Monica Serrano, 38, shares how working as a graphic designer and editor — in a world where science and technology are constantly changing — allows her to continue learning while challenging her art to be easily understandable to the general public.
By Devanie Andre, editor and designer / Published to Medium
Monica Serrano is the Senior Graphics Editor at National Geographic, where she spends most of her time collaborating with other artists and researchers. Serrano has a lot of experience in editorial design as she worked for many years as a graphics editor for Público after studying graphic design at the Visual Arts Institute in Jerez in Spain.
Q: What steps did you take to achieve your current position?
A: For as long as she can remember she wanted to study fine arts, however, her parents did not believe that art was not real work so she first began studying to become a civil engineer. Eventually, she changed her focus of study to design. She found an internship at a local paper which helped give her experience with design.
Q: How does National Geographic line up with your younger self’s dream job?
A: She said, “It lines up perfectly.” People first told her that pursuing art was a waste. What others did not realize at first is that her job is not only art but being able to communicate and understand new concepts. Serrano says, “[she] somehow found the perfect combination without knowing it.” Her job with National Geographic allows her to continue to learn and work with science which is a subject she finds fascinating and she gets to share what she learns creatively through art.
Q: If you were not an editor what would your dream job be?
A: Serrano is passionate about what she does not know, when asked about her dream job she said she would love to be an “explorer”. National Geographic has a program where the organization gives grants to individuals who want to explore any topic of their choice. This job is attractive to Serrano because she would get to constantly be in the field pursuing her true passions.
Q: Who/What inspired you to become an editor?
A: Serrano does not remember a specific individual who inspired her from a young age but she remembers admiring her grandpa’s art collection at his home in Morroco that was full of paintings. She said that no one else in her family was artistically inclined but from a young age she showed more of an interest in art. After she began studying art, graphic designer, Fernando Baptista became a person of inspiration for her. She first discovered his work when she saw one of his infographics inside a newspaper she got in Spain. Serrano now works with Baptista at National Geographic as he works as the Director of Graphics.
“I get to get information that is complicated and really study it to make it easier to understand… it is just informing more people of things that are not easily accessible.” — Monica Serrano, senior graphics editor
Q: What makes editing “worth it” and important?
A: Serrano talks about the highlights of her job that make it worth it, saying, “To me bringing science to more people, getting to read a lot of different scientific publications, and developing different areas of science and how knowledge grows.” She believes that helping share information through art is the most rewarding part of her job saying, “I get to get information that is complicated and really study it to make it easier to understand… it is just informing more people of things that are not easily accessible.”
Q: What does your day as an editor look like?
A: Serrano shares that her day is filled with meetings and individual work time. She has morning meetings where ideas are pitched and the calendar and deadlines for the week and year are reviewed. She works months in advance and will also schedule meetings to work with specific stories. Her day-to-day has a lot of communication with other artists and with scientists. From her side of things, she is giving a lot of comments and feedback to help create changes and mediate between artists and researchers. Serrano says that as an editor she still gets to create her designs throughout the year, but now she also gets to delegate more with other artists. She is not necessarily specialized in one area of graphic design so she can collaborate with other artists to ensure the correct designs are created for different stories. Over the years she has been very drawn to animations and a lot of the stories she is designing for National Geographic are animations for digital use.
“The media is changing a lot but visuals are still relevant in the way you are providing information easily and interestingly.” — Monica Serrano, senior graphics editor
Q: How do your values show up through your job?
A: Serrano says that to be a good editor you should have a range of adaptability, organization and the ability to follow deadlines. Being able to collaborate with others and exchange feedback is also important. Lastly, she says it is necessary to be curious as there is always something new to learn and changes to better comprehend, “The media is changing a lot but visuals are still relevant in the way you are providing information easily and interestingly. It works in print but now in other ways to consume media through different media.” As the world continues to evolve and technology advances design is still necessary and Serrano finds that it is important for someone in an editorial job to have the curiosity and drive to keep up and work with the ever-changing media.
Serrano is a forward-thinker who loves to learn and discover new ways of sharing information through design. From her choice to pursue an art career even after those around her tried to discourage her to the way she talks about her envy for those who get grants to be “explorers, ” National Geographic’s Monica Serrano shows her courage and ambition to work in an ever-changing world.