From stage to studio: How a Nagarrian blends music and visual design

In this edition of Nagarrians at Play, we talk with Tiago Simões, a creative Brand Marketing Designer at Nagarro and a lead singer at two prominent music bands in Portugal.

For Tiago Simões, creativity doesn’t just clock in and out. It plays on loud and clear. A designer and storyteller at work, Tiago is the voice behind two of Portugal’s alternative music bands: Dollar Llama and Them Shadows. But his story isn’t just about rhythm and melody; it’s about how a lifelong passion for music shaped the way he creates, designs, and connects through visual storytelling.

Discover how music fuels his creativity, inspires his work, and sets the tempo for his boldest designs.

Hi Tiago, your world blends design and music in a truly unique way. When did these passions first spark for you, and what inspired you to keep pursuing both paths?

Tiago: These two paths blended naturally for me. I’ve always loved design, and ever since I was a kid, every time I saw a record cover, I had this instant urge to be the one creating it. There was something about the mix of visuals and sound that just clicked.

Tiago singing on stage with his band

Music came into my life thanks to my dad. He was a drummer in a band, and his passion rubbed off on me. I started playing music myself, and it became this other creative outlet that fed into my design work. Whether I’m designing or making music, I’m just chasing that feeling of making something that hits people right in the soul.

Both worlds, music and design, speak the same emotional language.

Wow! Thanks for sharing this. Was there a moment early on when music became a central part of your life and you felt, 'This is part of who I am'?"

Music has always been a central part of who I am. I can't live without it. There's always music playing around me—whether I'm working, relaxing, or just going about my day. It’s like a constant companion.

If I ever had to choose between design and music, as tough as that sounds, I would choose music. It’s a universal language. It reaches everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from. It carries messages and emotions that visuals sometimes can’t fully express.

Music has made me a better person—more grounded and more reflective. And to be completely honest, it’s saved me more than once. In some of my hardest moments, music was the one aspect that kept me going.

Music is not just a passion, it’s part of my DNA.

You’re the voice behind two bands: Dollar Llama and Them Shadows. Each of these bands has its own style and soul. What creative space does each one open for you? What stories brought them to life?

Dollar Llama is almost like my alter ego—my ‘Mr. Hyde’, if you will. It’s where I can charge full speed ahead, tap into raw, untamed emotion, and let it all out with no filter. It’s aggressive, loud, and unapologetically alive. That band started like many do, with a bunch of friends getting together to make noise. Fun fact: I even auditioned to join when I was still a kid, just chasing the dream and trying to find my place in it.

Tiago with the Dollar Llama band

Them Shadows, on the other hand, is a whole different emotional landscape. It's a space of melancholy, self-introspection, and peeling back layers to see things from a more vulnerable, reflective perspective. It grew out of songs that didn’t quite fit the vibe of Dollar Llama, more dark, more indie, more personal. I couldn’t just let those songs sit in a drawer. They had a voice that needed to be heard.

Tiago on a promo cover for Them Shadows

That voice found its form through a joint effort with Mike Ghost, a well-known name in Portugal’s alternative scene and a brilliant producer. Together, we shaped Them Shadows into something that feels more like a journey than a project. One that’s less about the punch and more about the pulse.

Both my bands represent very different sides of me.

Being in a band involves way more than what the audience sees. What’s something about that journey most people wouldn’t expect?

Totally! Being in a band is so much more than just getting up on stage and having a blast. The adrenaline, the music, and the energy are the part people see. But behind the curtain, it’s a whole different beast.

In the case of a band, you’re not just playing music, you’re basically running a small business. You have to handle everything, from promotion, PR, and budgeting to touring logistics, gear maintenance, and the endless coordination that comes with just trying to get five people in the same room at the same time. And in alternative rock, especially in bands like mine, you're often doing all this without the big-label support or financial cushion.
Most people don’t realize that sometimes, just to play a gig, you’re paying out of your own pocket. Promoters, venues, travel costs, and even things like getting a license just to sell your own merchandise all add up fast. There’ve been times when we’ve lost money just to get on stage.

If you're not seriously committed,  like body-and-soul committed, it will eat you alive over time. 

Playing in a band is all about sweat, strategy, and a hell of a lot of heart.

From underground gigs to big festivals, you've experienced so many stages. What’s one live moment that left a lasting impact and why?

Touring through Spain, Germany, and Portugal and hitting those big festivals are memories that stick for life. There’s just something about being on the road with your bandmates, seeing new places, meeting people who genuinely connect with your music, and living that chaos day after day. The experience carves itself into your bones.

If I had to pick one standout live moment, though, it’d be opening for bands like Converge, Suicidal Tendencies, Cancer Bats, Red Fang, and Feed The Rhino. Sharing the stage with those giants, these bands I grew up listening to, was surreal. It’s humbling, intense, and electrifying all at once.

Another one that left a huge mark on me was playing the Hardcore Help Foundation Summer Fest. That’s not just a festival, it’s a movement. The fest is run by an NGO that provides humanitarian aid to various parts of Africa, and being part of something that blends music with real-world impact was next-level meaningful.

Music isn’t just noise, it’s a vehicle for change.

You bring together music, art, and design in a way that feels seamless. How did this fusion become such a central part of your creative identity?

Music and design are just two sides of the same coin for me. Ever since I was young, I have been constantly drawing and filling notebooks with ideas, characters, logos, etc. And right there, always playing in the background, was music. It was just there, a constant presence, like air.

So, over time, the line between the two started blurring. Music and design together became one natural, effortless fusion. Whether I’m designing an album cover, writing a riff, or sketching something inspired by a lyric, it all comes from the same place. It’s not a choice, it’s just an extension of who I am and how I express myself.

The fusion of music and design is how I make sense of the world.

You’ve described music as a creative companion in your design work. Can you share an example where music directly shaped a visual idea or brand identity?

Yeah, one personal example comes to mind. A dear friend of mine, who was also a fellow musician, sadly passed away. He meant a great deal to many people in our music community. So, we all came together to honor him the best way we knew how—through music. We organized a festival in his name, and I took on the responsibility of creating all the design and visual identity for the event.

Everything I designed, from the poster to the stage visuals, was deeply influenced by the kind of music he loved and the kind of person he was. His vibe, his energy, the soundtracks of his life—they all fed directly into the visual direction. It wasn’t just about creating something that looked good; it was about feeling like him and channeling his essence into the artwork. The music shaped the mood, the color palette, and even the typography.

That project was more than just a design gig; it was a tribute. A deeply emotional and creative way to say goodbye and keep his spirit alive through something he loved.

For me, blending music with design has led to great storytelling, memories and healing.

AI is rapidly becoming a creative collaborator, in both music and design. As someone who lives at the crossroads of emotion, art, and technology, how do you feel about AI entering the creative space? As inspiration, disruption, or something else?

AI has changed the game. It’s reshaped how we work, how fast we can bring a concept to life, or how easily we can spin a simple thought into something tangible. And honestly, I think we should embrace it as a tool. Not as a crutch, not as a replacement, but as a powerful extension of our creative process.

The thing is, AI is good, but it still lacks that deeply human layer of emotion, nuance, and instinct. That raw creativity that comes from lived experience, from heartbreak, joy, chaos, and all the messy stuff that makes great art feel real. AI can replicate patterns for sure, but it can’t replicate soul.

So yeah, it’s a disruptor but also a workhorse. AI can handle the boring, repetitive tasks that none of us enjoy, freeing up time and energy to delve deeper into the aspects that truly matter creatively. In that sense, it’s both a challenge and a cheat code.

If we stay thoughtful about how we use it, AI can help push our ideas even further without ever replacing the emotional core that makes them worth creating in the first place.

To me, AI is a hybrid force: part disruption and part powerhouse.

What are the top songs always on your creative playlist, and why?

My creative playlist is basically built on the backbone of the '90s grunge era. Those songs didn’t just shape my taste. They helped shape me as a musician, a designer, and as a man. That era had grit, depth, and emotion layered under all that distortion, and it still fuels my creative energy today.

Here are my ride-or-dies:

• Stone Temple Pilots: "Plush"
  That riff, that mood is pure atmosphere. It always gets me in a zone where ideas flow effortlessly.
• Soundgarden: "Outshined"
  There’s a weight and honesty in that song that reminds me to keep things raw and real in my work.
• Mark Lanegan: "No Bells on Sunday"
  Dark, introspective, and beautifully stripped down. It’s perfect for when I need to dig deep creatively.
• 311: "Down"
  Got this funky, chaotic energy that shakes off any creative block. Instant brain reset.
• Pearl Jam: "Evenflow"
  That one’s a blueprint for rhythm and emotion. It never gets old, and it keeps me moving forward.
• Alice In Chains: "Would?"
  Melancholy meets power. It’s like a sonic mood board for storytelling.

The tracks I love are a creative compass that I keep coming back to.

If your creative journey had a soundtrack, what would be the opening track and what does it say about you?

If my creative journey had a soundtrack, the opening track would be something off Turnstile’s "Time & Space" album. That whole record just gets me. It’s this wild fusion of ’90s nostalgia, punk energy, hardcore grit, and this unexpected soulful, emotional layer running through it.

It captures everything I aim for in terms of creativity. Raw energy meets intention, and chaos is balanced by depth. It’s loud, it’s unpredictable, it’s full of heart… just like the journey itself. That album isn’t just music, it’s a mood board of what happens when you let creativity off the leash and trust your instincts to lead the way.

My opening track would be one where raw energy meets intention and chaos is balanced by depth.

For listening to Tiago’s tracks, check out these links on Spotify:

Them Shadows

Dollar Llama

NagarriansAtPlay is a series that showcases Nagarrians following their passions. In this series, we bring to you some of our remarkable colleagues who have made it big globally in their respective fields and have inspired many to follow their dreams.