About Carlos Murguía
I’m a bridge between worlds that don’t usually talk to each other.

About Carlos Murguía
I’m a bridge between worlds that don’t usually talk to each other.

About Carlos Murguía
I’m a bridge between worlds that don’t usually talk to each other.

About Carlos Murguía
I’m a bridge between worlds that don’t usually talk to each other.

Hi, I’m Carlos. I was raised between cultures, and I’ve spent my career helping people who don’t usually talk to each other understand each other.

Hi, I’m Carlos. I was raised between cultures, and I’ve spent my career helping people who don’t usually talk to each other understand each other.

Carlos Murguía, creative director

Carlos Murguía, creative director

Between

I was raised in between. I still work there.

I was raised in between. I still work there.

Spanish

Spanish

Spanish

English

English

English

Spanish first, English second. So with Sage, we made Pigs Don’t Fly in five languages from day one.

Case: Pigs Don’t Fly

Institutions

Institutions

Institutions

People

People

People

I co-led the identity for the National Museum of the American Latino. It’s my community’s museum, so it’s personal.

Case: Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino

Data

Data

Data

Emotion

Emotion

Emotion

54 countries, three languages, one data mandate. My team and I boiled it down to three words: Data Saves Lives.

Case: #Roads4Life

Strategy

Strategy

Strategy

Craft

Craft

Craft

DC Jazz Festival gets a new look every year and still feels like itself. Jazz improvises. The brand does too.

Case: DC Jazz Festival

The practice

Design as translation

Design as translation

Design as translation means treating every project like a message that has to survive a change of language. I listen to the institution and to the people it needs to reach. I look for the one idea that makes sense on both sides. Then I build a system that keeps working after I leave the room.

Read Design Is Translation →

Design as translation means treating every project like a message that has to survive a change of language. I listen to the institution and to the people it needs to reach. I look for the one idea that makes sense on both sides. Then I build a system that keeps working after I leave the room.

Read Design Is Translation →

Brand identities

Identities that stay recognizable while they change.

National Museum of the American Latino

DC Jazz Festival

Brand identities

Identities that stay recognizable while they change.

National Museum of the American Latino

DC Jazz Festival

Public campaigns

Campaigns that meet people where they already are.

Pigs Don’t Fly

Public campaigns

Campaigns that meet people where they already are.

Pigs Don’t Fly

Stories people finish

Dense subjects turned into something a busy reader or viewer gets through.

Adobe Digital Government Index

Okta: Higher Ed Video

Stories people finish

Dense subjects turned into something a busy reader or viewer gets through.

Adobe Digital Government Index

Okta: Higher Ed Video

Websites and code

Sites organized around the people who use them. I build with code.

IronArch Technologies

Websites and code

Sites organized around the people who use them. I build with code.

IronArch Technologies

Experience

Where I’ve worked

Where I’ve worked

2022–now

2022–now

Creative Director, Sage Communications

2018–2022

2018–2022

Art Director, Sage Communications

2017–now

2017–now

COO & Partner, Creative Cycle

2017–2020

2017–2020

Director of Service Design, ASGRAP

I’ve also taught designers in Lima.

Recognition

Awards

Awards

Gold, Hermes Creative Awards ·

USDA FDPIR

2024

Platinum, MarCom Awards ·

Adobe Digital Government Index

2024

Platinum, Hermes Creative Awards ·

Pigs Don’t Fly

2023

Platinum, MarCom Awards ·

USDA FDPIR

2023

Platinum, MarCom Awards ·

Pigs Don’t Fly

2022

Beliefs

What I believe

What I believe

01

Design is translation.

01

Design is translation.

02

The best work happens between disciplines.

02

The best work happens between disciplines.

03

Attention is earned in 1.5 seconds. Design for those seconds.

03

Attention is earned in 1.5 seconds. Design for those seconds.

04

Teams need sharper direction more than new tools.

04

Teams need sharper direction more than new tools.

05

Work should hold up where it lives, not only where it’s presented.

05

Work should hold up where it lives, not only where it’s presented.

The long version of these ideas is a free book, The Scrolling Economy.

Get my free book →