Coffee break #002 – Tobias
Over the counter — We took a coffee break and had a chat with the people behind the curtains at uppercase, who they are, and why they are there. In this series, the employees share their perspectives with you.
Meet Tobias, he likes his coffee black, warm, and preferably enjoyed outside in the morning air.
Q: How would you describe uppercase to someone new?
T: My impression since starting my internship is that uppercase, at the core of it, is a group of people who enjoy each other's company, have a lot of fun and work together on projects they believe in. So yeah, that’s what I’d say.
Q: Let’s talk about your internship, how did that happen, and what is your experience so far?
T: I have a loose family connection with Tommy — one of the co-founders of uppercase — and so through some indirect communication between family members I ended up hearing about his company, and that he’d be happy to see my portfolio. I sent over my application, and sooner or later I got a call from him inviting me to the office to hang out and sign the contract for an internship.
I’ve been at uppercase for around 3 months now, and I’m really enjoying it! I think the size of the company works great for me — I can connect a lot better with everyone on the team than I could if I were at a big advertising agency.
Q: Can you tell us more about your onboarding process?
T: I was hired right as the team was finishing up the launch of the new uppercase branding, so in the beginning, I did a lot of work for that. Gradually, I feel I proved myself with what I could create, especially with the animation of the uppercase logo, and my responsibilities grew from there.
Q: What has been your favorite project so far and why?
T: Right now we’re wrapping up a branding project where I’ve done 99% of the design, that’s been super cool and rewarding to work on. My favorite though is probably the icons I created for the uppercase branding. I think they turned out really nice, and seeing as we’ve used them for signage in the office it means I’ve left a “permanent” mark at uppercase. That’s pretty cool.
Q: What’s important to keep the team happy and motivated?
T: I’m not sure I’m equipped to answer that question after only 3 months, but I can tell you that the times when the team feels most like a team is between work. Chatting over lunch, having beers on Friday, even taking 15 minutes to meditate together — that’s what brings us closer and makes us happy to come to work I think.
Q: What have you learned since you started your internship?
T: I’ve learned what it’s like to work at an agency, I think that’s the main thing. I’ve learned that things often need to be done quickly and that it’s important to prioritize when you have multiple balls in the air. I’m expecting there is still a lot to learn, though!
Q: Where do you find inspiration?
T: Hmm. I don’t think I have a simple answer to this one, I get inspiration in many different ways. I think a lot, and I like to get new perspectives and “figure things out” in a way. I get really excited about people who are thinking and doing things differently from the status quo, which inspires me to always try to think for myself and reflect on what I’m doing. Some of that probably spills over into my creative process, but then I do take some direct design inspiration too of course. Other than that; listening to music, being in the forest, by the ocean, or on a mountain or hill, really fuels me!
Q: Who should we talk to next?
T: You should talk to Jørgen! He always struck me as a very open-minded person with many interesting insights and perspectives, I always enjoy chatting with him.
Thanks, Tobias!
We’ll be back next month with more insights into uppercase and how we work — in the meantime, dig into our previous posts here.
