About me
Multiple disciplines and the experience to lead them
Hi! My name is Miguel Villate and I solve problems through design. I work from Madrid in brand identity, motion graphics, editorial design, UX/UI and audiovisual production, and I build the workflows that make it possible to produce it all at an unprecedented pace. I’ve led teams and projects along the way, but I never stepped away from execution.
PDF in Spanish and English
How I define myself
Multidisciplinary designer with experience leading teams
I work across brand, motion, editorial and digital product, and that breadth is deliberate. Real briefs rarely fit into a single discipline: a campaign needs identity, motion pieces and a landing page that converts, and moving between all three lets me solve the whole problem instead of just one part.
That same breadth is what has allowed me to lead. I know what each piece takes because I’ve made it, and that changes how work is planned, how it’s reviewed and what you can ask of a team. For me, leading has never meant giving up design.
Where I come from
My career path
March 2024 (Present)
Qode Media Design Director
Leading the design department of a Toronto-based digital agency, remotely. Overseeing brand, motion, video and UX/UI projects for a broad client portfolio. Implementing AI production workflows.
August 2022 — March 2024
Qode Media Graphic and Audiovisual Designer
Visual identity design, graphic pieces and social media content. 2D animation, motion graphics, video editing and post-production. Illustration for digital products, interface design and adaptation of pieces to multiple formats and platforms.
October 2021 — August 2022
Digoo Agency Graphic and Audiovisual Designer
Graphic and audiovisual design for growing small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurial projects: visual identity, social media pieces, advertising material and video. Editing, animation and adaptation of content to different formats and digital platforms.
January 2021 — July 2023
University of Havana Editorial Design Professor
Teaching Editorial Design at the Higher Institute of Design: composition, typography, visual hierarchy and publication layout. Supervising final degree projects focused on editorial design.
November 2019 — December 2022
Mandatory social service as a graphic designer at the Foreign Press and Communication Department of Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Design of institutional communication materials and graphic and audiovisual content for digital media.
Where I studied
My education
September 2016 — November 2020
University of Havana Higher Institute of Design (ISDi)
Theoretical and project-based training in visual identity and campaigns, editorial design, audiovisual design, and design for digital media and interfaces. Grounding in typography, photography, semiotics, and art and design history. Standardization of the design process. Professional internships and real projects with organizations.
Tools I use
From idea to solution
Graphic Design
Illustrator · Photoshop · InDesign · Affinity · Canva · Adobe Express
Animation and Editing
After Effects · Premiere · Jitter · CapCut
Interface and User Experience
Figma · Spline · Framer · Adobe XD · Supernova.io
AI-Assisted Design
Higgsfield · Claude AI · Chat GPT · ElevenLabs · Figma Weave · Runway
How I work
Designing the process too
I’ve spent the last few years understanding what changes when AI enters the process. I’ve built production workflows that cut timelines to a fraction of the usual, documented so a team can run them without depending on me. But my conclusion is the one that opens this site: tools set the pace, decisions remain human. Speed is only worth it if what you gain is reinvested in judgment.
In practice, that means three things. I start with the problem, not the visual reference. I’d rather build a reusable system than solve the same piece twenty times. And when the process improves, I write it down and hand it over: an improvement that can’t be transferred isn’t an improvement, it’s a dependency.
Senior Designer | Branding · Motion · UX · AI Production
Let’s put ideas
into practice
Madrid, Spain | Remote work for Toronto, Canada