From Architect to Digital Designer

The Beginning

There are two childhood memories I hold with absolute clarity: the first time I saw a floor plan, the one for the house I grew up in, and the day my father brought home our first computer.

When we are children, we sometimes experience moments we could never imagine will shape our lives forever. One day, out of the blue, my dad handed me a set of drawings and said, “Look, these are the plans for the house.” He probably did not realize it at the time, but my mind was blown as I understood that the place where I played, slept, and annoyed my sisters had first existed in someone’s imagination before becoming real. From that day on, I began to see spaces differently. I did not just live in them, I imagined them, questioned their design, and wondered why they had been created that way, with the naïve reasoning of a child with no formal training.

Not long after, came the other spark: our first family computer, a Compaq Presario 6000. I felt like the future had arrived and that I had a front row seat. I do not think any other piece of technology has ever given me that same feeling. Through that machine, I explored the world, first with Encarta, later with the internet, and spent endless hours playing The Sims, designing houses and watching the characters interact with my spaces.

Those two experiences planted the seeds for my adult passions: design and technology.

Naturally, I studied architecture, guided by a philosophy that design should serve utility and human well-being. I never believed in aesthetic whims or empty formal pretensions, even if they can be visually appealing. For me, effective design responds to real user needs and reflects genuine care and understanding.

My career in architecture was rewarding. I represented my university in Mexico’s most prestigious student architecture competition, the Alberto J. Pani, and won a contest to design and build my faculty’s new building, inaugurated in 2022 as the Building for Innovation in Design. This achievement led me to teach design for over two and a half years.

Still, I felt I could channel my creativity in other ways and with more geographic freedom. My dream of traveling while working pushed me to complete Google’s Professional UX/UI Certificate. This experience taught me to design with empathy and strategy, to go beyond aesthetics, and to embrace iterative methodologies such as design thinking.

Today, I have a hybrid skill set. I can design a house, a website, or an app. I am certain my childhood self would be thrilled about that.

Architecture was the best decision I ever made, as it strengthened both my creativity and my technical reasoning to bring ideas to life. I believe any architect considering a move into digital design is in an excellent position to do so. In this field, what matters most is not where or how you learned, but whether you can prove the quality of your work and the skills you bring, far beyond certificates.

Conclusion

The world is changing fast. Even architects fully dedicated to their craft must constantly reinvent themselves and adopt new technologies. Now is the perfect time to take bold risks, because today, the only certainty is that nothing is permanent.