We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Davide Cocchis ("DC").
Big Pixel Media is an individual micro-business founded by Davide Cocchis. He is a senior web & graphic designer, with 17 years of experience. He operates in Italy, in a small (but very productive) town called Brescia. At the beginning he started designing and developing HTML websites. But his passion for graphics has led him to expand his business also to more classic applications such as brand design and advertising. After several training experiences at local companies he decided to become a freelance and has been doing so for more than 10 years.
Davide Cocchis Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Davide Cocchis.
Designer Interview of Davide Cocchis:
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?
DC : I've loved to do handmade graphic design since I was a teenager. I remeber I've made lots of duplicated MC covers because didn't have original artworks. So yes, I can say I always wanted to be a designer in some way.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
DC : I'm a freelancer for more than 15 years now.
DI: What is "design" for you?
DC : Design is creative work that can be very fulfilling
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
DC : Logo, flyers, covers, websites
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
DC : I like the minimal style, but also the realistic design in which credible textures and settings are reproduced in which to insert the graphic elements
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
DC : An HTML website in the early 2000
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
DC : Windows PC, Adobe suite, Wordpress and Elementor
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
DC : Synthesis
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
DC : Peace and excitement. But even frustration and boredom occasionally
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
DC : Excitement and satisfaction
DI: What makes a design successful?
DC : Synthesis and originality
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
DC : Space between elements, hierarchy, color management, spaces management
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
DC : Communicate without "screaming out" and accept work from ethical clients only.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
DC : Unfortunately the future of design will be mostly AI
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
DC : I never did exhibitions
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
DC : In all the works done by people better than me ad design
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?
DC : Minimalistic/materic/clean (but also dirt in some cases)
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?
DC : I live in Italy, which is a great advantage for a designer since we are constantly immersed in beauty
DI: How do you work with companies?
DC : I am a freelancer, I try to satisfy their needs and at the same time make them appreciate something innovative and in step with the times
DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
DC : Choose a good one and trust his abilities
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
DC : It's rather instinctive, I don't have a precise process. Let's say that most of the time I start by looking around and then I find my way
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
DC : A golden Buddah statue, an old trunk, Technics 1210 turntables, DC shoes
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
DC : I have a quite ordinary routine: waking up around 9.00 AM, check email, start working, lunch break and then working again until 5.00 PM. When inspired I can work again after dinner, otherwise relaxing by reading or watching some documentary or interesting/useful contents online.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
DC : Less is more, passion is all.
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
DC : From my understanding of the design world, here's a breakdown of the positive and negative aspects of being a designer: Positives: Creative expression Variety Intellectual challenge Satisfaction when making a good work Negatives: Client revisions (can be very frustrating) Tight deadlines
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
DC : Synthesis
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
DC : Proficiency in industry-standard design softwares, a strong understanding of core design principles like composition, color theory, typography, and layout is essential for creating visually appealing and functional designs. Technical Skills depending on the field of application. But also soft skills like creativity and problem-Solving, communication, time Management and self-motivation, collaboration...
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
DC : Mostly Adobe suite, but also some generative AI apps
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
DC : Working at maximum 6 h/day, that's it :)
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
DC : It depends. Sometimes I can draw a logo in 10 minutes, some other times it will take up to 1 week.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
DC : "How do you manage to work at home?"
DI: What was your most important job experience?
DC : I have some quite large companies in my portfolio, all of those were a great and exciting challange to work with
DI: Who are some of your clients?
DC : Parco Cavour: one of the biggest italian aquatic park Techind: one of the biggest italian construction company Cristiano Luzzago: one of the most important car collector and seller worldwide
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
DC : I like to design logos because it's easy to me to be synthetic and i can reach the goal in realatively smal amount of time.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
DC : Using AI tools in my favor as a designer and web developer
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
DC : All by myself the most of the times.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
DC : Not really.
DI: How can people contact you?
DC : davide@bigpixelmedia.it
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
DC : I guess we have covered all the possible topics, thank you.