Meet Lia Aleman | Trans-disciplinary & Systemic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lia Aleman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lia, why did you pursue a creative career?
I have always been curious, and I think curiosity and creativity go hand and hand. I grew up always trying different things; I did sports, I read a lot of fiction, I loved doing scientific experiments, I liked writing, watching movies, drawing, painting, talking, sharing– I think there’s creativity in every career, but a creative career is one that allows you to be curious and explorative in different directions, instead of having to choose a single one.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I love being able to identify myself as a designer. To me, “design” encompasses a breadth of disciplines, art, science, business and so many more. Design is about storytelling, learning, collaborating, finding opportunities in problems, creating value… I could go on and on.

But one of the challenges of design is that it can be pretty ambiguous. It’s difficult to define, so it’s difficult to explain. You start a project and have no idea where it might go. People like certainty, and so design can be pretty daunting. One of the things that sets me apart is that I thrive in these undefined spaces, and that’s due to my background. In many ways, I am a child of two worlds; I have two nationalities, I’m bilingual, I’m mestiza (mixed), I’m a millennial, born at the turn of two centuries. I’m both part of and separate from a variety of labels. All of this, combined with my curiosity and my willingness to learn makes me pretty adaptable.

My favorite thing to do is finding the specific balance between the unique (singular, new, etcetera etcetera) and the established (historical, communal, so on and so forth). There is no panacea solution to anything. Everything and everyone is context specific, and so I try finding similarities between the unexpected, and then sharing them. I love that aha! moment, when a client or collaborator feels seen, feels like you got it. I like being that bridge between ideas. People like to connect, and design and art is how we connect. James Baldwin says it well;

“You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important. Art would not be important if life were not important, and life is important.”

You never know what it is that will resonate with someone else, which makes creating both terrifying and reassuring. And sometimes you design something, you make something, you get excited about it– and then it fails. Failing sucks, but there’s always something to be learned. It’s been said often that success isn’t a straight path, and I agree, I think success is a spiral, you come back to things again and again, and the next attempt is a little better, a little closer to what you want it to be. So if the world needs to know something about me, it’s that I’m willing to try.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Last week some of my best friends from high school actually did visit Atlanta, so this question is pretty fresh in my mind.

There’s a great café in Buckhead called Le Bon Nosh that is great for brunch (or lunch!). It’s cute, I’ve had good experience with the service, the café space is beautiful, which I can appreciate as a designer, and of course, the most important thing– the food is delicious. I’m vegetarian, and they have good options for all food restrictions as far as I can tell.

The Atlanta Botanical Gardens is a must, especially now that it’s Spring. There’s always a cool exhibition or event going on. If paying the admission fee is too much, Piedmont Park is right there and free! Piedmont Park also connects to the BeltLine, which is a great walk or bike for anyone who likes to be outside, which I obviously do.

I recently discovered The Works in the Upper Westside of Atlanta, so I recommend that for evening exploration. There’s a variety of food options and events– exhibitions, live music, markets… and if you do want to splurge a little and have fun with a group of friends, there’s Your Third Spot, which is a gamified bar experience that had us entertained with arcade games, darts, Uno, a person sized battleship, a slide, and more.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have been incredibly blessed and supported throughout my life, so this answer is always changing, as there’s never enough time or space to mention everyone who deserves credit; today I really want to shoutout my aunt, Gabriela Alemán, an incredible author, educator, and woman who has always made me feel as if my voice is worth listening to.

She has encouraged me to be ambitious and perseverant, advised me every time there was a big decision in my life I had to make, and also reminds me constantly that life is for living; for having fun and sharing love.

Website: www.liaalewi.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lia-aleman