Leandro Assis
Published 26th October 2021
INTRODUCTION
I'm a brazilian artist, art director and letterer based in Rio de Janeiro. I began my career in 2008 and since then I have worked across different realms of design such as branding, editorial, digital and advertising. In all of them my focus has always been around typography.
Today, I’m known for super bold letterings, colorful palettes and playful illustrations, drawing the attention for global brands like Nike, Apple, Disney, Netflix and Twitter. Above all, I’m interested in opportunities where I can use design as a tool to talk about things I care about, such as black culture, gender topics and LGBTQ+ rights.
What’s your favourite pair of sneakers that you own and why do you love them so much?
My favorite is Tyler The Creator's Golf Wang with Vans Old Skool Pro S in Green and Pink sole. It's so beautiful. I think it was the first sneaker I really obsessed over. When it launched I had no money and after 4 years I managed to buy it. Tyler is a big inspiration for me for being a black dude wearing different color combinations and flower patterns back when this was a big deal. And in this collaboration, it was really amazing to be able to see more sneakers with different colorways for people with big feet. The options were always very dark and monotonous and I think he broke that pattern.
Lebassis x Nike remix pack
In the UK, pursuing a creative career isn’t often encouraged throughout education. Did you face similar challenges growing up in Rio de Janeiro? Or did you have people in your corner supporting you?
Yes, definitely. Here in Brazil we face many problems such as a lack of encouragement to education in general. Education is not and has never been a priority. Social inequality makes the population not even see a creative career as a possibility. This has improved but far from ideal, as most people do not have the opportunity to choose a profession, let alone choose a creative profession.
I was lucky to grow up in a family that was successful with an idea and transformed everyone's lives. They were always very creative and went from a problem to a successful business that allowed the family to have more money to be able to access education and instruction. That's what made me open my eyes to this more artistic side of me, having access to references that I would never have if not for that and being able to do what I like today.
© Lebassis - YouTube Black History Month Yoodle
You’ve worked across so many corners of the industry, from the ad world to running your own practice. What has this taught you about your approach to design?
My dream was to have my own business, because that's what changed my family's life. But I learned that there are many ways to have your own thing.
I don't think I ever imagined exposing myself in this way as I do today acting as a freelancer and using the excuse of being behind a company a little to hide myself. Although Brazil has more than 50% of the population of black people, it is not this reality that we see in decision-making and that prevented me from seeing a space there for myself.
“My dream was to have my own business, because that’s what changed my family’s life.”
I think experimenting with different categories within design made me realize how much my roots made me special and I think I built my self esteem from those opportunities. Learning from different people and being able to contribute the things I liked in different settings. Today I use a little of each experience to do what I do, the styles I do in my letterings, the colors, everything ends up being a reflection of those past experiences.
© Lebassis - Netflix TUDUM
What do you love most about your craft?
I really enjoy being able to do very different things all the time. At one point I'm doing a project focused on music. The next week it's something more for the fashion world. I enjoy working in different branches of the industry, I end up learning a lot about how to get the message across and for different people. That makes it not so boring. After all, work is work. There are deadlines, briefings and I try not to romanticize too much, because not every project is perfect. Naturally if you do what you like, you care about it. It takes time but I love the process.
“I really enjoy being able to do very different things all the time. At one point I’m doing a project focused on music. The next week it’s something more for the fashion world.”
© Lebassis - Hellow Festival
For those interested in doing so, how can design be used as a tool to talk about topics such as black culture, gender and LGBTQIA+ rights?
I believe that design is something that is very present in everything nowadays. In any project or action that impacts people. Whether it's thought out or not. But using design to communicate reflective messages, whether positive or not, to the community you belong to is very personal. I don't think every LGBTQIA+ person needs to do community-oriented projects, for example. But for me, it was the way I found to express myself. I never fit in with the design community, it wasn't people like me that I saw occupying the spaces. But working with lettering can be very inspiring, what I did was talk about my stories and the things I believe using the things I learned in a Design process. There is a lot of research to communicate and make the visual choices to reach the message and make people feel and think about that.
“I don’t think every LGBTQIA+ person needs to do community-oriented projects, for example. But for me, it was the way I found to express myself.”
© Lebassis - Chobani Black History Month
You’re represented by the wonderful Jelly London. How did this relationship come about and how has having an agent helped your career?
Like everything these days, it was through Instagram. In the middle of 2020, Jelly's Head of Illustration (and amazing human being) Nicki Field called me for a conversation because she liked my projects and thought it had everything to do with the clients that were arriving at the company. I loved it because I'm a big fan of the artists they represent so we had a chat and it was great! But there was no official representation proposal until this year.
I think this time was good for me to better understand what I wanted as I was working as a freelancer for just two years. I took some time to talk about that with other friends to know about their experiences with representation. It's a concept I wasn't very familiar with because it's not very common here in Brazil. But this year it worked. My main reason for joining an agency is to have more time to do the things I like: drawing letters. 40% of the time I had was to do meetings, reply to emails and understand the briefs and I think this has reduced a lot since I started to be represented by them. In addition to expanding my horizons and reaching more international opportunities. It's great having an exchange about the future with someone, it makes you think better and make decisions more clearly.
“My main reason for joining an agency is to have more time to do the things I like”
© Lebassis - Facebook Culture Shift
What advice would you give up and coming creatives who spend too much time thinking about how to fit in rather than embracing standing out?
What helped me was looking for other types of answers to the same problems. I knew that my difficulties within design were not mine alone. There were others, but they weren't the ones that were super featured and therefore the easiest to find.
In my case, the more I looked for other black and/or brazilian designers, I saw that there were other ways to do the same thing. And I was inspired to do the same. Talking about my reality was what made me enjoy doing design. That's when I understood my way of doing this, because with that I stopped trying to be something I'm not. What was presented to me as good design in college was a more euro-centric design. And I had difficulty with that because it wasn't my interest, I didn't identify myself with that. It was only when I started looking around me, at my culture and how people used to communicate that I started to use this as a reference and everything made more sense.
© Lebassis - RuPaul’s Drag Race
What’s next on your bucket list of projects having ticked off RuPaul’s Drag Race?
There is so much. I think for me it's pretty amazing when I get to work with people I admire and use what I know in this collaboration. They are the best projects. One thing that came to my mind with this question and that really speaks to me as a growing up was MTV. Doing something with them like helping with a VMA identity would be AWESOME!!!
Recommended reading
CAPS LOCK by Ruben Peter
Recommended listening
The 1989 Batman Soundtrack by Prince. "Partyman" is everything.
Recommended follow
Recent interviews
