When I started a career in design, my expectations for growth were low. The field of design is highly competitive, and coming from the London area, I knew I would be up against the best designers in the country.
I wasn’t prepared for the opportunity waiting for me at bunq.
My background 👩🎨
After getting my Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design & Communication from Falmouth University, I moved to Amsterdam and worked in a small design studio focusing on branding for a wide range of hospitality businesses. Imagine logos, menus, posters — everything print-based that would help bring a new cafe, restaurant, or bar to life.
From there, I started designing websites and other digital content which was incredibly rewarding because of my lifelong interest in tech. 🌈 Eventually, I decided to move to a primarily digital design role, which landed me at bunq!
Hiring process 🤝
The hiring process at bunq is specifically designed to seek out your future potential, instead of focusing on your past. We look at CVs and portfolios of course, but what it really comes down to is your ability to analyse a situation, find problems, execute solutions, and most importantly measure the impact of your work against company goals.
Throughout the process, I was put through my paces and encouraged to think in a deeper, more pragmatic way. This was something that put me outside of my comfort zone, but I saw it as a challenge I needed to rise up to and overcome.
First steps at bunq 🏃♀️
My first week was a blur — full of fast briefings, tight deadlines, high-pressure situations etc. It was pretty overwhelming considering my background working in a small branding agency, but the support I got from my colleagues helped me adjust quickly. The great thing about bunqers is that we all have the same goal, and we all get shit done to help each other hit that goal.
Something that struck me in that first week was the trust I was given to be involved in major decisions, and to take the lead on executing my ideas. Seeing my first solution go live within days of starting at bunq was thrilling, and something I could definitely get used to.
Settling in 🏡
Working in such a fast-paced company, it’s no surprise that I was given a lot of responsibility from the get-go. Within my first quarter, I’d shown my potential and was given “ownership” of bunq’s website, meaning that any user-facing decision (design, structure, content etc.) was to be made by me. It was my job to decide the direction that the website was going to take, and how we were going to get there. With this ownership, I get to decide the way that our site looks and feels to the user, which is a position I expected to take years to earn. Not at bunq!
Something that comes as a requirement for bunqers is flexibility. There’s a lot of shit to get done around here, and everyone has to be comfortable picking up something new at a moment’s notice. This is no different for designers.
There are days where I am working on website content, then suddenly being involved in the long-term planning of our advertising strategy, then I need to work on some new card prototype concepts, then I’m making assets for emails, then designing brand new icons for amazing features that are about to go live. At bunq, every day brings something different but everything you’ll need to do can be explained and learned quickly.
Design-focused startup 🚀
This experience is a wild contrast to what I’d heard from friends back home at their companies. At bunq, design is taken seriously and is at the forefront of Ali, our CEO’s, mind. To have designers involved in core decisions which shape the future of a company is indicative of the trust that pioneering companies are placing in their designers, and this is definitely true for bunq.
Being a designer at bunq is an insane ride, but one that will teach you a lot about yourself, your work, and will help you achieve things you didn’t think you could.
Natalie,
Designer at bunq
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Interested in joining the design team over at bunq HQ? Check out our jobs page here to see how you can help us get shit done!
