In her lecture “Work Work Balance”, Saskia Schmidt talks about her personal path to independence and also her ups and downs during her design career.
Everything started with a design education in her hometown. She decided to learn more about design and started her Information Design study in Graz. Philipp Kanape course also leaded her to specialize in Branding.
Due to a lack of enthusiasm for programming, she had time for an internship, which she could do at EnGarde. She describes this time as one of her best experiences where she learned essential thinks to start a project.
“Ein guter Gestalter kennt die Regeln und setzt sie außer Kraft.”
This means that only when you know all the rules you can consciously integrate or break them in the design to create something extraordinary.
After her time at EnGarde, the next internship was just around the corner: Studio Grau and Wednesday Paper Works in Berlin. She talks about her learning outcomes and the advantages of smaller studios. Also by showing some cool project, her bachelor thesis was also included which she wrote at Studio Grau. After graduating she found her first job where she was not quite satisfied. Therefore she decided to work at Von K Design at the same time.
„Du kannst nicht auf alles scheißen & dich dann wundern wenn’s stinkt“
Actually she wanted to work independently, which is why she quit her two jobs. It doesn’t worked out fully so she cooperated with EnGarde again for a short time project. After that, she really wanted to work exclusively on her own – but it didn’t work out again. Unexpectedly a call came from Studio Grau in Berlin. She again held back her independence to take the opportunity to represent the managing director because she got pregnant. She was not only working as a designer anymore, but also had to deal with management tasks. The projects which were created at that time were really impressive for me.
Her network, which she had already built up during her time in Graz, was her foundation for her career. Today, she works with a broad network of agencies, many of which originated during her internship and they became really good friends to her.
I really liked this lecture because I could comprehend so many situations. What I also find interesting is that she also describes the importance of not only working for big prestigious design agencies, but also of looking more closely at which company is most appealing to you. I will definitely keep that in mind.
