While I was in the UK I stumbled upon this massive designer meetup in London called Design+Banter and was thrilled about the idea. I thought it would be the perfect atmosphere; designers chatting, sharing ideas, drinking cold draft beers and just having a laugh.

The next obvious question was if there was any similar meetups in my hometown Yerevan. And well after a bit of research I found out that there was a small group of designers that get together but it happens extremely rarely and its just not on the same scale as the one I saw in London.

I finally had a real life problem that I could try and solve as a side project and as a way to get my mind off my day to day routine and my day job. But in order to make it a useful effort I decided that I would have to incorporate things in the side project that would allow me to improve as a designer and would help me to learn new stuff as I...

I have decided to compile a list of “Essentials” that I use and need in my day to day routine both as an architect and a designer. I will sort of do mini reviews on the items that I use but don’t take my word for granted as most of these are just based on personal preferences and everyone has their own favorite products.

Stationary

Notebook / Sketchbook

I almost never leave anywhere without my trusty companion, the Moleskine notebook. Although I don’t get as much time for sketching and drawing as I would like, it always comes in handy for jotting down ideas on the go or just make a note of stuff as you go through your daily routine. As for the brand of the notebook I really had no specific preference for a long while, as long as there was a piece of paper to scribble on I was happy. Until a good friend of mine got me a Moleskine notebook (sketching 13x21m) as...

I have been criticized on a number of occasions for rebranding my freelance design business too often. Since 2008 I have already cycled through 3 different brand identities. And I have already begun to work on a 4th redesign. I want to explain my reasoning behind this.

Keep in mind it’s a freelance gig

A lot of people keep forgetting this fact. The nature of a freelance business means there is very small brand loyalty especially when you are selling a service rather than a physical product. Out of all the clients that I have had over the years the number of those who return for my services is actually quite small.

Also you need to keep in mind that as I provide design services for clients my branding is not usually represented in any way on their designs, so my identity is mostly just for branding my own content, side projects or marketing materials.

Representing yourself as a...

A typical Friday night in a pub socializing with people tends to turn into a story-telling evening for me every time someone asks the “where are you from?” question. A lot of times I end up giving the impression of a self-centered ego-maniac since the next 20 minutes that follow the question are usually spent on retelling my whole life story. I have still to find a concise answer to this question.

A little bit of background info, don’t worry this won’t take twenty minutes. Let’s get one thing out of the way I am ‘ethnically’ Armenian. I was brought up in an Armenian family, my parents are both Armenian and so is my heritage. Here is the part where it gets complicated tho.

I was born in Beirut ( Lebanon ) and lived there through the early years of my childhood. My family then moved to Armenia where they settled permanently. After going through middle school I realized I wanted to...