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Interview Design Practitioner #1

  • Writer: Ahmad Ahseek
    Ahmad Ahseek
  • Apr 4, 2021
  • 10 min read

I found this one design practitioner, called, Izabella, she was working for a few big design companies, mostly in charge of the UX/UI. She also had a few award winning project.



The following graphic was done by her, and by seeing it was clear that it was a discursive piece. Since I'm really interested in the discursive field of design but I know that being new in the field will lead me to commercial design first. So I thought that it would be interesting to interview her from the commercial field and also ask her about the discursive field.


However, the interview didn't went as planned at all 😅 😂 😅 😂

She was very nice, and very responsive, but when I started realizing that her practice and believes are totally different from mine, my questions might have sound triggering to her and I wasn't able to complete the interview.


Here it begins:




To begin with.. Can you tell me a bit more about you, a short bio of your career as a designer?


I'm senior-level graphic designer with 13+ years experience across a wide variety of organizations and industries. I started my career as a freelancer, then worked for large agencies such as Isobar and Publicis, and now I'm a UI designer at a software house. My clients included McDonald's, Skoda, Unilever.


Oh... So you've tried different medium as well? Since now you're a UI designer, how do you feel about exploring different mediums for your works?


UI design is how I started although it wasn't called that way back then. There was no mobile devices. Little was known about user experience. I had to deal with browsers which didn't comply with web standards. Later, during my work in agencies I learned more about the world of advertising and worked on key visuals, ad campaigns and social media communication. That was the time I really polished my graphic design skills and made huge progress. I even participated in some award winning projects. But I was always more interested in how things work than how they look so now I'm aiming at product design.


Would you consider a variety of skills as a need within the design industry? More like a multi-disciplinary designer?


The more you know the broader your horizons are. Extensive experience definitely helps if you work on a 360-campaign where wide spectrum of design assets and skills are required (from photo retouching to display banners). But you need to remember that you will never be equally good at everything so it's a good idea to follow the market and employers expectations.


Well you said earlier that you moved from a freelancer to a bigger company, how different was the environment? If I'm not mistaken the bigger companies tends to be quite fast paced right? What were the challengers of this transition?


That's right, working in big agency is demanding. You have to be prepared to complete many tasks a day, deal with tight deadlines, manage to juggle between different projects, follow company rules and procedures, work in a noisy and crowded openspace. But there are also advantages. Open space is great for sharing ideas. You have contact with other professionals. There's an emphasis on a teamwork. You could work on huge projects for well-know brands, focus on pure design work... And we had a slide in the lobby... ha ha ;)


Wow seriously... 😂 That's sound more fun than frustrating Btw... Any tip on how to get into a bigger business? 😂


Yeah, it's easy to become addicted to the fast pace of life and adrenaline ;) There're no shortcuts. It's all about having a good portfolio


Noted... 😂 Well do you have any favorite medium in your practice? And would you mind explaining why it's your favorite medium?


Design world is not divided by mediums. When creating key visual you are medium agnostic - your project will and should work well in print, as display banner, facebook post and on a website. The same with branding - you are creating a full package.

It's more about where you want to be on the creative process. You can be a junior who translates key visual into displays or art director who came up with the whole idea.

As I mentioned before I'm more interested in helping clients creating their digital product and making it more user friendly and fun to use.


I really like this response actually.

Well... I don't know much about your works... But from those from your Instagram account, I can see a lot of picture manipulation, would you like to talk about some of them or even present me some other work you did which you are very pound of and explain the concept behind it.. If it's possible I actually need to interview you about the works that u did as well... 😂


you can see some my other works here: (link) LinkedIn and behance (link)


(links have been hidden to protect her identity since I didn't completed the interview with her and forgot to mentioned about the blog post)


(I chose to ask her about the most conceptual work first from her behance.)


I'd like to discuss about this idea

I think the message is very straight forward but actually from my course we've learnt to really stand out against something that is not right, and I believe this idea really expresses a message

So I'd like to know about your thoughts on design when it comes to addressing an issue?


(We lost communication during that time so I waited a few days and sent her another message where I thought it would be wise to apologize for any misunderstanding and explain her yet again why I was asking her the following question (the reference to the Tharp and Tharp article) at least hope for a reply back.)


Hi... I'm sorry to disturb you again... But I've actually enjoyed all the responses u gave me... You're very detailed and indeed you are experienced... I'd actually like to complete this interview with you.. And sorry if at any point I sounded a bit too unprofessional or informal... As I said it's my first time doing it... We were actually at the most important part of the interview.. Based on the Tharp and Tharp article of the different field of design.... Discussing about your works and how u see the design industry... But it's actually all based on your opinion as a graphic designer... So there is no right or wrong answer.. Can we plz complete the interview?


I am sorry. There are important things going on in my country. I didn't have time but I remember


Oh no problem...

Tbh I've a lot of time for this project... I got the brief early but since there were some complains at school the lecturer extended it...

But... Still... I'm trying to keep a progress or even be done with it before the submission date if possible...


here's the answer to your question:

The project was just a after-hours creativity exercise. The goal was to come up with an simple yet powerful idea. Cannes Lions style, but the execution leaves much to be desired. It does not reflect my personal believes. The issue is much more complicated than that.


(At this point I realized that her practice was different so I simply continued with some of her own selected projects from her portfolio and some of the award winning ones.)



The next project I've enjoyed was this one...

It has a lot of intricate details... And it seems like each element from the design helps to build the concept

Perhaps what I'd like to know is like how the elements interact with each other to build the concept...


This poster is another after-hours project. It was made for Isobar's internal, yet global design competition. The theme was "teamwork". I was very inspired by Stranger Things back then so I imagined the portal to another dimension. I mixed it with the grid and stylistics from Tron movie. Applied noise adds even more of an eighties look. Created world is an abstraction but the key to keep things stick together and make it looks real is consistent use of the perspective and interactions between objects - in this case - reflections on the floor.


I'd like to came back to this for a moment: "from my course we've learnt to really stand out against something that is not right"

If you want to be a designer you have to forget about yourself. Design is not about you. Art is about you, not design. Design is a communication between your client and his audience. And you, as a designer, need to be invisible.


(Yet again... another point where we disagreed on 😂 😂 😂. I do agree that a designer should respond to his client but I also believe that a design has the ability to work on his own to improve the state of the society or achieving the same result by advertising a company with some specific values regarding society.)


I've noticed that sort of portal look from the work.. And when u explained it... It's even more interesting.

Actually, we learn both on the commercial side n the discursive side as well... But there's another section of the interview that I'll address that again... Tbh... I've put it in a very wrong way up there... 😂 Sorry about that... So for now let's just focus on your projects and reserve this part for later.. Again.. I'm sorry that I'm doing some mistakes during the interview.


(I've obviously tried excusing myself to put her at ease again. But I believe my questions themselves were not well placed after that.)



Can you tell me more about this one, it seem to be very intense so I'd like to know perhaps how you came up with such an eye popping design


Design will be almost always bold and intense if you use black background. In this case it emphasizes the quality and exclusiveness of the product. Logo and other elements on the other hand are organic to communicate craftmanship. But the key visual had been already in place, as well as TVC, and delivered by another agency.


Yeah... When I researched it I found that it had this 'key visual' but since I know you're from an agency that works with them I was hoping that you knew about the concept behind it... And yes you did... Actually I wasn't expecting the concept behind the logo... I know that every visual has its importance but somehow for this one... I missed it... 😂

Anyway... There's several UI/UX design from your Portfolio, according to you what is the greatest challenge when it comes to designing the UI?


Definitely maintaining design consistency. When a project consists of over a dozen or several dozen pages it really became a problem to remember what this little margin there should be. I wish I had in design software a control over every aspect of appearance just like CSS does.

And project documentation. It is a pain in the ass. No one wants to do this nor have time for it, but it's really important later, in development stages.


Yea I've seen how many screens you've design for the Mcdonald Pl app... 😂 N I was complaining about just 3 or 4 pages... 😂

Would you say that the business key visuals or specifications limit your design in some way?


(I tried having a quite friendly tone with the emojie cuz I felt maybe some formality might create some tension especially after saying the wrong thing earlier.)


Of course. When I work with key visual that I cannot change I have to adjust. The same situation with business goals and requirements or technological limitations. This is a normal thing you have to take into consideration while working as a designer.


Would you say that in some occasion the design industry as a whole has some flaws here and there? like perhaps it's neglecting a few sectors while promoting a product of some sort?


(I couldn't have more wrongly ask this god damn question 😂😂😂😂. But I was trying to start diving into the question of what a designer's role should be.)


What do you mean?


Okay... I think I might need to talk about the background of this interview now...

So actually for this semester we were introduced to the Tharp and Tharp 4 fields of design and the first thing first manifesto whereby designers argued that they wanna use their design skills for the better

And based on that we had a project whereby we had to take a sector in the design industry and challenge it... Whether it exploit people or it contributes to pollution

And we were asked to approach professionals to get their opinion on the matter and also on the project we just did whereby we've challenged this design sector

The project was actually simply a typographic poster/placard... It was meant to be a placard but because of covid we couldn't do the protest

Actually... I only need your opinion whether you agree or not... It's not a debate... Just an interview...


There's nothing wrong with the industry. It's even slightly better than others, because there's nearly a balance of forces between employers and employees on the labor market. And the better you are as a designer the more stable situation you have at work and employer respects you. Of course things could always be better e.g. with contracts or with a labor law but it's more of a system problem.


Would you say that design can be used as a way of communicating issues, creating awareness? Like.. do you think that design can be used for much more than advertising?


(And that where all went wrong 😂😂😂😂..)


First of all, the fact that something is an advertising doesn't mean it's evil or meaningless. Have you heard about Diesel's "Go With The Flaw" or Dove promoting body positivity? Greenpeace, WWF or national health programs are clients like any others. That's your call who you work with. You could even work for free and support NPOs if you're rich enough.


Deeply sorry for the late reply... I've been focusing on my other school project n I might have forgotten to reply back...

N I'm sorry... I might have used the wrong tone of voice earlier in our conversation... I'm not claiming that advertising is evil... I'm just asking.. What if design was used for a greater purpose... Like the Airbnb campaign in Australia 'Until We All Belong' where they advertise their brand n also addresses the issue of the lgbt... The question is more towards redefining what design can be in the future, do u feel that maybe design can serve a greater purpose in the society? It's not like criticising, more like having some prospects I guess..

But I do understand what u mean... U need to promote a value that supports the brand.. Else the design won't have a direction and won't serve its purpose..



And.... That's it..... I didn't get any reply from her after that. And I didn't try to message her yet again cuz I realized how many mistakes I made during the interview with her and I was confident that I'll find a Designer whose practice relates more to mine.


I should have however excuse myself yet again and send her a kind ending note.


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