Name: Ariel Garaza Diaz
Occupation: Pre-Press technician and teacher
Employer: Continental Printing Company
Location: Montevideo, Uruguay
Hobbies: Reading. Writing. Walking. Chess.
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Name: Ariel Garaza Diaz |
I was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on August 24th, 1965. I have an 11-year old daughter who actually learned to use CorelDRAW when she was only five years old!
I started with graphic design at age 15. Of course, at that time it was all hand drawings. I studied Advertising, Media and Journalism, and from there I started to use the computer in my daily work. When I discovered CorelDRAW in 1989, I changed my way of working and my task performance increased.
After teaching at various institutes, in 1995 I founded my own school where I taught the first Official Course of Graphic Design for the Printers' Association of Uruguay. In 2005 I went to Madrid, Spain, where I worked for six years, then returned to my country.
How long have you been in this profession?
Since 1980, starting with hand-made drawings.
Why did you choose this profession?
Because I want to share good things with other people.
How did you get started?
With a secondary school newspaper. Later, I worked as designer at an advertising agency.
What are your most important accomplishments?
There are many. To have developed the first official course on graphic design for the Printers' Association of Uruguay. To have trained teachers to do graphic design. To have my drawings featured on the CorelDRAW X4 box. To be the creator of one of the images selected for the CorelDRAW X5 box.
Describe a special moment in your career.
The return to my country after six years in Europe, and to be selected as a BetaTester for CorelDRAW.
How long have you used CorelDRAW?
Since 1989.
How did you come across CorelDRAW?
My teacher travelled to America and brought back a new vector design program. Immediately, I was sure that it was what I had been looking for.
Do you have any interesting/funny/noteworthy stories?
Many! A user once asked me if Illustrator had a calendar, I said that I could do it in a minute. He laughed, saying that no one makes a calendar in one minute. Then I ran the CalendarWizard macro and did it in 30 seconds. Another time, a user of Illustrator sought to measure the edge of a drawing. I opened the file AI and measured the length using a macro in a second. Another time, a Mac user said, "How could it be possible that I've spent over $15,000 dollars on Macintosh computers and cannot make a simple barcode, and you can do it without any problems on a much more simple computer!?"
What are your top three favorite CorelDRAW features?
Mesh Fill. PowerClip. Bitmap manipulation.
What are the CorelDRAW features that allow you to distinguish your designs/art?
I do realistic and colorful drawings. My advantage is that the work I do comes printed exactly as it should be. That is, it's exactly as the customer needs and exactly as I did it. No other program gives me this accuracy and security in the result.
How do you feel about CorelDRAW?
For me, the program has better node handling and is more complete for all kind of jobs (magazines, brochures, illustration, books, web, etc.), so I do all my jobs every day with CorelDRAW suite. I choose CorelDRAW because it's the best software for design, and brings me the security of having the exact result on every job.
