Dear students and journalists. Before you write to me with questions for your assignment, please read the answers below. After years of receiving the same questions, I decided to make a FAQ for you - this is a source of answers to the most common questions I am asked. Enjoy!
WHERE I STUDIED
I was born with crayons in my hand. For as long as I can remember I've been cutting out, painting, and making exhibitions at my grandmother's kitchen, which my dad has been recording and photographing since 1995. Not much has changed in the last 30 years because, thanks to perseverance, I didn't stifle my childhood creativity. It was not easy - my artistic education lasted 9 years: 4 years in high school with a special art program and 5 years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk.
WHY AND WHEN I BECAME A GRAPHIC DESIGNER
All my life I thought I would become an artist, a painter or a restorer. When I was 19 it was time to choose a university - I had no idea what to do in life, so together with a friend I went to the entrance exam to the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk to major in graphic design. At the beginning of my studies, I wanted to go into artistic graphic design, but it soon became clear that the cost of living in a big city was higher and the opportunities were greater - I started working on small projects to simply earn money. I wasn't convinced that design was for me, but after a year of casual work I already knew - I would not become an artist. I wasn't an exceptional student, I made up for it by being a hard worker. In the beginning it was others who believed in me and I guess that was the moment when I thought that being a designer was probably something I knew how to do best and it was worth sticking to.
WOMAN AND GRAPHIC DESIGN INDUSTRY
My parents raised me with the belief that I can do anything and have no limitations. All I need is to be consistent, honest and hardworking. Talent doesn't hurt, of course, but I don't believe in such a thing as talent - instead I would say predisposition. I entered the world of design and business with this belief. I never thought there was gender discrimination, pay inequality or disrespect. I discovered this over time – the longer I worked, the more I met different clients, the more often one would encounter the suggestion that female design is defined, different, inferior. For me, design has no gender, it can only be good or bad. Period. Although I do not support the division between “men's” and “women's” design, my mission is to support women designers and increase their visibility. That's why a few years ago, just for fun, I made T-shirts with the slogans “Design like a girl” and “Fake it, girl you make it.” I didn't expect that these two innocent slogans would start a discourse in the industry about what role women play in design. Since then, I have received hundreds of messages from women designers sharing their stories, thanking me for speaking up or simply writing to me to talk. From this place I would also like to thank you, and if you want to meet other female designers from Poland, I invite you here.
COLLABORATION IS FUN
Over the past few years, I've been discovering the power of collaboration between designers, illustrators, painters and all people who take a creative approach to the reality around them. In 2019, the #prettyuglycollab project was created which began a series of annual collaborations with people whose work I greatly appreciate. 2018 [1], [2], [3], 2023, 2024 (soon). I'm always proud that I can embrace my fellow designers instead of competing with them.
Because I really believe in people, their kindness and willingness to create together.