Her Story
About Monica
When I graduated college, I started working as a designer right away, but I was still exploring what I wanted to do. I've always been at an intersection of corporate design and artistic creativity, both being worlds that sometimes collide with each other. I like how creativity helps people express themselves and how art therapy works for people too, so I explored the world of art therapy, running workshops for children and for adults with learning disabilities. I ended up opting to go towards a world where I could explore my own creativity though. I went and got my Master's in Advertising from University of the Arts London (UAL). Before I finished my master's, I started an internship at RGA, an advertising agency, which turned into my freelance job for a little while. After that, I realised I wanted to work somewhere that had more impact on the world. Where I could see my own work and see myself grow. I started working at Octopus about 8 years ago, and that's where I've been ever since. Working in this intersection of design, creative, and User Experience. I essentially built the design team, expanded our branding, and evolved into my current role as Head of Design where I manage and mentor a lot of very creative people and work on campaigns, graphic design, product design and generally everything creative. My days involve actual designing of campaigns, product design, project management, and mentoring other designers. I set brand direction, I do a lot of our advertising, coming up with copy as well as design and creative direction for it. My key responsibilities are looking after the designers and protecting our brand, so my work can be like that of a head of brand and head of design.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Monica
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
As women, we don't tend to speak up enough, and we tend to put ourselves aside sometimes. I always remind women in the design field to speak up and to not be afraid to tell people that you're good at what you do. We forget to do that because we feel like we're bragging. Especially as designers, we tend to be our worst critics and can think that what we do is not enough, or there's a lot of perfectionism in the design world. So make sure that you tell yourself that what you do is enough. Post about achievements and things you've done. It's important for you to allow yourself, as a woman, to talk about the great things that you do and to not feel awkward when you do. We're really resilient, and we deserve all the opportunities that we do get given.
For designers specifically, be curious, be creative, be inquisitive. It's really important that you don't forget who you are. You bring a unique side of design and creativity by just being you, and I think the most incredible designers and creatives out there have been able to really bring a little bit of themselves into what they do. That is your unique thing, it's important, never set it aside.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now is the emergence of AI in design. There's a lot of concern about AI taking over our jobs, and I notice people are trying to steer away from design and coding jobs because of this concern. But as much as it is a challenge, it's also a really big opportunity. AI is great because it allows us to visualise our ideas with low effort and helps us do all the really boring stuff that, as creatives, we don't like to do. There's a lot of tiny things when you do design and creativity that are just taxing and AI is great there. But what AI doesn't bring us is that human part of design, the ideas that really speak to human beings, and that really help us solve problems in a loving, emotional and imperfect human way. Creating that emotional connection with people through creativity and design is the touch that we are going to be able to bring as human beings working for a brand.
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