Just like your domain name, are you always hungry for creating some design?
Nando Costa: Well, the name for my site is due to a project that I never manage to complete. The intention was to have a site as a great resource to design students and artists. It would contain an Art Gallery of local artists from Brazil as well as an enormous amount of information on Art History and Design History. At the time when I came up with the idea I was still in School and there weren't many resources of that type on the web. It turned out to be just my portfolio though. Currently I'm working on another site that will have similar content for the Brazilian Community.
We are so impressed by your fabulous use of colour. Please let us know, including your background, how and where you learned those techniques.
Nando Costa: The fact that I used to paint before I started designing helped me to understand a lot better how colors are achieved by combinations as well as to decide how to choose colors to convey different types of emotions. When I started Designing, I learned how to select colors by choosing the CMYK values, and that is how I still choose my colors, even when for the web. I guess
that gives me a wider range of colors.
Is there anything that you refer to, when you are designing something? Please tell us of things, such as movies, books etc, that you receive inspirations from.
Nando Costa: I used to use books as references very often when I was in school but nowadays I use the web as reference more often. I usually don't like to look at publications or websites before I work on a project to avoid being influenced by other artists. It's very difficult not to be influenced though. I like to look at art books more than to browse design publications. The influences are more subjective and more original.
Which aspect of design (Impact, use of colour, layout etc) do you take most seriously when you are designing?
Nando Costa: I think that all aspects need to be taken seriously, meaning that all subjects are important. I tend to decide on my color pallet first and let that influence the rest of the project. Colors seem to play a big role on my projects so I consider then one of the most important parts of my process.
There are numerous ways of expressing ideas on web today, such as Flash, Video etc. Is there anything in particular on web that you would like to tackle in the future?
Nando Costa: I don't think I will be exploring the web much deeper since in the next few years I intend to focus on animation and print projects. I will let time show me what direction to take.
We believe one of Japanese culture that we can be proud of is Japanese cartoon/comics ("Manga"). Are you interested in those Japanese cartoon/comics regarding their design, story etc? Do you have any favourite Japanese cartoon/comics in particular?
Nando Costa: I do have a lot of interest, although I have to say that I haven't spent much time studying them. I have only been hit by the big influences like "Akira". I would love to be able to visit Japan in the next few years. I have a lot of interest in working with Japanese clients and have even been looking for a New Business Developer to represent me in Tokyo.
When we are looking through your projects, what we are aware of the most is the sense of togetherness with the sound. (Especially "Squarepusher" gave us a strong impact.) Do you always get inspired by listening to the sound first? Or do you find sounds that are suitable to your projects afterwards?
Nando Costa: Yes, the synching of that piece is very intense and it's due to the influences from that song. I constantly listen to music when I work on my projects and most projects are created after the song is chosen. Although in some projects like "Trikala" for example, the song was made after the video. It's a much more intense process for the musician though.
Do you sometimes browse through Japanese websites? If you have any favourite Japanese website, please share with us.
Nando Costa: I honestly do not know many because I cannot read Japanese neither can my computer recognize the characters. I wish I know more Japanese websites. I am currently designing a cover for Shift.jp.org which is a site that I have always visited and it's reference to many Graphic Artists world wide.
As we saw "ism", we got a feeling that you may be interested in Asian or Japanese culture, no? If you are, please tell us why.
Nando Costa: That animation was made for an exhibit I was invited to contribute to in Singapore. I do have a lot of interest in the Asian culture and wish I had more projects like that to work on.