A Chat With Ace Graphic Designer Francesco Mugnai

Six months ago I returned to designing and blogging after a sabbatical of almost 5 years. A lot had changed while I was missing in action. I needed to polish my skills and get back into the game. I was also in need of serious inspiration. As I slowly started sifting through the plethora of websites and blogs that were out there, I came across a page so blue, it brightened my whole demeanor. I just sat there for a while staring peacefully at the laughing Buddha [I have 2 exquisite figurines in my home and a huge one in my garden]. Then the font caught my eye [Someday I'll write about how I fell in love with Museo]. And I read every single thing that was written on that page. That beautiful website was and is Francesco Mugnai’s very own work. I was inspired that day, inspired to create beautiful designs, to dance a slow one with beautiful letters on exquisitely designed pages. Six months later, I have found my inner creative and somewhere along the way I came to know Francesco Mugnai himself, a little bit. A talented designer from Italy, he is not only a great guy, but has a unique vision of design and its elements. His brilliant creations can be feasted upon on his website Francescomugnai.com and his musings can be viewed on his blog. He also has two very useful resource sites, I Am Photoshop and It Even Has A Watermark. "Read Blogs, Not Books!" says the Buddha on his website, "I Just Want To Be Wonderful!" and he is. Please join me in welcoming Francesco Mugnai to the LBOI Blog.

Thanks very much Francesco for doing this interview and answering some fun questions for us.

1. Who is Francesco Mugnai? Tell us a bit about your personal side and a bit about the designer in you. How did you get into designing? Was it always a dream of yours?
Sneh, first of all, thanks for the interview!
I’m 28 years old (29 in december) and I live in Florence, Italy. I have always had a love for all things related to design and graphics in general. When I was still in university I began my career as a freelance graphic designer and then after the graduation I started to teach Photoshop in international institutes. I can say that, as a designer, I realized a dream.

2. Can you tell us a bit about the work you do?
I do web design (both static and dynamic websites, including wordpress templates), graphic design and IT consulting and as I said before I teach graphic courses.

3. When and why did you start blogging? What aspect of blogging do you love the most?
I started blogging six years ago for an italian nanopublisher and now I have 5 blogs, all powered by wordpress. I love to share all my passions with my readers and usually I use my main blog as a personal "bookmarks depot". I spend hours to search for just the best resources available.

4. What kind of designs do you enjoy doing the most? What style is your favorite?
I love both minimalist and colorful style. 

5. You teach design. What are some of the challenges faced in a teaching environment? How do you tackle them?
I really love teaching and I try to make my classes as enjoyable as possible! Sometimes I happen to have classes with 15-20 students with completely different skills and probably this is the biggest challenge I have to overcome. To solve this problem the only thing I can do is to work indivually with the most advanced students during some of the lessons in order to give them the most interesting experience possible.

6. What truly inspires you?
Everything. Generally speaking I find inspiration around me, in nature, in a picture or in a song

7. You are a trendsetter. How easy or hard is it to just do your own thing and not fall into the “trends” pattern?
Sometimes I start a project without having a specific idea of the final result in mind. In my honest opinion it’s the best way to be creative. Obviously this is not good when you work on a team or you have to finish a big project

8. Take us through a typical day in the life of Francesco Mugnai.
My typical day is: breakfast – twitter – blogs – work – lunch – twitter and blogs again – work – dinner – blogs – social life

9. What do you do when you are not designing? What are your hobbies?
I like to play soccer, to go to concerts and cinemas. I would like to travel more often!

10. Do you have a funny design story to share?
No…not so funny unfortunately

11. 5 gadgets you couldn’t live without?
Adobe Software, iPhone, a mac, satellite tv, a 16gb Usb Flash Drive

12. Designers and artists you hold in high regard?
My favorite graphic designers are Chuck Anderson (No Pattern), James White (Signal Noise), Peter Jaworowski (Hejz), Pawel Nolbert (Hello Color !) and João Oliveira (Bio Machina). As inspirational websites I use Behance, Flickr, ffffound, DeviantArt and Depthcore.

13. What are some of the exciting things and changes happening on your websites in the coming months? What is in store for you workwise in the near future?
I have a lot of surprises for my readers. The most important will be a new video-tutorial area and maybe some premium content

14. What is the most valuable piece of advice you have ever received?
"Why so serious? Life is short, be happy". This is still the best advice, ever.

15. Your motto?
Stay hungry, stay foolish. Thanks to Steve

16. Why Museo?
Because it’s great. I’m sure that most of the success of my portfolio (francescomugnai.com) is thanks to the use of this font. Jos Buivenga make fantastic fonts.

17. In 5 words or less, say the first thing that comes to mind.

• Twitter -> People
• Typography -> Jos Buivenga
• Blue -> My portfolio
• Mac -> Love
• Movie -> Fight Club
• Organic -> Food
• Retro -> James White
• Black -> A black sheep
• Lorem Ipsum -> dolor sit amet
• Grid -> 960.gs

Thanks again, Sneh!

And thank you Francesco. It was a pleasure to have you on the blog today.

You can follow Francesco on Twitter @francescomugnai or follow his design journey on his website Francesco Mugnai.