(Warning, I tend to write a lot!) My excitement for design started in middle school when I would do things for fun like make labels in Microsoft Paint for my chocolate creations then print them out/assemble them as if they were ‘real’. It was the idea of coming up with a concept and using design to make it ‘legit’ that was so fun.
Long story short, I graduated back in 2010 from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities with a BS in Graphic Design. Out of college (and after many service jobs) an internship at the high-end post production shop VOLT Studios in downtown Minneapolis turned into a job as a motion production artist. This was a fun role within the advertising industry which taught me a lot about being part of a tight knit and detail-oriented production line. Here I helped on projects for brands like Subaru, Cadillac, and General Mills. My favorite project here was animating Lucky Charms in a magic rainbow swirl. As the tumultuous life of the ad industry can be, the loss of a client led to the disappearance of some positions so I looked to my next role.
From here I was destined for a more creative role anyways, so my next position as a Digital Designer at Hubbard Broadcasting was fitting. This was within the ‘Hubbard Interactive’ department which involved a variety of visual designs in the digital space from helping to develop the branding and promotions for myTalk107.1, podcast design, social media, and more. My favorite project here was leading the branding and promotional materials for the now annual Cat Video Festival hosted at the St. Paul Saint’s Stadium. While at Hubbard I learned of the concept of working remote while traveling, and asked if it would be possible to work remotely for 4 months while I go on a round-the-world trip. They agreed so I continued to work for them while traveling.
Towards the end of my trip, I had to make the decision if I am returning to my same position in Minneapolis or if I am going to take a risk and try freelancing to continue this location independent lifestyle (years before that was the ‘norm’). I chose the scarier path, but am glad that I did. A few days later I ended up meeting my now-spouse in Rome, and long story short I built a remote freelance career for 5 years while we lived together first in Italy then in Azerbaijan. Freelance taught me numerous skills that go beyond design such as skills in management, being self-motivated and often communicating directly with business owners. While freelance I specialized in branding and visual design for websites. I also started and ran my project Hip My Trip, and worked closely with my partner’s creation of his successful bootstrap, OOPSpam. My favorite project in this time was either branding for OOPSpam or The Caspian Post.
As time went on, my passion for the interaction of interfaces evolved (influenced by my experience often visiting sites and spaces not in my native language while living abroad) and as I moved back to the United States I wished to solidify these skills further than my hands-on experience. For this reason I took Google’s course on UX Design.
This brought me to my most recent FT position as a UX Designer at Trinity Insight. It was very exciting to move to a field which relies on user feedback and being able to test the effectiveness of a design with quantitative data. Sometimes the designs you think should ‘win’ don’t, and that only further pushes you to get better in understanding user interaction.
When our little one turned 6 months old, transitioning to a more flexible position to better care for him was something important to me, so I am very grateful to be able to utilize my years of skills at OOPSpam!
Making connections and trying to find middle ground for progress is something I’m fascinated with. I studied and majored in Graphic Design while at the same time my favorite book was Naomi Klein’s book “No Logo” and favorite personality was Jello Biafra. I’ve been from Upstate but grew up in Minnesota, and I’ve lived in West Asia while being from the US. I believe in the power of forming new bridges of understanding and appreciate organizations aiming to do something new for progress.
It’s been nice to be back in my home state, Minnesota. In a crazy turn of events, I actually missed its snowy winters. There will always be a connection to Azerbaijan where my spouse is from. I’m happy to share more about this beautiful country if you ask! Or, read what we wrote about it on our website. Here’s a photo of a trip to the mountains in Azerbaijan, Shah Dag:
Here are a few of my projects over the years.
Ladies Wine Design Baku (site) (IG) — branch of Jessica Walsh’s global organization aimed to diversify the design industry
Little Eye Develop + Design (link) — agency where we work on web projects
Hip My Trip (link) — custom travel map project-custom site no longer active but this links to my Etsy where it started
GoTravel Azerbaijan (link) — educational website about Azerbaijan
Wanderlust Photo Booth — custom green screen photo booth, I rented it out and made the UI
BDxBC (link) — anti-street harassment sticker design collective in Minneapolis
Meaning, while we may have preferences or designs we feel should succeed— we don’t truly know its effectiveness without testing and asking how it is received by a new set of eyes. The intersection of UX and UI is a great example of this because it combines the facets of good design- function and aesthetics. While something may look ‘prettier’ or more modern, it still may not perform as well or be as helpful because the function/experience may have changed.
Or, “yes and” energy as I like to call it. As the world gets smaller, it’s increasingly important to view designs in the perspective of different backgrounds and cultures. Rather than drawing borders, I believe in building bridges when possible.
Experiencing first hand different cultures between travel and living in Italy and now Azerbaijan, I’ve come to especially appreciate projects which aim to create understanding between worlds and different walks of life. Visual design is able to encompass all the ‘chaos’ of plurality and present it neatly in a way that’s understood.
We’re all humans and I believe in being honest about expectations and communication along the way.
If you made it this far down the page, here’s some bonus aesthetic-clashing art from back in the day. Many pieces of my art have been sold at coffee shop shows in Minneapolis over the years! I loved to sell small pieces or prints for an easy $20. If you have one of my pieces it would be fun to hear where it is living now. :)
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