People @Billie: Meet Adriano García Suárez, Senior Graphic Designer

Adriano, can you tell us how your story at Billie began?

I have been with Billie for a little over three years now. I remember that I started on the 7th because my team lead at that time was on vacation the first week of October. That's why I started on such a non-typical day (laughs). 

My path here at Billie actually started in the product department, but soon I took over the visual representation of the brand. At that time, we used many illustrations and I started covering those illustrations. From that point, I transitioned from product to brand, marketing, and sales. After being in this area for a few months, my focus is now on the marketing team, with strong touches on branding and communication.

And what exactly are you doing at Billie now?

What do I not do at Billie? (laughs) No, jokes aside! As a Graphic Designer in the Marketing team, I am responsible to some extent for all non-product related visual elements and brand materials. This includes various things like: website assets, the website design itself, or marketing materials like infographics and templates. I combine art and technology to communicate ideas by using design elements to develop an overall layout. Additionally, a big part of my work in the last few months has been Billie’s rebranding and to define the new visual identity of our brand: Who is Billie in terms of how Billie looks? In other words: I'm the guy you always turn to when you need something visual.

What is the coolest thing about being a Graphic Designer at Billie? 

I would say one of the coolest things, or what still excites me a lot, is that you can really collaborate with different teams. It’s not always easy, but it's also interesting to get all the insights from Marketing, Product, Sales, Brand and Comms or the Management perspective. Then somehow you have to find your way between all these inputs and translate words, ideas, and instructions into visuals that represent all the needs. For me, this is definitely one of the coolest things I can do as a Graphic Designer in general, but also for Billie. I have many interactions with other teams at Billie—and that is something that motivates me to keep on going. 

As you already mentioned, you were part of the big rebranding project at Billie. Can you give us more insights on that? What was your role? And how did you approach this project?

It was definitely an interesting time. Challenging, but also exciting. On a personal level, my role was something that I was looking forward to because I felt Billie needed a face that really represented how far the company has come in the past five years. I am grateful that I was part of this process and that I could provide my contribution to it.

 I've been part of shaping a whole range of things, but my main focus was taking ideas and words that explain the brand, translate them into a new visual identity for Billie. We tried to find every little detail that makes the Billie brand what it is. Based on countless workshops, meetings, alignments, and questionnaires which started the rebranding and core values process, it was my role to give Billie a new face. One of the best or easiest ways to approach this is using colors. For example: the new colors we chose—pink, purple, and yellow—reflect Billies core values as closely as possible: We are pioneers. We are impact driven. We are human centered.

From the website to the pitch deck, to the new presentation layout and social media templates. Finally, we’re at a point where the new brand identity provides a solid foundation for Billie to keep growing and continue to do great things.

I do have to do a little mention here. Apart from our amazing internal team, I would also like to acknowledge our external consultant, Fabian Roser. He helped us to steer those ideas into a solid direction. So Fabian, if you're reading this: Thank you for your amazing support! 

Let’s take a deeper look into Billie's new colors and how they reflect our values. I heard there was an interesting process, that they are based on a sunset or sunrise? Tell us more!

Yes! So, one of Billies core values, or the keyword that kept coming up in our workshops, was our pioneering spirit and the fact that we were the first to do something that nobody had done before. It was interesting because we took two different approaches, which were unconsciously connected: On the one hand, I was strongly influenced by color psychology, a kind of blind test where you divide the colors and check what the colors could mean. And then I tried to find as many matching words with these three core values as possible, and then reveal the color itself. So, you're not kind of biased in this situation. You are basing your decision on something that, whether we like it or not, is there for all of us, even if you don't know that it is the subconscious. 

On the other hand, Fabian and I also discussed what it means to be a pioneer and how to represent it visually. In the real world, there is nothing more exciting than a new day (sunrise) or the end of a day (sunset) when you either gather your thoughts or get out of bed and set about getting them right. 

The funny thing was, this more psychological approach ended up having similarities with the fact that the colors that dominate the image when you look at the sunset are very much in line with the psychology behind the selection. So, we took it from there. And yes, it's about continuing to select and polish, but the original idea of two approaches merging into one was fascinating.

It sounds like the whole rebranding was a huge project, and everyone knows: big projects often come with challenges. What was the biggest challenge for you?

TIME!! (laughs) Undoubtedly, time—or rather the lack of it. I mean, we are a startup and time is always the key, right? We always knew that the schedule itself was very tight and ambitious, but despite the tight deadlines, we somehow managed to achieve a good result and create something new.

What are your key learnings after leading the design part in this project ?

My key learnings aren’t things I didn't already know, but a reminder of what is really important. 

The first one is the importance of communication. I know it's a cliché (laughs) and everyone says the same: communication is key—but it is true! Especially when you have a big project that involves different departments, minds, people, and even external people, you have to keep up the communication. Particularly if you have people like me, that mainly work remotely, communicating with each other and really having a healthy communication is essential. 

Besides that: Time management and planning, especially for short-term goals. With a project that big, having good time management and planning is key. For me personally, having short-termgoals is always great – to have to-do lists with checkboxes, that keeps you motivated, but also helps you manage the big or heavy tasks by breaking them into smaller parts. Being able to own that part, or at least keep a big part of the effort into it, is definitely something I've been happy to continue to work on, improve and take away from the rebranding project. 

Thanks a lot for all these interesting insights on our rebranding! Now let's talk about Billie as an employer: What surprised you the most about working at Billie?

If I look at Billie as a company – and I come from the fashion industry, which has a completely different feeling – and not only for the product itself, but also for the overall construct that surrounds it. What shocked or surprised me the most, in a positive way of course, are the people. Everyone claims it, especially startups, that they have a great team: “we are all a great team, without being toxic”. But I think for Billie that’s really true. And the human touch is really present in Billie's DNA, and now it's actually verbalized as one of the core values of the company: Being human-centered. That's really something that struck me since I joined the company. What I can also add is that Billie truly has a close-to-flat hierarchy style of managing, in which everyone does have a voice and is being heard. I think that's the two main things that surprised me the most at the beginning, and they keep doing it still today . 

Last but not least: Billie in 3 words:

Vibrant, energetic, and warm.

Thank you so much, Adriano, for your insights and all your hard work that you put into creating the new visual identity. We are beyond grateful for having you on board, and we’re looking forward to creating what’s next with you. 

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