Our Berlin hub is thrilled to welcome back Anait—a wonderful graphic designer from Moscow, Russia who joined us in 2018 and has recently returned from maternity leave.
Meet Anait!
Welcome back Anait! What attracted you to graphic design and to Berlin?
I moved from Moscow with my husband when he was offered a job here in Berlin, and not long after I applied for a position at Digital Starters.
Before I came here, I’d worked as a sales manager for European furniture, an interior designer, cake designer, window decorator, art teacher, and even had my own business creating handmade dolls. Through all of this, I was working as a freelance designer. As the freelance work started to build up, I decided it was time to give it a real shot and get a full-time job in graphic and web design. I had studied design at my university, but there was very little opportunity to do graphic design specifically—so I was self-taught in that area. Luckily, my professional experience was enough to secure a position at a start-up design studio in Russia.
And how are you finding your return to work?
I have loved spending time with my family, but it was of course challenging with a young child and I did miss having the time to be creative—so I’m happy to be back at work where I can create and play with fonts again. While I was on leave the company still invited me to all of the parties and social events, which I am really grateful for. I think, otherwise, it would have been much harder for me. I can see that a lot of new people have joined the company during that time, and they all seem very nice and supportive.
So what is your day-to-day look like now?
My main focus in on our company Instagram account—my goal is to create unified graphics that look modern, cool and bring in an even larger audience.
Have you faced any challenges since returning to work?
My biggest nightmare was connecting my computer to all the different systems and software. When I came back in September, I wasn’t scared of the work itself, but of installing all of these programs, setting up logins and passwords, and having to readjust to getting notifications pop up on my screen. Imagine a monkey holding a grenade—that monkey is me and that grenade is my computer. Luckily, with the help of my colleagues, it was all resolved and set up quite quickly.
Do you have any weird and wonderful habits?
Have you ever seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? In the movie, the main character will zone out and imagine himself in a film-like situation. I have the same issue. I can be mid-conversation and a scene from a movie will start to play out in my head and I completely miss everything that person has been saying to me. It annoys my husband a lot. So, I guess if you see my eyes glaze over, you’ll know I’m in the Matrix, dancing with Beyoncé, or maybe saving the world on some faraway planet with Bruce Willis…
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us Anait! One final question: if you were an animal, which one would you be?
Probably a bird. I always love the idea of flying high…although, in reality, I’m scared of heights.
Check out the great graphics created by Anait and our design team for our Instagram account: gimmemore_play
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