Spotlight Series: Interview with Violet Dine
Violet Dine is a designer at L+R (Levin Riegner) in Brooklyn. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2020 majoring in fine arts with a concentration on Graphic Design and Sculpture. Before L+R, Violet worked with an artist in New York before she was hired as a design intern in March 2021, and then hired full time. She has worked at L+R since June 2021, so about 5–6 months.
1. Can you describe how you work with the strategy consultants?
I’m mainly a branding designer, meaning I make a lot of logos and figure out brand identities. I actually just recently finished up doing some work for the Phoenix stadium in Arizona, which is very cool. In terms of working with the consultants, the tagline we have here at L+R is actually “strategy and aesthetics”. So, we work really closely with strategy consultants. Our designs are passed off to strategists before going to the clients. The process first starts with the strategy and design team working together to write up a project brief, and then the designers will go and do it, and then the strategists refine it.
2. Why L+R? How do you think L+R is different from other consulting firms?
I really appreciate the democratic culture when it comes to hierarchy; designers are all treated the same, may they be newer or older employees. This company culture is definitely what made me come back to stay after the internship! The strategy consultants also seem to all love their jobs so much. They’re all really good at it and you can feel this in the work that they do.
L+R also does a lot of internal thought, meaning they’re always trying to improve work processes and the way they approach projects. Especially since it’s a smaller firm but with huge scale projects (full circle: design, strategy, engineers, but only about 26 employees!).
3. What does a typical workday look like for you at L+R?
There are about 2–3 meetings a day either with clients, or internal meetings with other designers or strategists, where we go over what will be presented to the client next. There is also a lot of hands-down design work. Overall, L+R is very flexible as a firm.
4. What skills do you think are most important for consulting careers?
I, myself, am a designer, but what I personally think is an important skill for a strategy consultant, since I work with them a lot, is the ability to read between the lines of what clients say. The strategists are able to distill requests from clients in a way that’s easier for designers to understand and execute. Second is being really supportive and warm with people, or basically, being really approachable. This is really essential for client communication. Third, they are also able to see things objectively and look at the bigger picture. Lastly, which is more specific to the L+R strategy consultants, they definitely do not need a lot of design knowledge, but having some design vocabulary would help a lot with communication during internal reviews with designers.
5. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
I would definitely say client management. This is because every client is different, and so you never know how much freedom you’ll have with your designs. It also depends on how good they are about giving feedback and expressing their ideas. Thankfully, the strategists have been very good at handling clients in giving them perspective and making sure they don’t get out of hand with their requirements, as well as making sure we’re on the right timeline.
6. What surprised you about your role/the industry when you first started?
I did not expect strategists to work so closely with designers. Turns out, they work in tandem, instead of strategists telling designers what to do. There are a lot of ideation and brainstorming sessions and it is definitely a lot more collaborative.
Last words: I love working here so much! I feel really lucky to be able to work at L+R.
Bonus: Check out Violet’s work in more detail here!
Ever wanted to know what sustainability in entertainment looks like?
Take a look at Violet’s work in this L+R project on NBA® stadium branding that communicates innovation and sustainability for the home to the Phoenix Suns!
