Yumi Shimada
Yumi, born and raised in São Paulo, is a designer and art director with experience working with major advertising agencies such as CUBOCC, DPZ, ID\TBWA, VML, and Accenture Interactive. She is the founder and partner of Japas Cervejaria, where she has been working on brand and product aspects that go far beyond her work in visual communication. Yumi shares her three references and a provocation for fellow designers.
I was born in 1988 in the neighborhood of Capão Redondo, in São Paulo. Since I was little, I have always had an interest in art, despite having very few references and knowledge around it. I used to draw, create photo collages and glue them all together. One day I remember opening up my big sister’s school books, and seeing biology and history-related illustrations. I was fascinated by the idea of conveying the past through visuals in print format. And that's how I fell in love with images that had something to tell.
Years later I went to school for Digital Design and even though I chose to focus on Advertising and the world of big agencies, I have always continued to study typography, photography, art, graffiti, among other things. To this day, I use all of those sources of inspiration in my own work. I continue to make my own collages.
My proudest project as a professional is my brewery, where I had the opportunity to create my own brand, each product, each concept, and each label that goes to the shelf, in addition to a whole marketing strategy that goes beyond Design.
01
Eduardo Recife
A very remarkable work for me, which turned the key for me in college was to see Eduardo Recife's collage arts, (especially the Zupi cover) it was getting to know his work that I realized that it could be serious and not just a joke with clippings.
02
Tide Hellmeister
Another big milestone for me was seeing how the artist Tide Hellmeister mixed typography and collage, it even inspired me on how to diagram and combine it in layout.
03
Salvador Dalí + Freud
Another striking reference was to study the parallel between Salvador Dalí and Freud, it was a project that made me understand how our unconscious directly influences our art and how, until today, psychoanalysis itself (within therapy) influences me in everything that I create, mainly in collage, where surrealism predominates.
A provocation
One challenge I see in our industry is the fact designers depend on awards to get recognition, in addition to seeing so few women who are leaders. My advice is: don't get into prize paranoia. Do and bet on what you believe is the best work you can do. There will always be other paths to getting the recognition you deserve.