Why Design?
Last fall the Percolate design team started a tradition where each designer tells their ‘Me + Design’ story, a short presentation on our relationship with design. The format is completely open; Anne told us about people that have influenced her, Amanda walked us through how her background as a ballerina shaped her fascination for motion and systems, and Diego told us about how his dad first introduced him to art. It’s been awesome to hear everyone’s backstory as to why they chose design.
Here’s the Sofia + Design story.
On the inside
The first thing that came to mind when it was my turn to think about my relationship to design was the film ‘A Beautiful Mind’. I saw this film when I was about 16, long before I had every thought about becoming a designer. What struck me was how beautiful John Nash’s mind actually was, and how awesome it was to get to experience the world he had created inside his head. It got me thinking about how the same story can be told in so many different ways, and how powerful those different narratives can be.
Photography
When I was 20 I took a couple of months leave from work and left Stockholm to go backpacking in India with a friend. Along the way we met an awesome Icelandic photographer named Haukur. What fascinated me about his photographs was his ability to capture the mood of a moment and allow some of the private side of people and places to shine through. His photographs makes you want to learn more about the subject, you wonder what happened right before and after the photo was snapped.
Technology
The first time I got excited about the power of technology was when I saw the advertisement for the iPhone in 2008. I was a sophomore at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and I didn’t know anyone who had an iPhone, but there was something magical about the promise to be able to take photos, combine them with copy, and create a visual journal that you could share with people right there on the phone. Unfortunately my relationship with my first iPhone was short, a couple of months after buying it I left it on top of my car and drove away.
Putting it together
After taking a couple of drawing classes at uni I finally decided to switch my major to Graphic Design at the start of my forth semester. It was a brand new subject for me, but I really enjoyed the challenge of combining copy, visuals, space, and sometimes sound to communicate a message.
During my senior year a friend and I decided to spend the summer making a lap around the US. I sold my scrappy Ford Contour to buy an even scrappier Plymouth Voyager ’94 with enough room for us to sleep in if we tucked our feet under the front seats. Armed with a Flip cam, a Canon Rebel, and a notebook I set out to keep a visual journal of the trip that I could share with people back home.
Team stories
Back at school in the fall I decided to continue the practice and dedicated my senior project to market my soccer team. The difference between telling my own story and telling the story of the team was that I had to figure out how to position the team to generate excitement and get people to attend the games.
What stood out to me when thinking about my own college career was the desire at the start of each season to make history. Everyone on the team, from coaches to Freshmen’s, was determined to make this year ‘the year’. I organized my project around the message ‘Make Your Mark’ to reflect this commitment.
I focused on bringing forward the individuals, the characters that was going to make it happen. There are a lot of great assets to pull from, player’s attachment to the number on the back of their jersey, their position on the field, and their particular strength. The team has a lot of personality as well, collective superstitions and traditions, a set routine for how you get ready for a game including everything from which order you put on your socks to what tracks are playing during the warmup.
My goal was for people to get to know the team, both on the field and behind the scenes.
What drives me as a designer is to understand what matters, identify the narrative that will draw people in, and develop communications that inspires people to find out more. In my current role as the head of communications design at Percolate I get to apply this thinking everyday as I work with the team to build and market our brand.
You’re up next. Join our team.
