Today we’d like to introduce you to Michell Silva.
Hi Michell, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Yes! Hello! My name is Michell Silva and I have been a professional graphic designer and vehicle wrap designer for seven years now. I first started designing vehicle wraps at my first job as a graphic designer. At that time, I only knew how to design flyers and business cards, so I had to learn on the job. At the beginning, it was so difficult because the only training I received was how to set up the templates of the vehicles but not how to design the wraps. I had to learn that on my own. My first year I struggled and almost every customer didn’t like what I designed. I had to pass the project to my boss, Luis, who was the senior designer. But thankfully after my seventh vehicle wrap customer, I finally had a customer who was so happy with my work and didn’t reject it. I was so excited that I was beginning to grasp and understand how to design for this medium. Since then, I developed my own design techniques, trained other designers how to design for vehicle wraps, and designed wraps for many companies around the USA. I always get so excited once I see the final product. The work is hard and tedious at times but so rewarding too.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not; I had to learn how to design vehicles with almost zero experience and at first it made me not like designing vehicle wraps. In my first three years, I made every mistake you could possibly make at least 100 times each. Spelling errors, wrong color codes, printing panels without enough bleed, not reaching important deadlines, etc. The list goes on. Almost every other vehicle needed reprints during this time. It was so disheartening because I would finally do everything right on one vehicle and then everything would go wrong in the next one. Money was on the line and sometimes because of my mistakes customers would leave angry. I sat down one day and told myself I would not make any more mistakes; I will get to the bottom of this. Slowly I would realize what was causing my mistakes and weeded them out. Since then, I haven’t made a single mistake in 4 years and now I love designing vehicle wraps.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
So, of course, my niche as a graphic designer is vehicle wrap designs. It’s not a skill everyone knows so it really helps me stand out. Almost 70% of my new clients start out asking me for a wrap design and stay with me for other kinds of design work after it’s finished. I currently work with small business owners that are starting out their businesses and need modern and clean wraps to stand out from their competition. These clients are from all kinds of businesses. They are usually food truck owners, HVAC, groomers, movers, etc. Most of these clients are new to vehicle wraps so they look for a professional like me who can help guide them during the process. My other type of clients are print shops; they usually don’t have many wraps but want to impress their customers with great designs. I usually come in as an independent contractor and provide support when they need it. They are great lead generators and I’m always happy to help them.
Any big plans?
In the future, I want to work with companies like Adidas, Kate Spade, or Nintendo. I see they often do pop-ups, and they wrap huge vehicles to grab the attention of people passing by. I would love to be a part of those projects. After three years freelancing, I have a huge library of work and I’m going to start working on a new portfolio to start presenting my best work to those companies. Finally, I want to attract more attention to my work so I’m going to start posting more on my social media accounts. It’s something I’ve been neglecting for too long and I want to get the ball rolling this year.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://michellsilva.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michii.sama/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michell-silva-designer/
Image Credits
Mauro Tea
Riko Burgers
Manna Eats
Ethan Sacks
Pet Domestics
Charles Foltz
Slow Boogies
Robert Bernauer
Access Urgent
Care Michell Silva
