My name is Vanda Sofia Soares Ferreira, I am a human-centred, life-focused, graphic designer, artist and activist. A Portugal-born human based in the UK, I have worked with books, prints, photographs, and online campaigns in a multitude of techniques that allow me to blend in with different teams and practice different roles.

My lived experience as a migrant has and will always influence my design work as I feel that is an important part of myself, and having been able to create meaningful and educational projects until now has given me the skills to approach every brief with a bigger purpose.

I am in many ways a dreamer - not in the sense of being unpractical or idealistic - but in the sense that I know that we can create a more fair and welcoming world for all communities and that design is a very strong and powerful tool for that.

The work that I have done in my zines, books, cards and even a shirt or two, explore the relation between the historical events in the migrant community’s rights in today’s society, and the contemporary educational products and services that can be created to help formulating a more welcoming and better life for said community. I have produced graphic campaigns and designed products for organisations, such as Migrants Organise with that same objective. I understand the relation between creating concrete pieces of work for educational and retail purposes that tick both boxes.

My work is inspired by design studios like the Swedish one Essen International, that created an open typeface - meaning that it can be used freely by everyone - which autocorrects the word refugee to human. This makes functional design a tool to elevate all voices of their audience.

Analog twists on digital techniques are very common and a key element of my work, making my practice a multidisciplinary one. I like to respond to my briefs in a very ‘hands-on’ approach. I am very flexible in creating a design that responds to the needs and context of my audience/users, using my own beliefs as a guide to tackle every brief in a unique way.