Hola. My name is Juanma Teixidó and I’m a graphic/web designer from Paraguay. Ten Thousand Things is my first attempt to keep a journal and share my universe, one thing at a time. It’s also a showcase of projects I’ve done over the last 11 years of my career.
First, let me tell you something about me.
I don’t know english. I mean I know someglish but it’s definitively not english. Don’t get me wrong, it’s enough to get me a Frappuccino Grande No Whipped Cream at Starbucks, but don’t expect me to write the next Pulitzer. Actually it’s yet to be seen if it will be enough to maintain a blog.
Yes, that is right. I have never studied english in my life, and the little someglish I speak, I learned through close captioned HBO movies. The reason I’m telling you this is because more likely than not, I already made a few grammar mistakes so far, and if that’s not the case, I’m pretty sure I will in just a few keystrokes, so please, be kind and excuse my french english in advance. Allrighty then.
It all starts in 1995 when I began my career working on Motion Graphics doing stills and idents for a TV Show, although to be fair, there wasn’t a lot of motion going on (or graphics for that matter) inside that old Commodore Amiga 1200. So, eventually I got bored and my brother got me a got a job as a Magazine and Newspaper Designer at the newspaper where he used to (and still) work. To be able to learn all the principles of Graphic Design (the old school way) and to do it so inside such a dynamic environment like a newspaper, really payed off in the following years of my career.
By 1997, I got bored again. Luckily (for me) the only ISP in Paraguay at that time, parted ways with their Web Designer, so I got the offer and before I could even think about it, I was their new Web Designer.
Things were pretty different back then. We had no books, there were no wikis or forums. The little info you could find was from the Microsoft Front Page manual or maybe if you were lucky enough, an O’Reilly book. Both the developers and users struggled for a long time trying to understand what was good, what was bad, what was fast, and what was not. As for web design scene, as long as it blinked and had as many animated gifs as possible, you would get standing ovations from your clients and users.
In 1998 I found out about a Digital Arts Center in Ojai, CA where this super friendly and funny lady (who turned out to be no other than Lynda Weinmann) was giving Web Design Intensive courses. Woohooo! Finally some answers! And so I went to California. Twice. Apparently I got enough questions for a whole second trip in March of 1999.
Anyway, in 2001 I decided I wanted to give freelancing a shot and thanks to that, I got the chance to work for some very important clients, including the United Nations (Populations Funds Office). I was so excited to be able to help companies on their projects that I decided to make it official and start my own company.
In late 2003, together with Martin Acuña (a very good friend of mine and a great developer) we founded NOS.
This days, when I’m not working on some project with the team, I’m spending time with my wife at home chillin’ with our 3 cats and 2 dogs.
I really appreciate your visit time, and if there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.
