Yillian Crespo

September 2nd, 1980, Caracas.

Graphic Designer 2003. Graduated from the School of Visual Communication – ProDiseño, a school that combines the visual and communicational cutting-edge research with the preservation and vivification of traditions, both positions that have given national and international recognition to Venezuelan design.

As a designer she has developed projects such as corporate manuals and identity guides, participating in the process of creating visual image for major local and international companies, such as Cantv, Movilnet, Shick, Puntacana Resort&Club (República Dominicana), Cementos Panamá, Efe, Alimentos Polar, Acrilflex, Fundación Crecemos, Empresas y Fundación Polar, Cafam (Colombia), Tiendas Gollo (Costa Rica), Centro Médico Docente La Trinidad, América Turística among others; minding to the smallest detail the client's image and representation.

Skilled in teamwork development, exchanging ideas and proposing creative options based on the work process. Also dominates the development and design of interactive presentations and portfolios.

As a personal project is the founder and head designer for NO2, clothing brand in development, which seeks to merge the objectivity of a rational concept with the subjectivity expressed through the forms, senses and self-identification.

Member of the team of designers that created and developed the graphic thesis project called "Folklorica" 5 years ago. "At that time we shared a common concern. It was based on creating new graphic expressions, with solid conceptual platforms, due to the fact that we found ourselves constantly absorbing external tendencies and foreign idiosyncrasy. This led us to dig into our history, culture and customs from a visual point of view, understanding the origin, which resulted in an infinite universe of graphical possibilities, loaded with colors, rhythms, shapes, fonts, modules, textures, among others. That led us to re-interpret and graphically classify everything that we perceive with the existing communicational design trends throughout our time. Discovering this wonderful and huge universe, gave us also the chance to organize our findings, along with the process that led us to it. Then with the help of Jaime Cruz, Claudia Blanco and Carlos Calderón we assigned names to each stage of the design process and settled specific goals for each one of these stages. Here we discovered that we had to switch from the sensitivity to the objectivity, from the artistic to the communicational, looking with greater ambitions to make a significant contribution to the visual communication. In the meantime we realized that the graphical deconstruction of the main analysis could operate independently, since in some cases, the whole could move away completely from its origin, depending on the context in which it was applied. Therefore we foresaw an opportunity for a graphic exchange with the rest of the world, using as a platform a website where to upload and download all this raw material, for its free usage in all the world. Thus, we would be rewarding the world for what it has offered to us, maintaining a constant exchange of graphic, plenty of history and culture, essential basis for an objective communication outcome. In this new phase of the project I am supporting in everything related to the process of development right after the prize achieved with the help of Sigal Cohen, who detected the potential of the projects "Folklorica" having the opportunity of exhibit it to the world. My function has been to guide the new participants to the pilot project, accompanying them in all stages of development."

Eka, Gus and Yill after the arduous process that lead them to obtain the tittle of "visual communicators", were wondering and dreaming for many years with the idea of take that thesis project that gave them so much personal, professional and patriotic satisfaction, to a higher level until its final and mature development.

They as a team always believed in the infinite possibilities of the project, but without a clear focus for the Venezuelan market. Time passed and each of them were following their own paths, professionally and personally growing and absorbing as much as they could from their daily experiences, but also feeling how their former concern as students grew stronger every day, even though the action was still ethereal.

Coincidentally after some time… in September 2007, I had a meeting in Los Angeles with Claudia Blanco, the design professor and key figure in the development of the "Folklorica" project. She asked me about our thesis, but I didn't know how to give her a straight answer. I recieved a preach from her for keeping an idea with such potential stored in a drawer!. It was there when I realized what we were giving up.

Back in Venezuela curiously "Gus" told me about the contest in which Sigal Cohen was participating in London with our thesis!

I personally think that, faced with this very unexpected and pleasing situation, I should keep as a personal lesson to never doubt of what we are capable to do!. We must show and express everything that as designers we perceive, think and design, no matter the context in where it will develop. Alone we do not have the tools to visualize the scale of the contributions that can make our ideas.

Therefore, I want to express my infinite gratitude to those believers and supporters of this work. Thanks to Gustavo Réquiz for his vision and credibility in "Folklorica" because with his convincing argument successfully captured the attention of Sigal Cohen, who with her ambitious and entrepreneur personality wanted to challenge the world and demonstrate the invaluable quality of our knowledge with exporting label.