arndtteunissen Team Member Christina in Interview

Dutch? No, Afrikaans. Why are we suddenly speaking a minority language from South Africa? Because our new colleague Christina worked at an advertising agency in Cape Town for six months. In the interview, she tells us what took her there and what role “eating together” plays for her.

arndtteunissen: After a design internship at our agency, you now support the team as a permanently employed communication designer. Where did you learn your craft?
Christina: Even at school, the creative subjects were my favourites. So I did my work placement back then with a photographer. After that, it quickly became clear to me that I wanted to study communication design. I eventually ended up at the Hochschule Düsseldorf, where I also recently completed my degree.

What was your thesis about?
It was important to me to deal with a currently relevant issue, so I chose the topic “integration of refugees”. I came up with a solution that could make it easier for them to find their feet in a new country. The result was a fictional pop-up store in which everything revolved around food. The concrete idea: the store, called “YUMMY”, is run by refugees and thus offers them a future perspective. At the same time, it serves as a platform to present their respective cultures.

What did that look like in practice?
In designing the logo and the imagery, I made sure that the refugees’ origins and the diversity of their nationalities and cultures really come to the fore. For example, the colours of national flags, a collage-like mix of letters and typefaces, and food photography of traditional dishes from each country were incorporated into the corporate design. All against the background that eating together connects people and that you get to know each other better through interaction.

Are you speaking from personal experience?
Definitely. You know it from everyday life. But I noticed it especially during my internship abroad in Cape Town. The ice simply breaks faster when you chat over a cosy lunch break about personal topics such as different cultures or current projects at work.

Where exactly did you work in Cape Town?
At an advertising agency that works mainly in print and branding. I already enjoyed that most during my studies. So in my search, I mainly looked for those focus areas.

What else was important to you?
Even though I’m otherwise enthusiastic about design-savvy countries such as Switzerland or the Netherlands, I wanted to take the unique opportunity to get to know cultures that were still unfamiliar to me. When I then found out that Cape Town, as “World Design Capital 2014”, has plenty to offer, my mind was made up and I sent unsolicited applications to various agencies. After a successful phone interview via Skype, I finally knew exactly where I was heading.

Were there no language barriers in the interview?
Happily, none at all. For one thing, before my flight to South Africa I took another language course to refresh my English. For another, South Africans are really warm and open people. If a word was missing, we simply communicated with hands and feet. Only the second official language, Afrikaans, was a mystery to me. But even that I partly understood by the end. Well, at least when it was written (laughs). Since it’s very similar to Dutch, you can sometimes guess the words.

Would you take the same step again?
Absolutely! It was really exciting and extremely instructive. Not just when it comes to languages. When you’re abroad, you’re simply completely on your own. In a situation like that, you develop extremely quickly.

And what has now brought you to arndtteunissen?
I became aware of arndtteunissen during my studies. When looking for an internship for the semester break or a position for the practical semester … the agency kept catching my eye. Because the focus on corporate design, corporate print and corporate digital media coincides completely with my interests. And what else I like: the personal atmosphere, the mix of large and small clients and the love of detail. My new colleagues have that too, by the way, when cooking together at lunchtime (winks).

We are delighted to now have Christina as a permanent part of our team.