When thinking about Viberate, or tech startups in general, people often associate design with websites, apps, and literal miles of datasheets. Well, the truth is, we DO work with a lot of those, but my work is far from just overseeing app design. So what exactly makes a design creative — in my case, an Art Director — and what kind of stuff does a design creative make? Let’s answer that through the three most common questions I get.

Is an art director a designer?

Yes, and more. An art director is like the design team leader. This doesn’t mean I get to waltz into the office and tell people what to do, it just means I take responsibility for our team’s output. And that’s plentiful, as Viberate’s creative design teams cover online, offline, and everything in between.

My partner in crime Luka Kaše and I handle the brand image: the UX & UI design of our platforms and apps, data visualisations for our editorial articles and media partnerships, marketing communication, interior design of our offices, photoshoots, video, social media, and so on. The creative process usually starts with a team meeting, telling a bunch of weird jokes to get the sparks flying, and then delivering products that look cool and are consistently on-brand.

Case in point: Viberate’s Tonight App campaign, where brand, product, and storytelling all have to work in sync.

Education or inspiration — what’s more important?

For me, design is more than creating good-looking images. It’s the cornerstone to any business identity. Having a degree in marketing obviously doesn’t hurt, but decent career mileage also makes you a good candidate for such a job. My background is in video, photography, graphic design, and advertising, so I got to merge all that experience and learned how to find the sweet spot between business goals and creative expression. And as for inspiration — at Viberate, our inspiration is music, so the ideas won’t run out anytime soon.

All in a week’s work!

Working on anything cool right now?

Always! If you thought January was busy just at your local gym, think again. We rolled out quite a few things as well: visuals for our Grammy analysis, videos and materials for both the London Music Conference and the Winter Music Conference, and still managed to squeeze a company video shoot into our schedule!

Having an office with a club vibe can come in handy.

Not gonna lie: the video shoot was a challenging task, as it had to fit into the schedules of 70+ people, cover all the “hottest” angles of our offices, include a simultaneous photoshoot, keep the collective energy up until 7 AM, and achieve ambitious visual goals.

It’s a wrap, and we’re somewhere between deliriously happy and just delirious.

Luckily, everyone was more than willing to go above and beyond, proving once again just how amazing our team spirit is. Sure, we’re a tech company, but our jobs are much more about working with people than working with computers. If I had to sum it up in a “grammable” quote: always bet on soft skills, not just a portfolio that kills.

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