Today, we’d like to share our interview with Tina Touli. Tina is a creative director and graphic communication designer living and working in South East London. She currently runs Tina Touli Design, her own multidisciplinary studio, and she teaches at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. She works in a great variety of design fields including branding, typography, editorial design, web design, and animation.

Do you have a morning routine?

I am more of a night owl so my mornings are not the best. I usually wake up after 5-6 alarms, I make a cup of tea and have some breakfast while checking emails and doing any admin work required.

After an hour or two I will start getting more productive and I will work on creative tasks and projects.

What is the best thing about working from home?

I hate wasting time, so I always try to be as productive as possible every. For example, I reply on emails when I am on the bus, I am brainstorming on my way to a meeting, etc.

Moreover, I really enjoy working on various projects at the same time, so when I am stuck, tired or not in a mood to work further on one of them, I jump on another one. But sometimes it happens that I need a break from work just to clear your mind. And that is what I love the most when working from home, when I feel like I need a break, I can still use my time efficiently by doing something totally different.

Which softwares do you use while creating?

I love challenging myself by setting up new goals and learn new skills and techniques. I always enjoy improving my skills on softwares that I am already familiar with, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premier, After Effects, Media Encoder and Cinema 4D and learn new softwares or softwares that I have a very basic knowledge on such as Unity and Processing.

Do you work on personal projects in your spare time?

I am inclined to believe that self initiated projects are a must in order to develop as a designer. They give you the space to experiment and improve yours skills.

For me, it is mostly about the process rather than the outcome when it comes to personal projects. Is a journey that allows me to practice and discover new concepts and techniques that I can then creatively implement to my client’s work.

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