Meet Vicente Magana | Sr. Industrial designer & Co-founder of SVO

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

Hi Vicente, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind starting my own business was influenced by my ideology; I cannot depend on anyone other than myself, I must design . I’m fresh out of ArtCenter and design is my profession. I must design my future, to my vision. Let’s get to it.

I needed to reflect on all my past experiences, knowledge I’ve learned and design the most effective way to set-up-shop. I can’t afford rent for a studio and I can’t afford to hire anyone else. What do I have to offer and would benefit most from it?

Thanks to my internship at CarLab, We knew what and how to pitch Our idea to Motivo. My business partner and I gave ourselves a week to develop a pitch to show our ‘value add’ to this very well respected engineering firm.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We are an industrial design studio that can get your idea ready for the market fast! We have embedded ourselves within Motivo Engineering and have designed a workflow like no other. We take you from “I have an idea” to production VERY efficiently.

Getting to where we are today hasn’t been easy and it’s never really over. That’s the fun part. Having Motivo and SVO gel is a process we constantly refine and adapt to meet client’s goals. Our company culture is one of freedom to creatively solve problems and challenge the status quo. Everyone has a voice.

We’ve learned to create an environment that attracts the right people. We are all creative and collaborative people with a need solve problems to help others and lower the barriers of entry. We have created a company culture where everyone is invested in the success of the company because it affords us to create meaningful impacts for everyone to benefit.

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.
It’s LA, so we are lucky to have it all. We would maybe start day 1 in T.J. with some street tacos and drive up PCH to San Francisco and get some clam chowder on day 7 stopping at every, and any, place their heart desires. IF they’re a car person like most of us at the studio, there are a number of great driving roads, car meets and museums. So many, we will NOT have enough time to hit them all. Tough question, may have to ask them to stay a month or two.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Wow, this is a loaded question. My fiance is has been a huge support, very understanding and most importantly, very forgiving. There are a lot of pressures that come from starting a business and it can bring the very best out of you, but also the very worst. She’s an angel. My family has been extremely supportive, encouraging and really afforded me the opportunity to focus on my education while at ArtCenter. The text messages, calls, surprise visits, allowing me to fall asleep on the couch when I visited after finals and allowing me to borrow my uncle’s RV to live in while interning in San Jose all played a key role in my evolution as a person and designer. My mentors Eric Noble, Kevin Beard, Karen Hoffmann, Pascual Wawoe, Babette Strousse, Heidrun Mumper-Drumm, Praveen Penmetsa Allen Goad, Chris Dunham, Justin Almeleh and Omar Rehman
Justin D. Almeleh, have really afford me the space to become the designer I am today. My friends that stuck with me while I was away at ArtCenter and understanding I couldn’t hangout because I’m chopping away at my goal. The list goes on and on, everyone involved in my journey I’ve had the privilege to learn something from.

Website: https://svo-design.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/svo_x_motivo/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinceid/

Other: https://www.motivo.com/

Image Credits
Motivo Engineering