I'm Omar Careaga, a London-based multidisciplinary designer and founder of Arden Studio, a design practice specialising in branding, typography and digital experiences.

Growing up, I was surrounded by wood types, the smell of ink and the sound of printing machines. My grandad founded a printing company in the 60's, Gráficas Careaga, where I used to work during the summer breaks. It's invaluable when you can learn all the printing caveats, tips and tricks early on in your career.

Printmaking has not just influenced but nurtured my design vision. I love bringing my digital work to life through screenprint and risograph. Experimenting with physical materials and witnessing how a design can turn into a tangible form is a thrill like no other. The unexpected results that often emerge from this process demonstrate the endless possibilities of design, and they continue to inspire me in both personal and commercial projects.

I've worked professionally in the design industry for almost 20 years, from startups to design agencies to big corporations. Now, as the founder and creative director of Arden Studio, I work alongside brands and individuals on innovative projects, from branding to product and graphic design, challenging the conventional and shaping memorable experiences.

Apart from client work, I'm always creating and collaborating on projects where you feel more freedom creatively, allowing you to experiment with different mediums, such as printing, type design, creative workshops and photography.

Why did you choose to screen print on Munken Design paper for the Festival of Print posters?

Munken Design has always been one of my favourite papers. It feels so natural and honest that everything looks better on it. For the Festival of Print, I wanted a sense of simplicity that could emulate an everyday print, so I chose a 150gsm weight. It's on the thinner side for a screen-printed edition, but the goal was to make it more approachable.

With Munken papers, you get that warm feeling, like listening to your favourite song on vinyl. The combination of the design and the paper creates that final piece you like to have on your hands, to touch and feel, and Munken paper is excellent.

What are your top tips for designing a stand out visual identity?

Simplicity is crucial. It involves creating a harmonious balance between typography, spacing, and colour. It's about ensuring that each element complements the others to create a cohesive, visually appealing design.

Once you've got those key elements somehow working, I'd start designing a poster; even if the visual identity doesn't need one, the format itself is so familiar and rooted in our subconscious that it's easier to imagine how you would like it to look, what colour combinations work best, testing the contrast between type sizes, the grid, that it helps to develop the identity further. By iterating, experimenting and refining the design, you can identify specific patterns and layouts that could quickly evolve into a flexible visual system, creating a more dynamic identity.

Why did you choose to screen print on Munken Design paper for the Festival of Print posters?

Munken Design has always been one of my favourite papers. It feels so natural and honest that everything looks better on it. For the Festival of Print, I wanted a sense of simplicity that could emulate an everyday print, so I chose a 150gsm weight. It's on the thinner side for a screen-printed edition, but the goal was to make it more approachable.

With Munken papers, you get that warm feeling, like listening to your favourite song on vinyl. The combination of the design and the paper creates that final piece you like to have on your hands, to touch and feel, and Munken paper is excellent.

What are your top tips for designing a stand out visual identity?

Simplicity is crucial. It involves creating a harmonious balance between typography, spacing, and colour. It's about ensuring that each element complements the others to create a cohesive, visually appealing design.

Once you've got those key elements somehow working, I'd start designing a poster; even if the visual identity doesn't need one, the format itself is so familiar and rooted in our subconscious that it's easier to imagine how you would like it to look, what colour combinations work best, testing the contrast between type sizes, the grid, that it helps to develop the identity further. By iterating, experimenting and refining the design, you can identify specific patterns and layouts that could quickly evolve into a flexible visual system, creating a more dynamic identity.

How do you go about selecting a colour palette?

Everything you see in real life has many colours, and our perception of them changes depending on how the lighting affects every detail. All those shades give you different reactions and feelings about what you see.

For the Festival of Print project, I always knew it needed to be vibrant and colourful, so I took inspiration from coloured paper, local stationery shops, paper catalogues, and the Colorplan swatch library. I tried different colour combinations that, in a way, are already there. Then, it was all about testing which pairings worked best and narrowing it down to a lively and recognisable set of colours.

If you're aiming for a more muted palette, instead of selecting just one colour, why not use three, four, or more colours? Similarly, if you observe nature, you'll notice that rocks, textures, lichens, and leaves exhibit many beautiful tones. Why not apply these natural colours to your design?

What do you love about paper as a medium?

The tactility of it. Paper is the instrument that materialises the visual identity into something palpable. It can give warmth and personality and reinforce the design. You can tell when a brand or designer has considered selecting the paper, the purpose, and the values they want to communicate with it.

I love the sensation you get when you see a leaflet or flyer and want to grab it and touch it to see what it feels like—the texture, the rigidness, the sound of it. You want to know, oh, this has a delicate surface. 

I also appreciate its versatility. You can transform paper through printing techniques, folds, cuts, and finishes, allowing for a depth and richness in the design you can't replicate in the digital form.

If you are stuck in a creative rut, what do you do to feel inspired again?

One exercise I tend to do to speed things up is a type of brainstorming exercise called Crazy 8's, which comes from product design development processes. It consists of folding an A3 piece of paper in half three times to get eight equal sections. Then, you put a timer for 1 minute for each section, quickly sketching different ideas. Some are more obvious, and some you'd think are bad, but those are probably the most interesting ones, and in only 8 minutes, you will get eight different ideas you can develop further.

I'd also go for a walk, jump briefly to a personal project, restrict yourself with a tight set of rules, test different fonts that give you new ways of seeing the design, change the colour palette completely, write random thoughts on the phone, draw related ideas with other markers or brushes on a new notebook or paper, change your environment, organise the desk. It's all about altering how you usually do things to get unexpected results.

What are three items in your studio that you can't live without?

I always listen to music while working, so a good pair of speakers or headphones is vital. We love playing vinyl records in the studio. It requires you to step from the chair every 20-30 minutes to change sides, which is a good habit, although we usually stream from the computer.

The second is my mobile phone. I use it for everything: taking pictures, writing notes, recording sounds and drawing graphics. It helps me a lot in my day-to-day work.

Lastly, my Filofax personal organiser paired up with a Papermate flair pen or a Pentel brush pen. I love the paper format for sketching or making paper collages, and I also like the browsing experience of going through its pages.