Our Q&A series starts with Graphic Designer Diana Morobo and she talks about her work and how tools like acteamo influence her daily workflow.

Tell us a little bit about you and what kind of work you do.

I am a Graphic Designer and do mostly freelance work. What I like most about being freelancer is that I am independent what jobs I want to take, where I want to work and I can bring in my own style. Most of my clients give me the freedom to first show them my design ideas before they overflow me with their interpretation. Most of my projects are about branding, logos, typography and website design. So a pretty diverse field.

How did you get into Graphic Design?

As we are surrounded by design every day, in magazines, buildings and websites I thought about how this influences us. Colours, structures and patters tell a story and that was when I wanted to tell stories myself. I self-taught myself in software and through continued learning and did my first freelance job by designing my uncle`s companies’ logo.

What do you love about your job?

I am a really hands-on person and live a quite nomadic life so being a freelancer is quite a great fit as I am not bound to one location. I love the feedback that I am getting from satisfied customers and I enjoy building close relationships and work on new ideas with them. With their support I am able to earn my living by doing what I love and I am passionate about.

What inspires you?

My inspirations come from people and what they are wearing. Sometimes I sit on a bench with my sketch pad in a park or bus stop and just watch passers-by. I look at their cloth how they flow and the different formations of the wrinkles in shirts and pants. I try to catch these lines on paper so I can use them later on for any lettering or logo designs.

So you usually start with pencil and paper?

Yes, my design process starts out with pen and paper. As I mentioned beforehand I am a hands-on person so this is the first step in any project. Once I feel like I have a base I can work on, I bring my ideas to the computer. On the computer I put on the final touches before sending the first draft to the client. And then the marathon starts with feedback and changes, back and forth.

And therefore you use acteamo?

Exactly. At the beginning emailing was the go to communication tool between my clients and me. Sometime I had to use a cloud storage software as my files where too big for the email client and an Excel sheet to keep track of the different projects. Then I got frustrated with all the different tools and that they do not synchronize. I started looking for an easy to use work management tool which helps me keep track of all my clients, projects and tasks. Acteamo was the fourth one I tested and I still use it as it is the most convenient one and it helps me to design instead of spending time filling out spreadsheets.

So what are you plans for the future?

A big dream of mine is to create my own Typography Book. It should be for professional designers as well as for lovers of letterforms. A collection of fonts over the time, traditional lettering and also how the technological progress influenced colours and forms.

Thank you Diana for taking the time for doing this interview. In closing, what would be an advice you would give someone who is just getting started in design?

There is one quote, which helped me a lot in the beginning: “Every great design begins with an even better story.” – Lorinda Mamo

Spend a good amount of time brainstorming about the concept and what story you want to tell. Do your research on the target audience and collect relevant information, as it is the only way to create an original and inventive design.