Bráulio Amado

0:01 [applause] Uh, I'm not I mean I'm a bit shy, but also I'm just like anxious and nervous and that means like I speak really fast sometimes. So if I start babbling and make no sense, you can like stop me. Um, so yeah, my lecture is very silly, so I'm I'm sorry. And also, if you've seen him before, I've done this a couple times. It's always a bit different, but I swear this is the last time I'm going to do it. So, okay.

0:35 Lisbon, Portugal. April [music] 25th of 1987. A woman rushes to the hospital late at night to deliver a healthy, chubby baby boy. Me. She names it Browley [music] San. [snorts] A very long name for such a small thing. [music] That baby would grow up in a tall al [music] mother across the river from Lisbon. Oh, wait.

1:08 Um, and this town had an inspiring skateboarding [music] scene, graffiti scene, music scene, but um I was terrible at all three of them. Uh, so in high school I started making [music] websites, covers, posters for bands. I didn't really know what design was. I was just using Photoshop and messing around. Uh so when I finished high school, I went to college, become a proper graphic designer, [music] and I started playing bands and asking people if I could make their covers and posters. And that's kind of like how I started doing what I still do now. Um so, but yeah, on my last semester of college in Portugal, I got a scholarship to go to New York uh to study at SVA.

1:52 And um one of my teachers was Luke Hayman at Pendagramram and then on the last semester of my studies asking me for internship and he said no. Um but then uh I end up coming back here for an internship didn't happen. and I asked him if he knew any anyone looking for an intern and he was like just come to the office and then by my my surprise I end up working there briefly uh I mean for a year and then he was kind of like I don't think you're good with you know grids and type faces which is true and he suggested for me to go to Bloomer Business Week and um and yeah that was a lifechanging job it's a business magazine it's been around for

2:34 quite a long time but in 2011 they hired new creative director, a new editor, and the creative director with Richard Turley. Uh, and Richard hired this amazing crew of like very talented graphic designers, uh, and pushed the magazine to like something experimental and weird. And it was, like I said, one of the best jobs I ever had. Um, and the people that worked there, I learned everything I know through them. Um, and and it was also the first time I started doing illustration properly. And since it was a weekly magazine, every week was like an excuse to try different styles.

3:10 Sometimes a bit more serious. Sometimes a bit more silly. Sometimes you like break the grid and just make the whole illustration as the the spreads. Sometimes we be, you know, not that good. Sometimes we be sort of like goth. And we're all these like kids or graphic designers that don't understand anything about economics. And we're just like trying to make those articles fun because it was also really dry.

3:39 Especially the section I had was called global economics. I still don't understand um anything. Um so yeah, but but humor was a valuable tool to illustrate these stories that often not visual at all. And um and I feel like that attitude still carries through the work I do nowadays. Um so yeah uh it was a week magazine and um but everything kind of happened uh during the first three days of the week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday would send the magazine to print on Wednesday. So there was really like Thursday and Friday not much to do or we had some meetings. We were just waiting for like stories to arrive and uh my friend I work at Grid Room um she asked me if I

4:24 want to start designing posters for them and I told her you know I had a job and I have those two days I could just help her out and do stuff and uh and yeah I it's been more than 10 years and it kind of became like an extension of the work I was doing business week as in like weekly thing almost like a sketchbook and trying different styles and just playing around. obviously was like underpaid and so there was like a lot of freedom. Um and um yeah uh some of the work and sometimes you know they're not very legible but they also don't care which is you know I'm surprised and uh this really been like the best [snorts] uh client to work for. Um but but yeah by

5:14 doing these posters uh and also because there's like almost three nights or three posters per week that's kind of like developed all this body of work and then since was working for musicians other musicians started noticing my work and then um eventually Frank Ocean um manager emailed me saw the posters and he asked me to start working for them and that's kind of like when I started my own practice which is called Bat Studio which stands for Um, probably a model design studio.

5:46 Um, this is my uh studio space. There's a lot of um stuff on the walls. Some interesting art. Um, this is from Anthony Coleman, which is an artist. I really like this piece of art that I bought in on the street. [snorts] Um, but the reason why I'm showing you this is my friend is a welder and I made this desk with her, which is a guillotine. [laughter] Maybe there's some like anti- capitalism work message here, but I haven't really Oh, and the trash bin is a severed [snorts] head.

6:26 Um, and actually me and her, we we started like a furniture design furniture studio called Mystery Meet. So, very soon we're gonna like put some stuff out. So, if you want to buy a tin desk, u just hit me up. Um, so yeah, but but but but the thing I do the most is record covers. Um, I always love music a lot and designing designing a record package feels a bit like working in a magazine in a way. There's a cover, there's a booklet, there you have the band photos, have the lyrics, you have space for illustration, playful typography. It's so fun to try different styles for whatever kind of music it is or different artists and you can develop this visual universe and kind of said that nowadays with internet you see like

7:11 a little square and there's all this thing being like when it's printed when you buy a record um and yeah it's it's something I started doing for friends when I was like 14 years old and it's kind of like what I do the most nowadays which is crazy. Um, but besides music, I still do a lot of editorial work for magazines, uh, New York Times, especially uh, New York Magazine. I did a lot of illustrations during pandemic. This is I think maybe the best one portraying the pandemic 824. I do wu magic the gathering some stuff for like fashion designers brand and then um uh I also do some like I published some um publications. This one is called graphic interviews for graphic

8:01 artists. And um there's been a few different issues and I need to do a new one soon, but I just ask artists and designers to answer questions without using words. So just like relying on like visual stuff in illustrations. Sometimes I do art shows, very dumb ones. This is called linking park. It just links. This one is called Killing Time.

8:26 And it was a bunch of illustrations of clocks getting destroyed. Like this one is my favorite. Um it's very pixelated. Um so yeah. Um [laughter] I'm I'm I'm not very good at at this. Um I'm the kind of person, you know, I just want the work u speak for itself. You know, it's like being on stage is just uh [sighs] I don't know.

9:00 The word speaks for itself. [music] The word speaks for itself. The word speaks for itself. Speaks for itself. The word speaks for itself. The word [music] speaks for itself. The word speaks for itself. Well, thank you very much for coming. I want a round of applause. We're live right now from SBA Theater. Uh this is uh The Work Speaks for Itself, talk show about graphic designer. No more talking.

9:36 Let's let's let's let the work speak for itself. We have right here a cover for a band named 72hour Postfight and their record is called Nonbackground Music. Please tell us more about yourself. [laughter] Um, okay. [clears throat] Not a man of many words. Let's just go to the next guest. We have uh we as um flower.

10:11 Um is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. It's me. [laughter] I'm a flower. Wow. Okay. Um, do you want to show us some of the work uh you're part of? Yeah. Um, this is a record cover with two flowers. It's like two flowers and two flowers but one is crying and then like you know typography flower painted flowers trap flowers flower as a portal for um hot asses to go in.

11:05 a deconstruction of a flower where you play with elements and you know it looks cool. Wow. I mean beautiful. Um but why flowers? I wrote a poem. [clears throat] Roses are red, violets are blue. I normally draw flowers when I don't know what else to do. They are good as birthday gifts. They are good to impress your date. And if it's a funeral, they're also great.

11:45 Okay. Um, wait. I have a video to show you. Okay. Let's watch a video. It's from a Portuguese musician named Molinax and his song is called Flora. I did this with my friend Bruno Ferrer and um yeah, just just watch. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] [music] Ah, [music] hey. [music] Hey, [music] [music] hey, hey.

13:28 Heat. Heat. N. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] I feel like HBO should do like a heated rivalry like kind of sort of thing. All right, thank you very much. So, let's a round of applause to our guest. Um, thank you. Wow. Okay. Um, let's go for a quick commercial break. We'll be right back.

16:57 Hello, Alex Shukas, Ben Towsley, Daniel Sander, Dr. me. Laya birds, Michael, Patrick, Kyle, Tracy, Steph, [screaming] [screaming] [clears throat] what? I'm having contraptions. [screaming] I need to breathe. Push. [groaning] Push it. Push it. Push. [screaming] That's it. That's it. That's it. Congratulations. It's a book. Oh. Oh.

18:05 I'm going to call it graphic interviews for graphic artists. And we're back. Thank you so much. Um well uh we have our next guest uh which is um folder of posters. Hello. imagine a different accent. Um, I'm a folder of posters. I do a lot of them. Um, so yeah, uh, like I said, I do a lot of, uh, posters for Good Room and, um, yeah, it's been more than 10 years and and I I really lucky that I get to explore so many different styles. And even though it looks like I'm just always doing this effortlessly, a lot of it is like killed sketches from other stuff I'm just reusing or collaging or doodles. And um

19:01 yeah, and some a lot of them are terrible. I only post like the good ones obviously. But um but yeah, I I mean it's it's definitely kind of helped me to um like figure out different styles, different techniques that then I use for u other projects and also kind of like build a portfolio and show what I can do. Even though a lot of times when this clients see the Buddha composer like we want this and I do that and they're like no legible.

19:32 U recently I started like hand painting them. Um maybe as a reaction to AI or maybe like I spent too much time on the computer so I need like a a hobby which is weird because it's still work. So anyway, um but but yeah, I I I it's using letter set and just trying to do posters all uh with paint and stuff. Um wow, very interesting.

20:03 Uh but tell us a bit more about your process you know how do you design these posters you know so my process is um a bit of a mess and you know sometimes I have no idea what to do like I said I have to do so many of them um and I get creative blocks a [snorts] lot of times but you know sometimes one day I was uh getting in the shower and look my underwear like oh that's nice [laughter] or a stress ball. I was very stressed out that day and I was like, "Oh, poster."

20:43 I did some laundry and you know who hires sheets. But I was like, "Oh, that's a nice poster." And sometimes on Twitter you see like memes and stuff like that. I'm like, "Oh, cool. and in the supermarket and you know you look at something and you don't even have to do anything. You're just like it's cool.

21:11 And yeah, sometimes I feel like I spend so much time online seeing other people's work and comparing what I do to what they do. And maybe a little walk outside could be more healthy and inspiring. I feel sometimes we go on in life without paying attention to things around us that and we often dismiss them and I feel like sometimes we're like there's like some energy in the air and symmetries and fun little things around us and um we ignore them because they're mundane and we take it for granted or we spend too much time looking at something else and for forget to zoom in on them and kind of like you know pay tribute to Um, it's almost like a a meditation.

21:55 Just take a moment even when you're in a shitty place and trying to find something there that's more beautiful than what you might initially assume. Or when accidents happen like you buy a notebook, you move the sticker and you could just be annoyed or you be like, wher. So many things around us that are already made and designed. Maybe it can be started like a musician and chop it up, remix it and create something new.

22:22 It's about like trying to see things that are already around us. And sometimes the reflection can give you new perspectives. And sometimes we get distracted and we put stuff on pedestals or light boxes. We forget that there's way more to look and admire if we become crazy enough and force ourselves to look for it. And even when you live in a world where we're looking for constant pleasure, excitement, and satisfaction, and we want it all so much, all of it. Sometimes it's cool to take a step back.

22:55 Stop running all the time. You're getting all sweaty. Relax. Take some time off. [snorts] Work on yourself. Once you start working yourself, you'll see how much material and potential you have already in there. and that material that often we don't sit with and pay attention to. I get it. We live in a dumb capitalist society where we are often so busy making money to pay our bills in a city like New York City that tears you to shreds. But sometimes you have to pick up those pieces and be creative with them. You don't have to climb that ladder looking for what's up there. Sometimes it's at the bottom where you find meaningful things.

23:39 Something you just need. Sometimes you just need to shift the angle you grew up used to looking at things and look at them differently. And again, if all that you might feel destroyed, [ __ ] up, broken. Remember, that's okay. The world is a [ __ ] mess. You can talk about it. You can put that in your work.

23:59 Everyone is flawed. We don't really fully understand how anything really works. [snorts] But remember, you are powerful and you can be good to yourself. Even if sometimes people think you look cool, but you're just a little chicken stuck in a folding chair. So that's my process. Thank [cheering] you.

24:32 Just look at this cool sunset I saw a couple days ago. I feel like sometimes the sun [music] takes all the credit for the sunset, but I think it's the cloud that norm the clouds that normally really bring up the beauty to the sunset. Like we are so used to admire. Are you on drugs? [laughter] No, I don't even drink caffeine. It makes me like too anxious. I know your work is so silly and stupid. I thought you were just going to be like how to draw an apple. you just like, you know, break it in pieces. You you you you maybe eat the apple and then your bite digest it and you know and then you um [ __ ] it it out and then like use that as a process for your poster to draw an

25:19 apple with it and uh it's like no I mean yes my work is silly. I don't know. I I I maybe I use that to hide my secret. I mean, I maybe I think pretty sure it's easier to be silly sometimes than to be serious. I guess um are you okay? Am I Am I a clown? Why am I always doing stupid things? Why what I what am I doing? Yes, you are a [ __ ] clown. What? What is this stupid lecture? The work speaks for itself. No, no, no, no, no. Just like no, you are dumb. This is a dumb lecture. He's like, you know, you're always working doing 100 things at the same time. Is like why why was like, no, no, don't listen to

26:09 him. It is so confusing and hard to be like creative person or a a freelancer in New York City is so expensive. Like I mean the the world is a [ __ ] mess. You're going to talk about a little project and like looking at little things on [clears throat] the street. Why aren't you tell sometimes you work for like bigger companies like Apple they're responsible for all conflict in Congo like Nike and sweat shops and whatnot and like you know there's there was a genocide in Gaz like you talk about that stuff and I like okay there it's conf I don't know like I feel like as a community designers we don't really talk about that stuff that much we live in in New York City was expensive and operating covers and posters that pay

26:43 the bills so we have to work for these billionaire companies to make some money and it was like okay that's that's [ __ ] you can move somewhere else live somewhere else. We live in the United States. We're kidnapping people. They're just like tear down today and they go down to like arresting legal citizens. I kill civilians. You're paying taxes and it's all going for like I don't know what to do.

27:10 I don't know if design or like talk about stuff, but I don't know what to talk about. performative a little bubble and it's okay to be messy because it's like stop like I don't know I don't I don't know what's happening in the world and you know like it's oppressive and it's like okay but but you know like I don't even understand like AI and like subscription and fascism like I don't even like are you Okay.

27:47 Sorry, I just got uh into my head a little bit. Um um it's okay. Maybe we should stop here. Yeah. Thank you very much for coming and thank you. It's nice that um Thank you. You never lost my friend. I never thought to say [music] goodbye. If I could be [music] with you