Siyana Ivanova ➜ Freelancing off the grid

In this episode, Filip and Ines will interview Jade Meneve, a Chapter Lead (Design Manager) at ING.  Listen to this very eager and ambitious designer tell her story of her amazing career stretching from launching chickens into an airplane engine to leading, managing and coaching fellow designers. No chickens were harmed during the recording of this episode :) This interview was recorded in January 2022.

In this episode, Filip and Jorn will interview Noukka Signe, a senior product designer at Klarna. Noukka has always dreamt about working abroad and in the beginning of 2020 she finally decided to take that big step. She will tell us more about her journey moving from the Netherlands to Stockholm and after to Berlin, all in the short period of 2 years. This interview was recorded in January 2022.

In this episode Filip and Jorn will interview Qa’id Jacobs. Qa’id made early on a shift in his career. When the music industry did not work out, it was in design that he found his purpose.  As a designer, Qa’id is passionate not only in designing great products, but also the culture around them.  Originally from New Jersey, it was curiosity that brought him to Amsterdam. Where he is now trying to shape the culture in the city around his favourite sport, basketball. This interview was recorded in December 2021

In this episode, Jorn and Inês will interview Siyana Ivanova. A freelance visual designer, with a heart for digital and motion, people and emotions. The freelance part of that description is relatively new and she will explain how that came to be. If you want to take the jump into freelancing or just simply wondering about it - this is the episode for you. She will also introduce us to the new book in her life - going really remote, very remote... off-the-grid remote!

In this episode Inês and Filip will interview Olga Mishyna, Lead designer at the global payment provider Adyen. Born and raised in Belarus, Olga has always had big ambitions. She initially wanted to set up and build a design culture in her home country after her studies abroad. However various reasons made her change her mind. This is how she ended up in the Netherlands, starting a career at companies such as KLM, ING and now Adyen. Listen to Olga tell her very interesting and personal story in her own words. Why she ended up looking for a job outside her home country. How the COVID-pandemic has affected her daily work and what her future will bring.

In this episode, Jorn and Filip will interview Toma Lulgjuraj, Strategy Director at the We Are You digital design agency in Amsterdam. Design has taken Toma from Italy to Australia and finally (or at least at the moment) to the Netherlands. You will follow the evolution (or graduation as he calls it) of his career starting from his web designer days all the way through becoming a UX designer in bugaboo and booking.com and strategist at We Are You. Besides this, we’ll talk about diversity, education, and basketball!

In this episode, Filip and Jorn will interview Pragam Rathore, a designer at ING in Amsterdam. You will hear about Pragam’s time in India, where he is from originally. And what made him switch from mechanical engineering to design. A researcher at heart, it was in South Korea that Pragam first left his comfort zone. He will tell us about his time at Samsung, where he was part of a team that researched “the next mobile ideas”.

In this episode, Filip and Jorn will interview Tatiana Sidorenkova, a UX researcher at the payments platform Adyen. If you live in Amsterdam and go to meet-ups you most likely have heard of Tatiana. She is one of the organisers of the Amsterdam UX meet-up and a familiar face amongst designers. Always passionate about her work, it was the movie iRobot that made her curious about the interaction between humans and machines, and that brought her to study in the Eindhoven University of Technology. From Russia to the Netherlands, from child psychology to UX research, join us in this delightful conversation!

In this episode you will hear Inês and Filip interview an old colleague: Karen Groenink, Head of Product Strategy & Design at Speakap. Karen has had quite an interesting career so far. Her education wasn’t in the design space at all, but she soon discovered it was a perfect fit for her. Karen can particularly be seen as a pioneer in designing for mobile. Her career ranges from Dutch telco KPN, to tech giant Google, to financials like ABN Amro and ING. Karen had changed her job right before the COVID-pandemic hit; hear her explain how this has impacted her daily work.

In this episode Inês and Filip interview their colleague Gregory Ek, Global Design center of expertise lead at ING. Born and raised in France, Gregory soon wanted to spread his wings and see the world. This brought him to a variety of countries, with South-Korea being the most exotic. Discover the struggle Gregory faced as a European in a South-Korean company, ready to take on the big boys from America. And how he managed to transform the design department within ING during a global pandemic.