Arndtteunissen employee Simon in interview

Arndtteunissen: You are our newest employee and work as a Junior Art Director at our agency. How did you find your way to us?
Simon: I studied communication design at the Hochschule Düsseldorf, with a focus on editorial design and corporate design, and afterwards often worked freelance for Arndtteunissen. That worked really well and ultimately led to a permanent position. I was very pleased about that, as I feel very much at home in Düsseldorf.

So you never felt the urge to break out for a while? 
Oh yes, I always wanted to get out of the city. That is why it was clear to me right at the start of my studies that I wanted to spend a semester abroad. I ended up in Växjö in Sweden.

That does not sound like a big city. 
No, Växjö is exactly the opposite: a village of 60,000 souls. But that was part of the challenge. I wanted to experience something completely different from Düsseldorf. Get to know a new culture that in turn opens up new perspectives for me. Especially with regard to design.

Because Sweden is known for a special eye in this field?
You do hear that quite often. Not only in the design industry. But I wanted to get my own impression.

And was it confirmed?
Definitely! I noticed a general understanding of design there right away. It started in everyday life. The Swedish attitude to life, for example, is called "Lagom", which means roughly "not too much and not too little".

Did this wisdom also make itself felt in your studies?
In terms of the feasibility of projects, I had the impression that they were much further ahead there. For example, we had to submit our documentation exclusively in digital form. For me that meant less work, so I could focus more on the final productions.

How did those go?
Compared with Germany, in Sweden I did not have as many options to fall back on different printers, producers & co. I was therefore much more on my own. But that meant I learned fairly quickly to resort to alternative processes.

What else did your stay there teach you?
It sharpened my eye for the big picture. It showed me how important it is to consider all factors by going through the world more openly and in a more relaxed way. And, true to the motto "Lagom", finally finding the ideal middle ground.

Only in a professional sense? 
I also took a lot of it away with me privately. From the very first moment I was confronted with so much that was new. A foreign language that I did not yet speak, sunsets at 3 pm … That was an enormous adjustment. Today it is hard to ruffle me, and I always face things calmly.

Thank you, Simon, for the interview and your relaxed attitude – even when things get more stressful :)