I travelled

Since living in London I’ve pretty much become a frequent flyer, which I’m enjoying a lot. In 2015 I visited 5 countries and 14 cities. Catching up with my family and friends on a regular basis is important for me and helps ensure that I keep my friendships and relationships strong, so I travelled a lot to see them all. I also had the chance to explore new cities during weekend trips, with Copenhagen being a highlight.

Mayrhofen, Austria — Madrid, Spain — Munich, Germany — Berlin, Germany — Copenhagen, Denmark — Vienna, Austria — Hamburg, Germany — Berlin, Germany — Frankfurt, Germany — New Orleans, Austin, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Fransisco, United States — Frankfurt, Germany — Berlin, Germany — Lanzarote, Spain — Hamburg, Germany — Frankfurt, Germany.

I became a speaker

This year I had the privilege of being asked to speak about my design experience at two conferences in UK and Germany. I hadn’t spoken in front of an audience before and I really enjoyed it. The first was in March at the MobileTech Conference in Munich. The topic was a walkthrough of the full design lifecycle in native App Design. My presentation was in German, which I thought would make it easier for me, but being in London for almost eight years and working purely in English during this time changes the way you structure and present in front of people. The first ten minutes were a nightmare and I ended up mixing up English and German technical terms — but as we’re working in a global industry a lot of the terms are the same so I got over the initial language issues.

My second talk was at the Digital Shoreditch Festival in London a couple of weeks later. This time I presented in English, on a different topic. I was only given fifteen minutes presenting time so the content had to be much more compact. I chose to speak about how we can push UI animation in our daily design process. My presentation was well received and I’m definitely keen to continue speaking at industry conferences in 2016 and beyond.

I went back to the written word

At the beginning of 2015 I promised myself that I would spend more time reading books, articles and magazines. And it worked out pretty well - I read approximately fifteen books, subscribed to the brandeins magazine and consumed tons of online articles. My top three reads were:

1. Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton
2. Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
3. Designing with Contrast by Mark Mitchell

I danced at my desk, at home & on the dancefloor

I love discovering new bands on Spotify and other music platforms. Since 2011 I have compiled personal playlists, and every year I take a track from each month to create an annual playlist. It’s a great way to trigger memories and the tunes help me keep track of where I was during each month of the year.

Enjoy my ★ 2015 ★

I also love going to gigs, seeing bands performing live and getting myself lost in the crowd. Here are my top three London gigs from 2015:

1. Beatsteaks at Koko
2. Beirut at the O2 Brixton Academy
3. Chet Faker at Field Days

I got inspired

London is such a vibrant city with so much going on that you could literally spend every day going to a gig, an exhibition, seeing some great design or attending an inspiration talk. Since being in London I’ve been visiting design conferences on a regular basis and its now part of my everyday life, which is great. This allows me to absorb all kinds of inspiration and helps keep me motivated and curious. My favourite talks and exhibitions of 2015 were:

• D&AD Talk with Ben Ticklebank
• Animade Studio talked about how characters can make a project engaging, moving & memorable
• D&AD Talk with Douglas Wilson
• Art installation — State of Mind by Ann Veronica Janssens

I quit my job

After two years of being a freelancer in January I decided to go back to a permanent position. I was offered a great and exciting new role. The company was always at the top of my list so I was really proud of being given this opportunity. I had different tasks to manage and I learnt a lot. I saw a lot potential in the new role and set myself the goal to stay with the company for at least two years.

I soon realised that being back in a permanent role was quite demanding and not as easy as I expected. I worked long hours and mainly on pitches which unfortunately weren’t won. It was a frustrating situation — I lost my social life, practised less sport and was purely focused on my working life, but not in a good way. The company was going through a period of reinvention and the route they picked wasn’t really the one I was expecting.

Around September I got a call from a company where I used to freelance. Their long-term Design Director had recently resigned and they were looking for a permanent replacement. After a couple of chats I accepted the role. I started in November and it was so far the best decision I could have made. Thinking about it, both of my permanent job decisions in 2015 were made on a gut feeling. I could have easily stayed freelance, earning good money and growing in my roles, but something was driving me to leave my comfort zone and take a risk in attaching myself to a company for a longer-term commitment.

I got active

Having dealt with some unanticipated changes in my working life and a generally really busy workload during the year, I decided to take a break and booked a flight by myself to Lanzarote, Spain. I wanted to get back into shape, both mentally and physically, ahead of starting my new role. The past eight months had been intense and I wasn’t really happy with my condition. I was working long work hours, drinking too much at the weekends and eating an unbalanced diet. I needed some time off to address my unhappy current life status.

Lanzarote was splendid. I created a schedule to get myself back in to shape. Over the next seven days I woke up early, went swimming, had healthy breakfasts, read four books, did some afternoon workouts, took some naps in between and in the evenings took Pilates classes. I was typically in bed by 10pm and enjoyed good quality sleep. In between I made notes on how I could set up a good design team, looked into different processes and gave myself the headspace I needed to be prepared for the new role that awaited me.

Back in London I continued the exercise routine. I now practise four to five times a week before I go to work; this quality time gives me the headspace to focus on my physical condition. I also booked a personal trainer for six sessions to benefit from some professional advice and training, and I changed my daily nutrition plan and lost almost 10kg within three months.

To sum up, I feel much better on a daily basis, I am much more focused when I work and get much more done in the same amount of time. I also use my private time much more efficiently.