"Being able to bring an idea to life, visualising what others can't see, and making that into someones' identity, their brand, is a superpower."

How did you get started in your role as a designer?

I've always had a passion for design. Ever since I was a little girl, my favourite place to be was in my own creative bubble. I would get lost in my own little world, everything else a blur while I expressed myself in the best way I knew how.

It was shaping my emotions, thoughts and ideas in any medium I could find. On that note, it would be crazy not to pursue something that came to me so naturally, and that's how I harvested my childhood passion into becoming a designer.

What are the responsibilities of your role as a designer?

I'm a consultant so my days differ depending on my project. However, a lot of my time is spent in Figma doing mockups and prototypes. Other than that you can find me in Webflow, Illustrator and After Effects developing different assets for my internal team or external clients, as well as fixing bugs or providing client requests on their websites.

A lot of people come to me to bring their ideas and concepts to life, as many find it difficult to visualise what they actually need or want. One of my favourite things about design is taking something abstract and make it a reality, seeing something come to life.

As a designer, how do you stay inspired?

If I'm stuck, I ask people around me questions to get their thoughts. What do you think of when I say cat? Describe a dream you've had of a cat. What are your feelings towards cats?

I ask a lot of random questions about a subject and if they say something interesting, I follow that line of thought. It becomes a roadmap of randomness but can often break me out of my bubble and see things in a different way.

Nature and your surroundings are often a great inspiration as well. Look at perspectives, shapes, patterns, materials. Don't get stuck on Pinterest.

How do you incorporate these apps in your design process?

Pinterest is for gathering inspo, along with Dribble and Behance. Notion is for tracking the project and keeping notes. Figma is for presentations, wireframes and prototypes. Illustrator is for static graphic assets, while animate and after effects is to create motion graphics and short animations.

What difficulties do you encounter in your role as a designer?

One thing I've found difficult as a designer is having too many ideas. Now, that might sound a little stupid but hear me out. There's a lot of inspiration and talented designers out there. There's so much information to process, use or throw away.

All this leads to doubt as to the amount of ideas you have. Have you done enough? Have you covered everything? It can lead to developing too many ideas and too many mockups doing too much work when a client might have been happy with one or two.

That's why my advice is to trust yourself and your skills. If the client doesn't like your suggestions, then they'll tell you. You can then pull an idea out of your back pocket or do something different. Don't show your entire hand at once, but keep some of them and you often end up using them later in the process or a different project all together.

Often, you wanting to impress the client by showing x number of ideas ends up with you overwhelming them instead. Have all your ideas, but keep some of em to yourself.

What advice would you give to your younger self trying to get into the field of design?

There are a lot of great designers out there, but that doesn't mean you're not as talented or possibly even better. Trust yourself, your ideas and your individual spark that sets you apart from everyone else.