January Professional Spotlight: Mike Castro

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Name: Michael Castro
Place of Employment:  FKM
Job Title: Art Director

How long have you been an AIGA Houston member & what do you get out of being an AIGA member?
Member Since 2001

AIGA provides me with a reservoir of various design resources:

opportunities to meet other creatives
functions to broaden my knowledge of the design industry
platforms for understanding business theory
inspiration for expanding skills and growing in my career
a link to the past, present and future direction of design

…to generally name a few.

What made you want to be a designer?
My desire for a creative career.

When you aren’t designing, what are you doing?
Lately, I’ve been studying language, grammar, biblical text and getting a deeper appreciation for words. To compliment this, I’ve been playing the iPhone version of Scrabble called Words With Friends. Challenge me. My user-name is: Lifecereal.
Who are your design heroes or what designers are you following right now?

God is my ultimate design hero. It’s always fascinating when I get to see a designer pattern their work after creation, intentionally or not. Looking at work this way motivates me to explore both the world and the principles behind work I admire.

I ran across this animation by XVIVO that I found inspiring. It’s a fascinating look and exploration into the functions of life at the cellular level. It’s like a hybrid of a bio-reality show and the movie Avatar. To the extent that it’s a factual dreamworld, I find it more interesting than Avatar.

This one is narrated (probably by your former biology teacher): http://multimedia.mcb.harvard.edu/anim_innerlife.html

This version has an all music soundtrack: http://www.xvivo.net/the-inner-life-of-the-cell/

What is your greatest accomplishment to date as a designer?
My hope is that I’ve been an inspiration to others through my work.

What’s your favorite typeface?
My favorite typeface always depends on context. If I could pick one to ban it would definitely be Comic Sans.

Where can we find you?
On the web: sownideas.com
On facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Michael.L.Castro