Talking with Roderick Taracatac,
Straz Center graphic designer
As part of the Straz Center’s 30-year anniversary season, we also are celebrating the people behind
the scenes at The Straz. In this issue, we’re introducing you to the poster boy for the saying “still
waters run deep.” Quiet but outrageously interesting, Roderick Taracatac serves as one of our
supremely talented graphic designers whose work graces many spaces in The Straz, including the
latest issue of INSIDE magazine – Roderick designed the whole thing. We’d say you can talk more
about his interests next time you see him – but you won’t see him and even if you do, good luck
getting him to talk.
Q. How did you get started at the Straz Center?
A. I started as an intern. When my internship ended, I freelanced until I was off ered a full-time position.
Q. What’s always in your refrigerator?
A. Hot sauce, veggie burgers and black,
cold-brewed coff ee
Q. What is your worst quality?
A. I tend to be a detailed-oriented perfectionist. I can
create something, love it, then hate it 10 seconds
later. It’s all part of the process.
Q. What music is on your playlist?
A. I listen to a pretty eclectic mix of music. Some staples
are David Bowie, Portishead, MF Doom and
Frank Ocean. 100 points if you know the band shirt
in the pic.
Q. Read any good books lately?
A. Tom Robbins’ Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas
Q. Cat person or dog person?
A. Team dog all day. Fun fact: I am actually mildly
allergic to cats, even though I have three.
Q. What’s your “guilty pleasure” television show?
A. BoJack Horseman, he is such a tragic and
dysfunctional protagonist, but lovable all the same.
Q. In the movie version of your life, who would play
you?
A. Dead or alive? Dead: Bruce Lee, but only if directed by
Quentin Tarantino. Alive: Rufi o from Hook.
Q. Who or what inspires you?
A. Anything and everything really. I fi nd inspiration hits me at the most unexpected times. I can fi nd inspiration in
anything from the shape of a stain on a sidewalk to the texture of a crumpled up ticket stub.
Q. What do you consider your greatest successes – personally and professionally?
A. Identifying as a perfectionist, I don’t feel like I’ve achieved it yet. But I feel it is a great success to wake up every
day to do what I love doing.
Q. If you hadn’t chosen this career, what other career path do you think you’d have followed?
A. Something in the design fi eld for sure. Maybe interior design, but most likely industrial design.
Photo by Savannah Taracatac