Globally renowned graphic designer Rejane Dal Bello has had a career of over twenty years in the design industry. She’s worked at some of the world’s most prestigious design agencies, including Ana Couto Branding and Design (the biggest branding company in Brazil), Studio Dumbar in Holland and Wolff Olins in London.
Rejane first discovered her love for art and design when she visited the US as an exchange student at the age of fifteen. After returning home to Brazil, a friend encouraged her to pursue this new-found joy. She went on to complete various design courses, including studying with Milton Glaser at the prestigious School of Visual Arts in New York and doing a Social Design Masters course in Holland. It was during her Master’s course that she applied to work at Studio Dumbar where she spent the next eight years happily refining her craft.
Rejane always enjoyed the experience of learning from her colleagues’ specialist skills; in 2014 she decided to build on her wealth of experience and started her own studio. Describing herself as an ‘entirely hands-on designer’, this move has enabled her to continue designing in the way she’s comfortable with, instead of moving through the hierarchical structures of design studios, where she ended up spending more time managing people than designing alongside them.
Studio Rejane Dal Bello (SRDB) are particularly interested in how design can address society’s diverse needs and the possibilities of design as a visual language, ‘to make something visible, worthy of time, attention and engagement’. This aligns closely with Rejane’s personal belief system and interests – whilst studying at art school she worked as a social worker. The contrasts between this kind of work and her creative work encouraged her to question the role of design in society right from the beginning of her career and this way of thinking still feeds into her studio practice.
Throughout most of her career Rejane has also lectured alongside her work as a designer. She found that the time-limit of lectures prevented her from delving into subjects in depth. The experience of writing her book, Citizen First Designer Second, has enabled her to do just that. Whilst she wrote the first draft of the book in just seven days, it is based on fifteen years of accumulated knowledge, learning and experience. The book reflects on the parallels between being a designer and being a citizen. Rejane draws on her own experiences as a designer to discuss a range of topics, including beauty, branding, the meaning of an image, what is our value as a designer, and what is our role in society.
We talked to Rejane to find out more about her career path, founding SRDB, why she’s particularly passionate about connecting with society through good design and her experience of writing her first book.
Can you tell us about the beginning of your career, where you studied and how you started out in the design industry?
I am originally from Brazil and ended up in a creative field by accident. My family are doctors, and they wanted me to be a dentist. The only exposure to graphic design I had growing up was Gray’s Anatomy. I loved to draw from the body parts because it included amazing drawings and illustrations.
At 15, I went to the US as an exchange student in Lynchburg, VA. One of my favourite classes was art and after practising every day I found my drawing skills improved massively; it was joyful. At the end of the year, my painting was awarded ‘best in show’. This event was a turning point in my life and gave me the confidence boost to pursue a creative life.
Returning to Brazil, a friend asked to see the drawings that I made while in the US. Impressed, she told me I should become a graphic designer. I did a short course, run by graphic designers, and worked up a full visual identity for a Mexican restaurant. Then I enrolled at an art college in Brazil and worked in tandem with this, which allowed me to build knowledge through practice.
After I graduated, I went to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York with Milton Glaser. By the end of the course, I had a job offer to work for HBO but decided to return to Brazil –I returned one month before the Twin Towers were hit in September 2001. In Rio de Janeiro, I worked at the biggest branding company in Brazil ‘Ana Couto Branding and Design’. Four years later I’d managed to save up enough to enrol on a Master’s course in social design in Holland. While doing my Master’s degree I applied to work at Studio Dumbar and ended up staying there for eight years. During this time, I also began returning to my former university, as a teacher on the MA and BA courses.
Around 2012 I had a work offer from Wolff Olins in London and moved there for a few years. It was in 2014, that I decided to start my own studio.
Currently, I work for a range of different market sectors, from non-profits to big insurance companies to art organisations and architects. I’m interested in the diversity of society’s needs and what design can do to help. I specialise in distilling complex ideas into a unique simple idea which can be translated to any market, the difference is making sure the company’s purpose is a good fit. It can be challenging, keeping up with the constant changes of the modern world and keeping your practice relevant and up to date.
During your career you’ve worked at top agencies, including Studio Dumbar. What are the key things you learnt during your time there?
You learn so much because you work with so many different people. It is wonderful and where you make your closest friends. I appreciate so much having spent so many years working for studios and learning from my colleagues and their specialisms. It is great to share work, get input from each other to achieve better results and see each other grow as designers until someday we move on to new challenges.
What led you to found your own studio Rejane Dal Bello?
To be honest, I never thought I would be setting up a studio. It was never a dream of mine. After twenty years of being a graphic designer and working in the industry, I knew one thing by then: I am a good employee. I worked well within a studio structure with colleagues. I loved my job, worked hard and took the responsibilities of each project.
I was lucky until then to have worked in studios that let me be the type of designer I wanted to be — never having a visual style to follow or a boss or a creative director that dictated my work. In that way, I could shape my work from what I understood and could offer as a designer.
The last studio I worked for, before starting my studio, had a different work culture where I felt I was less independent because there was a strong hierarchical structure. I was hired into quite a senior role and so was expected to ‘direct people.’ But I am an entirely hands-on designer, and the thought of only directing others is not something that appeals to me.
I soon realised I would need to quit this job, but I had no specific plan or money saved. I stayed one more year to figure it out. I thought of all scenarios of what to do next, but since I was 35 at that point, I thought if I am ever to have my own studio, it has to be now.
“I was lucky until then to have worked in studios that let me be the type of designer I wanted to be — never having a visual style to follow or a boss or a creative director that dictated my work.”
Why did you decide to write your first book Citizen First Designer Second and where did the title come from?
The book wrote itself I would say.
I have been giving lectures about design and teaching design since I was 28 years old. I am now 42 and during this period I have been asked to give lectures or share my thoughts or teach about various aspects of my design career.
Once I was chatting passionately about design topics with a friend of mine who said ‘why don’t you write these things down?’ I mentioned to her that I give lectures on some of these topics but when I went to my archives where I keep all my lecture scripts, I found to my surprise that I had around 25 topics. This prompted me to develop my thoughts in-depth. In lectures the topics can only be talked about briefly; this was a chance for me to lay out the thinking behind the exposition and say something of its context.
All the thoughts for the book were developed over the last sixteen years, I just needed to bring them together and put them into paper form. So that is how the book wrote itself in the background without my knowledge; it became a concrete thing in October last year.
“All the thoughts for the book were developed over the last sixteen years, I just needed to bring them together and put them into paper form.”
What was the process of writing a book like? Were there any challenges you had to overcome?
I started the book in October 2019 and finished it one week later. On these seven days, I woke up at 5am every day in a state of hyper excitement and worked until 10am on the book. From 10am until 7pm I worked for my studio. I I then resumed work on the book till 2am for seven days. In one week, I laid out all 25 chapters. I know that sounds absurd… which it is. But the real truthful answer to this question is that I started to write this book fifteen years ago, but did not know I was writing it.
I wrote in English so there was no need for translation – just a revision made by Jayshree Viswanathan, which made a massive difference since I’m not a good writer being particularly dyslexic.
I write about topics that illuminate the parallel between being a designer and being a citizen, for a person who chooses a creative life. I draw on my own experience to illustrate bigger subjects. The topics vary from big questions to small thoughts, and range across beauty, the creative process, the meaning of an image, what is our value as a designer and what is our role in the society and if we have any role to play in it.
“I write about topics that illuminate the parallel between being a designer and being a citizen, for a person who chooses a creative life.”
In your book you talk about how design lets you connect with society and that’s why it means so much to you. When did you first realise this?
When I was seventeen years old, I did social work alongside going to art school. It was clear to me that on the one hand while doing the social work you see the difficult reality of poverty, in art school, on the other hand, the reality is totally about hope and creation. I saw a big contrast there and questioned myself about what design can contribute to solving social problems. Is there a role for design to play here?
The role design can play in raising awareness for good causes is an important part of your practice. Do you have a standout project of this type that you’ve worked on and why is it important to you?
I have a few. But maybe the longest project I work on is for a non-profit hospital for children in Peru. I have grown with this project. I was asked to help on it when I met Marjan van Mourik, the founder of the hospital, who is one of the most amazing people I ever known. She has become a dear friend and I still do work for her here and there. During the pandemic we have worked together to raise awareness of what Covid is, that it’s not just a flu. We’ve created some masks and reports for her, since she helped a lot of families by giving food to the poorest communities. It’s a shame that there isn’t money enough so that I could sustain my practise working for such causes all the time. That is the sad part. The studio cannot support itself with only projects for good causes.
