Interview with Lana Raizen

I have always loved drawing and traveling. But when it was time to choose a profession, I started to study at the hotel business and tourism management. After graduating from the Academy and having worked for several years in the field of tourism, I realized that I would not particularly succeed in traveling with this profession, and I don’t have enough time for creative work. Then I decided to become a graphic designer, but office work didn't attract me anymore, so I became a freelancer. So, I was able to both realize my creativity and travel. I studied web design courses at the University of Novosibirsk. But I acquired all the professional skills myself, watched educational videos, read design books.

I prefer a light clean design, not overloaded with information or graphic elements. It is always more pleasant to watch a catalog or magazine with empty space, where the elements are arranged logically, and each has its own negative space, and it does not come into contact with another element.

Concentration. To create a good design, you need to immerse yourself in work, focus on every detail. If there is a distraction, it will not allow you to perform work at 100% quality.

I am very curious, I constantly read everything, study, even things not related to design. In addition, I can concentrate on the task, to immerse myself completely in the work. These are great qualities for a designer, because allow me to do work quickly and efficiently.

For a long time, I only worked on projects with different clients. There was a period when I had my own business - the monthly magazine about the musical life of my hometown. And only a couple of years ago I decided to do something really personal, for the soul, not commercial. So, I created a graphic book “Siberia”.
At about the same time, I decided to try participating in international design awards. I received a bronze at A'Design Award & Competition and silver and bronze at the Indigo Design Award. I want to continue to develop in design, to acquaint people with my works. In February of this year, I held an exhibition of my designs. I think that soon I will spend one more.
In my country, there are practically no possibilities for all the goals that I want to achieve in design. So now I am thinking about moving to another country, in which I can continue to develop as a designer.

Watch educational videos, read books about design, you can subscribe to the design community, they have a lot of useful information that helps to improve your skills. Engage in self-development and improve your skills.

My usual day begins with a healthy breakfast and coffee, after which I get to work, or rather to read my mail, I reply to letters on new projects, or on current ones. And after that, I am directly engaged in the design of current projects. Depending on my workload, my working day ends at 10-11 pm. If there is a lot of work, then I have to stay until morning. But always before going to bed, I read a design digest or design news in professional communities. If I still have the energy, then I watch the video on the design in the hope of learning something new that I don’t know yet.

I always try to follow the trends, but I do not always use them in my projects. Because most of the trends are now created only to stand out, but at the same time they are inconvenient. I want to say that in selling commercial design, using trends is not always a good idea, especially in my country, where people are more committed to the traditions and to the old and the familiar than to the new.

First of all, I pay attention to the combination of colors and shades, then to the grid. If the layout is chaos, then I cannot call this design a good one. For me, a good design is a correct, concise, built on a grid, but not without creativity the layout with harmoniously selected colors.

My biggest pride is my own project - a book about Siberia. Everything from the idea and the creation of the concept to the final layout is my work. I really like the result, and working on this project I received great pleasure.

I have no idols, I work in my own style and I am inspired not by people, but by nature. But I like the design attitude and some of the work of Chris Do.

The city in which I definitely fell in love - Newport in Oregon, US. I have never met such an unusual place with its pleasant atmosphere. I enjoy rock music, but at the same time I have periods when I listen to neoclassical music, it all depends on the inner state of the soul. Now I live in Russia, in the near future I plan to go on a trip to Europe, to be inspired by new beauties and ideas.

All my clients say that it is very easy to work with me, I understand the task from a half-word. There are even moments when the client does not know what he or she wants, but I guess his desires. I adore my work and my regular clients; they are wonderful people.

It is always a pleasure to win prizes, and now I know this from my own experience. After the winning, I began to receive more feedback, there are more new customers.

I like to create something new, and I don’t like to be tied to one place. Office work and a clear schedule is not for me. Therefore, to become a graphic designer freelancer is an ideal option for me.

Becoming a designer is completely my personal choice. Nobody imposed this profession on me, no one forced me to study design. I draw from my childhood, then I just began to process photos for myself, create collages, and only then I decided to turn my hobby into a profession.

I specialize in the design of catalogs and magazines. Besides this, I create different types of layouts: leaflets, posters, banners, corporate identity, design of social networks, presentations, full graphic support of awards and events, and so on. The work on multi-page publications and catalogs brings the most pleasure, therefore I undertake such work with great zeal.

Constantly develop, improve your skills, follow the trends, analyze the work of the best designers and try to create similar works in your style. The main thing is not to stop there and try to become more professional.

A good designer creates the well, correct and beautiful work. He or she just performs the task. A great designer does not just create a good and correct design, he creates a unique design, brings his unique style into it, creates something that is not yet in this world.

In my field, a really good design is not only beautiful, but technically correctly implemented, unique and creative. If we talk about catalogs, then just a beautiful catalog will not fulfill its function if it is not convenient for perceiving all the information that is in it. It is important to create it so that it attracts attention and brings meaning to the user.

A good design is always thoughtful, made taking into account many factors, such as: perception of colors and shapes, tactile sensations, if we are talking about material design, the target audience and so on. Such a design will fulfill its goal, increase sales, make the brand famous and recognizable, and highlight it among competitors. By investing in good design, you increase the chances of success for your company.

Concentration. To create a good design, you need to immerse yourself in work, focus on every detail. If there is a distraction, it will not allow you to perform work at 100% quality.

I have no idols, I work in my own style and I am inspired not by people, but by nature. But I like the design attitude and some of the work of Chris Do.

My own project is a graphic book “Siberia”. For me, it is the best, it was invented and created by me; it is unique and not similar to other books.

Watch educational videos, read books about design, you can subscribe to the design community, they have a lot of useful information that helps to improve your skills.

I think that I would become a nutritionist, this is my hobby now. And I dream to be an astronaut

My spouse is my biggest support. I think he is the only one who truly believes in me, sometimes even more than I do.

Now I am working on current projects of my regular clients. Nothing fancy, just ordinary advertising design for brand promotion. But besides that, I am working on another project of my own, I am creating thematic postcards of US National Parks. I am doing this project for myself, in memory of traveling around the US, but maybe I will show the final result to the world.

I want to open my own media agency and a professional school where I can share my experience and transfer my knowledge to other designers. I want to create projects that will help other designers to develop, be implemented and just have a good time.

Most of all I enjoyed the creation of the book “Siberia”. One night I got the idea to create a book about my native region, which is interestingly designed and thanks to which in a few hours you can get a complete picture of Siberia. For several days I was thinking over the details of this project, and then proceeded to its implementation. I collected all the necessary information for a month, studied the statistics of Siberian cities, searched for interesting facts about them, etc. As a result, a couple of months later I printed the first copy of the book. This project participated in the international Indigo Design Award 2019 and became a silver winner.

I think that every year the design will become more unusual, more creative, but at the same time it will be heavy to the perception and less convenient. This trend is already visible. Every year new trends appear, and many designers implement them in their projects, not always thinking about whether this effect is appropriate in the project. The result is an interesting modern design that does not carry any useful function. Recently, many designers think less about the convenience of perception, they are only important a picture.

It depends on the specific project. One catalog of 64 pages may take 1 day, and with another client 2 months. It all depends on the efficiency of the client, on the availability of the necessary content, for example, there are situations when the client does not have good product photos for the catalog, then a photo session is organized for the product, then it takes time to process the received photos. It all takes a lot of time, and work on the catalog is delayed. If all the content is provided by the client, and I only need to create a design and layout, then depending on the complexity, it may take only one day.

I analyze all the information provided by the client. On its basis, I create a grid of the document that will be the foundation of the project, then proceed directly to the design itself.

Do it quickly, but qualitatively, beautifully, but conveniently.

I work with the Adobe software package: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro.

Color plays a very important role in the design. It causes certain emotions. Knowing all the subtleties of color perception, you can use the design to control the consumer. About this, I even wrote an article for a scientific journal. The material is no less important, since tactile sensations can play a crucial role in the choice between two competing items.

I work alone on catalogs and magazines, as well as other printed projects or presentations. But I collaborate with a video editor on video design, he is my husband, so I am confident in the success of the project and trust him completely.

I am extremely happy with every award I receive. I'm not so famous that it caused me any inconvenience.

I love pastel and calm colors and shades. If we talk about pure color, then black and red are my favorites. The place where I felt peaceful and happy was a small-town Portland in Oregon, USA. That was the most comfortable and relaxing place I've ever been to. I adore chocolate, but I rarely eat it, because in my country it is difficult to find real high-quality chocolate, and if it is, then it’s very expensive. I prefer winter season, this is the time when I can fully immerse myself in work, for weeks without leaving my home. I live in Siberia now, and the winters are very cold here, so I don’t want to go outside. I am not obsessed with brands and names, it is important for me that the thing is of high quality, comfortable and reliable.

I have always loved to draw. When I was a child, I studied in art school for a short time. I was born in a very small town, there was practically no room for the development of artistic talent. But my parents are great at drawing. Mother can easily draw any character, and my father perfect in technical drawings. Therefore, I always drawing, especially when I was sad. Drawing helped to calm down and get back balance.

I am not a public person. I love peace and quiet, I am inspired by nature, and I love to travel, especially by car. I also like to sleep and read.

I don’t represent a design studio. I am a freelancer; I find clients for myself and I contact them directly. Although my team has a video editor, he's my spouse. Some projects we work together.

Design is too broad a concept. For me, this is first of all a technically correct, beautiful, unique and easy-to-read layout, since I specialize in print design and multi-page layout.

I enjoy most of all the work on catalogs of some products or collections, where I need to think through every detail and its location, select photos or arrange special photo shoots to get the necessary photos for the catalog.

I do not have one favorite design, I put a piece of myself in each project, therefore large projects, on which I have long and painstakingly worked are my favorites. Although perhaps my own project stands out among all, the graphic book about Siberia. I came up with it by myself, and absolutely everything in this book was created by me.

My first design, for which I received a monetary reward, was the design of a website for a beauty salon in Novosibirsk. At that time, I was just beginning to learn the scope of design and first decided to try myself in the web category.

My favorite tool for the work is the InDesign program by Adobe. I love clarity and orderliness, and it is the program that helps to do everything on the grid, to comply with all the subtleties and in many ways simplifies the work on multi-page publications.

Creativity is rushing at the nighttime from me, most often when I try to fall asleep, I have the brightest ideas that I embody in the project the next day. If I need a creative attitude during the day, then I take inspiration from the scenery outside the window or from photographs of nature. Nature shows the most beautiful sights.

First of all, I try to create a perceptual structure by which I place all the information. Then I create the design - beautiful elements and a complete design that makes the project unique.

Concentration. I completely concentrate on the design, sometimes not even noticing what is happening around me. I immerse myself in work with my head, and if nothing distracts me, then I lose track of time working on the project.

First, emptiness, as if the design takes a piece of me, the feeling that children experience when their favorite toy was taken away. But after it, when I see and hear the positive reactions to my work by people, I feel joy and admiration.

In my field, a well-thought-out design that is not only beautiful, but technically correctly implemented, unique and creative, will be successful. If we talk about catalogs, then just a beautiful catalog will not fulfill its function if it is not convenient for perceiving all the information that is in it. It is important to create it so that it attracts attention and brings meaning to the user.

First of all, I evaluate the overall picture, whether it is clear to me. I compare what emotions it causes and what should it cause. Then I consider in more detail the entire technical part of the layout. Although if the emotions are negative, then I don’t even try to look further.

The design is constantly evolving. Every year new trends appear. Although the basis for the design was laid many years ago, we still use developments made at the beginning of the last century, nevertheless, each designer puts in his or her ideas, creates something new, thereby developing the design, setting trends. Design is everywhere now. In each area, there is a huge competition and it is the design that helps to make the company unique, to distinguish it from a huge number of competitors, and together with PR campaigns, it takes the lead in the market. There will be no uniqueness and recognition without design.

My past exhibition was in Russia, at my hometown Novosibirsk in February 2019. It was an exhibition of my most striking works, and there was the presentation of my book “Siberia”. The next exhibition, in which my work that took at the A’Design Award 2018-2019 participates, will take place from June 10, 2019 at The Museum of Outstanding Design in Como, Italy.

Most often, I am inspired by nature, natural colors and shapes. I received a huge supply of inspiration after traveling through the US National Parks. I traveled by car throughout the West States from south to north and back, visiting the best natural places such as the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Death Valley, Yellowstone, Olympic and many others. Each place was unique and created not by man, but by nature for many centuries. The received impressions and emotions still inspire me to be creative.

I design in different styles, it all depends on the project, its purpose and target audience. I prefer concise design that is not overloaded with graphics and text so that there is a lot of empty space for the design to “breathe”. When there is a lot of complex textual information, I try to use typography, turn the text into an interesting object that you want to consider, and thus the goal is fulfilled - the text is read.

Now I live in Russia, in the Siberian region in the city of Novosibirsk. In Russia, a special design and attitude to it. World trends come here with a very long delay of several years. Most people resist to everything new; they are holding onto the way they are already accustomed to; therefore, it is very difficult to implement modern design in Russian projects. Local companies do not give complete freedom of creativity to designers. The project created by the designer changes by companies in such a way that, as a result, there is no trace of the original correct, convenient and beautiful design.

I work with many Russian and foreign companies; many have been my regular clients for more than eight years. As a freelancer, I can work from anywhere in the world with any company.

I offer a high-quality modern and unique design. My distinguishing feature is the high speed of work, while the quality of my work does not suffer. Absolutely all my clients say that they have never met such an operative designer as me.

I have my own work technology, which allows to make a design very quickly and efficiently. Of course, I will not reveal all the secrets of my work, I will only say that it is important for me to catch inspiration and concentration.

There are no unique design items in my house. Everything is simple, concise, without excesses and everything is in soothing colors, for me it is important, because I work at home.

The main thing that constant is self-development. Watch the training videos, read books, look at the work of other designers, and those that you like, analyze, try to break them down into small details to understand how the design turned out, what techniques were used, and then try to incorporate these techniques into your designs. Learn the trends, bring your ideas into them.

Of the benefits - it is the realization of my creativity potential. I like to create something new; I like the feeling of how my brain works, trying to think of something that does not exist yet. Of the minuses - design is a matter of taste. Someone likes my design, someone doesn't. Therefore, working with different people often encounter the fact that I have to do a design that will appeal to the client, but I don’t like it myrself.

Plasticity, multitasking and creativity. You need to be able to work with different clients, in different styles, sometimes even in those that you have never tried. Often you have to work on several projects at once. To create a unique design is also very important.

I work with the Adobe software package: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro. Well, the main tool for design is my brain, it decides what we will create, how and in which program.

I try to distribute tasks correctly. Sometimes there is an overlay and I need to submit several projects in a short time. Then I have to work at night, sometimes until the morning. Sometimes I want the day to be not 24 hours, but at least 28, so that there is time for hobbies and recreation.

It depends on the specific project. One catalog of 64 pages may take 1 day, and with another client 2 months. It all depends on the efficiency of the client, on the availability of the necessary content, for example, there are situations when the client does not have good product photos for the catalog, then a photo session is organized for the product, then it takes time to process the received photos. It all takes a lot of time, and work on the catalog is delayed. If all the content is provided by the client, and I only need to create a design and layout, then depending on the complexity, it may take only one day.

All the major projects I have worked on are important to me, since each of them gave me invaluable experience, in many of them I learned a lot of new things, overcame some kind of internal barriers.

In Russia they are large manufacturers of various products, for example, Kalitva - a manufacturer of kitchenware, whose catalog took the A’Design Award 2018-2019. There are also manufacturers of children's playground equipment, media agencies working with global brands such as Denso, KYB, Petronas, Bosal and others. International interior studios, Spanish nets manufacturer, American magazine and many others. I have dozens of loyal clients from all over the world.

Most of all I like to make catalogs and magazines. I like working with grids, having clear borders and at the same time inventing and breaking these borders without creating gross violations in the design. In addition, I work on catalogs of different companies, I learn a lot of new things, for example, I know the technology for creating pans and what kinds of them exist; I know a lot about towbars and how to select them for a particular car, the same applies to wipers, roof racks. Thanks to the creation of catalogs, I know what kind of lifting equipment exists, how fixing tools are created and much more. I get knowledge that I myself would not have sought.

Now I am considering moving to another country. In Russia, I do not see my further development, here I have achieved the maximum I aspired to. Therefore, I want to gain experience in another country in which the design is more developed, where there are more opportunities. I hope in the coming years to change my place of residence and continue my development in design.

I work alone on projects. Sometimes I work on a video design with my spouse - he is a video editor. I can only rely on him in my work, since I tried to work in a team, but each time other designers broke deadlines. No one could work as fast as I did.

You can contact me with the Behance website https://www.behance.net/lanaraizen422d, there is my portfolio and the opportunity to send me a message. In response, I will transfer the communication to e-mail. It is an e-mail that is the most efficient way to communicate with me, since I do not always answer phone calls if I am immersed in working process. And I prefer to keep all questions on projects in correspondence, so that later there will be no misunderstandings or missed moments. You can also find me on social networks as Lana Raizen.