Hello Luddo! Please can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.Hey there! I'm a designer and illustrator based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. My work captures the contemporary world of fashion and products, combining playful abstractions and relaxed characters with funky colour compositions. I am always looking for new ways that I can play around with colour. I define myself as a lover of interior design, fashion, and new product trends. I love bringing these passions into my characters and environments, and creating a world that I can personally relate to.

How did you begin your career in illustration?I have loved illustration since I was a kid, but I started being serious about it as a career about six years ago. I have a degree in Industrial Design, and once I finished my degree I found it hard to find a job in that field, so in the meantime I started illustrating, mainly to channel anxiety. For my first job, I started as a junior art director in the packaging field, which definitely changed my perspective on the path I wanted to go down. I started illustrating digitally in my spare time, and became more aware of the business of being creative. Nowadays, I work as a full-time freelance illustrator, and I love it!

What have been some of your favourite projects to work on?I'm a bit of a lover of everything. I love working on surface designs because it's amazing to see the illustrations materialised. I'm really looking forward to doing some textile projects in the future. Also, I think that passion projects make you explore your style and grow a lot, so I enjoyed creating my last project called ‘Fancy Fruits’ in which I played with the amazing world of fruits, giving them the power of being fancy jewels from nature.

Where do you find your inspiration?My eyes never stop! I'm always looking at fashion editorials—I love looking at cool outfits, colours and poses. I also really enjoy the world of interior design and the latest trends. Plus, I love looking at old inspo. As a 90s kid, that decade is everything to me and it’s really fun adding it into my work.

You have a very distinctive style, which we of course love. Is this something you have consciously defined over time, or does it come naturally?I think the style is something that comes naturally to me—I just illustrate the things I love or the latest things I'm obsessed with. My style reflects who I am and my creative universe. I'm always seeking to try out new things and grow my style in relation to the things I'm into in the moment, so it will develop with time.

A lot of your work features people, and women in particular. A big part of defining our new illustration guidelines has been around representing real people. Please can you tell us about the people in your work, and who they are?I love illustrating people, and showing the essence of different worlds. Since I started illustrating, I began creating female characters in particular because I think that we are in a new era, and women are my main muses. My characters in general are confident, playful and fashionable people. I love working with different ethnicities; I think that diversity makes the world more interesting and I love to show that in my work.

You have been instrumental in creating the new look and feel for Badoo through some key illustrations in our product. Please can you explain the creative process behind these?I had a lot of fun creating the new illustrations for Badoo. My creative process started with general brainstorming and analysing the different meanings that we needed to express. I sketched all the ideas that came to my mind and this resulted in new, interesting ways to approach simple concepts.

Did you ever envision your work being used on a dating app?I love this question! I never thought of it, but I've always been a true supporter and dating app person, so it was like “client at first sight!” haha. I'm the one that tries to make all my friends join the app, because I think it is an amazing way to get to know people while being in PJs, and watching Netflix with an ice cream in hand. Dating doesn’t get cosier than that.

What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring illustrators and designers?I would say to move forward; create a lot and keep moving. With effort everything will find its way, and with practice, you will get better at what you want to show to the world. You don't have to have the job—you can create it, so show what you've got!

Do you have any other hidden talents outside of illustration that we should know about?As I studied Industrial Design, I'm definitely a lover of products, so it would be really exciting to channel my art into a chair, or just any everyday product. That would be wonderful.

Badoo has offices all over the world. If we were to open one in Buenos Aires, where you are based, what recommendations would you give us for things to do and see there?I would recommend exploring a lot of the young gastronomy spots that Buenos Aires has to offer, as well as really nice specialty coffees. I would add to definitely watch a music gig, to really feel the passion of Argentinians.

Finally Luddo, if you were to have a profile on Badoo, what would you put as your bio?Burger lover and Dachshund mother. Also, I do drawings.