“What is my job about”- Head of Design
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in design?
I’ve been doodling for as long as I can remember! My parents met in a local artist circle and I was always surrounded by colors, pens and brushes. The second revelation was the moment I saw the computer program “Paint” on a friend’s PC for the first time at the age of six. Perfect color filling without any paint over, endless undo … that was the future!
During my studies I got lucky and found a way to combine both topics again. After studying computer science, I moved on to a digital media masters, finally combining the arts with science, and blending in a little bit of gamification theory for good measure.
In parallel I’ve developed some indie children games, monetized the whole business, and built a platform around it with hundreds of daily visitors and partnership offers.
Keen to pursue this direction, I started my first job in a medium-sized gaming company, landed in the marketing design department, where I ended up leading my first team after a couple of years. During this time, I fell in love with this fast-paced digital environment.
What is your role at Spark and how have you developed over the years?
I started at Spark around four years ago as Media Informatics Designer. My main focus back then was our marketing mailings – again combining design with implementation. I’ve learned a lot from our great colleagues and felt very at home with everyone’s positive and helpful attitude. I’m currently leading a marketing-focused design team with different specialists, spanning motion design, visual and frontend design, and traditional graphic design.
What daily challenges do you face?
Adjusting to changes in the rapidly moving digital advertisement world while keeping healthy workflows alive can be challenging. But with the right people on board and a curious mindset you can also take it as opportunity and inspiration for continuously evolving your design efforts.
What inspires you?
Berlin itself inspires me a lot. Watching people is something I’ve always enjoyed. All the different individuals and mindsets it attracts and the freedom it gives everyone to express themselves provides me with a daily boost of confidence. The diverse and multicultural environment of the Spark’s Berlin office is no exception. And when I run out of social energy there are all the parks, lakes and great museums to recharge and enjoy.
What are your tips for being successful in what you do?
- Keep up your curiosity: dream, explore, exchange, learn, inspect, analyze – the ideas will come to you.
- Never be afraid of a “bad designs” or “bad ideas” – they will be the base and inspiration of your next success.
- Stay connected: as an introvert this can be challenging task – but most of the time you’re able to push yourself – it will be rewarded.
