more than 27 years in Chile. I worked independently for several companies on corporate issues, especially Annual Reports and Sustainability Reports right at the beginning. My experience in packaging designing for Chilean wineries is extensive and I have managed to specialize in Chilean wine and champagne labels distributed all around the world. Currently, this is my main activity. I focus on highlighting and enhancing the virtues of Chilean wines and sparkling wines. I have studied etching, aquarelle and oil techniques at different times and I have applied these skills to complement my work as a designer. And yes, I have always wanted to be a designer but I am also interested in other art disciplines.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
XU : My studio permanently works on the development of packaging for Chilean wineries. I have been Concha y Toro’s consultant for the last 12 years, working on many of their brands such as Marques de Casa Concha, Trio, Diablo, Casillero del Diablo, creating products such as Leyenda, Reserva Privada and Reserva Especial. It is really interesting to promote, from the design point of view, these globalized brands and many of them world-renowned. During the Pandemic I renewed the corporate image of MontGras as well as various packaging such as MontGras Day One, MontGras Organic, MontGras Handcrafted, DeVine and ANTU. During this same period I designer Butterfly Acrobat. With Santa Ema in 2021, I created Rivalta and in 2022, Patagonia de Cono Sur and Cuvee 2020 by De Martino.
DI: What is "design" for you?
XU : Design, as such, is a creative activity and a result of an investigative process, whose aim is to make objects to be both useful and aesthetic as well as solve a specific problem. And, although usefulness of the object is fundamental, my work must also be beautiful so that the relationship with the user will be both durable and harmonious.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
XU : I like working with designs that are beautiful and designs that pose some kind of technical or creative challenge. I love creating designs that identify the companies that need them and I like presenting original ideas that can be resolved by the production team.
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
XU : There are several pieces of work that have been important for me. I think "Paper Flight” is very special. It says a lot with very little. It is a visual poem without words, it has a sensitive and essential spirit. A fragment of liberty. A pause. A tribute to simplicity, to the fragile, to the minimum. The small interior space of a visual haiku. "Butterfly Acrobat" has also been a fantastic project to work on. It was fascinating to write a short narrative in which the images tell a tale. A woman who can fly is lifted aloft by the silk threads of thousands of butterflies in a circus act. I find it fascinating that such an idea could have a place in wine packaging.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
XU : I first worked on a cover of a mass-distribution magazine in Chile. I designed an illustration that got excellent reception. It was my first experience as a designer when one of my designs was distributed to such a great number of people. For the first time I experienced the feeling of being the visible face of a company and, furthermore, with an editorial content. It was wonderful!
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
XU : Some good paper, a brush and black ink.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
XU : When the requirements are interesting and I have enough time to develop them.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
XU : I carry out a conceptual synthesis, I choose an expression technique, I review materiality and architecture, functionality, I propose typography if required, and I almost always check proposals for color at the end. Each stage is special and everything can contribute to an original design.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
XU : It is an energy that rotates internally. It starts soft and light. I think that it feeds from my breathing because they both march to the same beat. Eventually, one learns how to surrender peacefully. An inner strength that seeks light.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
XU : I feel a deep satisfaction.
DI: What makes a design successful?
XU : First of all, for a design to be successful, the designer must start with an assertive diagnosis of a specific need. Such design must have a clear conceptual definition and a specific target audience. Only then will a design acquire an interesting and aesthetic personality.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
XU : I see if I am able to feel what the design is trying to communicate.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
XU : Many of my clients today are considering materials that are friendly to the environment. Several wine label papers are FSC certified, which means that the paper's raw materials come from responsible and environmentally friendly forest management. That is to say, the fibre that is used in the manufacture of the paper comes from forests that are managed in an environment-friendly and sustainable manner. To be able to use FSC-certified paper one must comply with a custody chain meaning that all the agents involved in the preparation of the paper must be certified, in other words, the forests, the mills, the distributor and even the printers. I believe that designers play a very important role and we must be proactive in sustainability.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
XU : It is an interesting question these days as forecasts show that millions of current jobs will be automatized in the future and it is creative jobs that shall survive in a world populated by robots. Up until now, creativity seems to be a survivor. In music, artificial intelligence can successfully take and repeat certain elements of some themes and then reuse them but it is not capable of creating new ones.
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
XU : My last exhibition was a few years back, in the area of wine and champagne packaging for different Chilean wineries. It would be great to be able to appreciate all the award-winning works at the A´Design Award & Competitions exhibition. It is undoubtedly the most interesting exhibition at a global level that I have participated in. In the future, I would love to show my works again and lead this personal project.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
XU : I study books and look at publications that contain well-finished aesthetic graphic solutions. This is what inspires me.
DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
XU : Perhaps I am characterized by looking for new techniques and unique places, what I expect from my designs is that they do not resemble each other. Each label must have its own personality, which is why it is very important to always be on the lookout and explore.
DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
XU : I am Chilean, my country is located in the extreme south-west of South America. I live in Santiago, the capital, which is in Chile’s central zone and it is blessed with a Mediterranean climate, with well-defined seasons and rainfalls concentrating only in winter. My country is renowned around the world for its wine production. Its climate permits us to grow healthy vineyards and produce high quality wines. I feel privileged to be able to contribute as a designer to the creation of wine packaging that is well-known globally, drawing on our immaterial heritage, our culture, our art and legends as well as our “crazy” geography that identifies us as the world’s longest and narrowest country in the world. Chile’s archaeology, ethnicity and folklore are also part of my country’s image represented and recognized in the wonderful quality of our wines.
DI: How do you work with companies?
XU : I have worked with companies as an independent designer throughout all my professional life. What I basically need is a brief with the specific conceptual requirements before I start any project for a client. Subsequently, we set up meetings and program email dispatches each week, depending on the level of progress. In the case of packaging, when we finally believe that we have achieved the result we are seeking, we carry out tests to look at terminations, as well as the performance and adherence of the paper. I supervise each and every piece of work I do, including the final printing.
DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
XU : They should know their work and some important aspects of their personality.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
XU : First I think of a general concept, then I try several approaches and I progressively narrow it down looking for unique and original ideas.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
XU : My dinner table inspired by a fish, a book lamp, a metal tree that displays the bottles of wine with the label I have designed, my paintbrushes and photographic camera.
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
XU : I prepare lists so as not to forget all the things that I must solve during the day. I set myself daily targets. I'm very rigorous when it comes to meeting objectives. I organize important aspects during the morning. In the mornings, I feel more energetic and I have more clarity to efficiently answer design questions. On the other hand, I try to bring together all the meetings in one day, to have enough time to design without interruptions.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
XU : I believe in randomness when I design, that is why I often work with my eyes closed and find things in places where my consciousness would never let me go. The same happens with gestural typography or color spots. It's funny what happens when I do it. The laws of harmony do not always act in a predictable way. This tidy harmony not always acts in a predictable manner. Perhaps these laws already exist and the only thing we must do is to decipher them. But they don’t always have a rational or logical order but one that is unconscious and unknown. Perhaps a designer is an encoder or a decoder of something superior and prior.
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
XU : I love the way a designer mixes creative art with a functional purpose. I sometimes feel that a good design is under appreciated, I cannot find negative aspects of being a designer.
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
XU : Discipline and perseverance. The mother of all talents.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
XU : The capacity to synthesize, communicate, and persevere.
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
XU : I use many great design books and standard software. My main toolbox, however, is my art box of paint brushes.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
XU : I am very organized and do all my creative work in the morning.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
XU : Depends on the object. A wine label for an export wine may take between 6 months and one year. Other packaging solutions may take much less time.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
XU : How I got to be a designer of wine labels.
DI: What was your most important job experience?
XU : The packaging and labeling lines of Casillero del Diablo, the most famous Chilean wine.
DI: Who are some of your clients?
XU : My main clients are Chilean wineries such as Concha y toro, Cono Sur, MontGras, Viña Santa Ema, and De Martino.
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
XU : I love my work, particularly when it allows me to be creative. Because of this, I don´t really have a type of design work that I enjoy the most.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
XU : I want to keep doing what I like and do it as well as I can.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
XU : I always do the art direction by myself, but I have a team of designers and producers.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
XU : I would like to continue designing and creating small poetic stories that have winged beings. Just like the birds in "Paper Flight" and the butterflies in "Butterfly Acrobat."
DI: How can people contact you?
XU : Through my website.
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
XU : I would like to thank this incredible competition for giving us, designers from all around the world, the opportunity to showcase our work and to dignify it. I have been pleasantly surprised by the great technological platform that has been put at the disposal of all the design disciplines. Thank you for this wonderful experience.