Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Asja Dupanović
Photo: Igor Soban, PIXSELL
Martina Ukić and Ana Tavić were taken by surprise when they won this year’s Croatian Young Lions competition, but others from Studio Sonda, Vižinada, say it was no surprise at all for them. According to Studio Sonda, Martina and Ana daily prove that they are lionesses who know what they want, and creatives who have great potential and a lot to show.
Martina is a graduated designer of visual communications. She has exhibited at ZGRAF and the Day D exhibition, and she won the main prize of the Magdalena Festival in 2013.
Ana is a graduate economist in management studies, with long experience in a non-profit organization. At Sonda, she works as a copywriter, but she loves to join other tasks as well and collaborate with her colleagues.
MM: What attracted you the most to join the advertising waters?
Martina Ukić: I think curiosity is the reason why I am where I am. Design gives me the opportunity to peek into the other spheres of human creativity, to find out what other people are doing, and the greatest satisfaction comes when someone’s work is presented and message communicated in a good way.
Ana Tavić: Actually, I’ve only recently changed my profession. After the Faculty of Economics, I was employed in a non-profit organization for five years. I needed a change. I wanted to see how it was like in the profit sector, so I came to Studio Sonda six months ago. The job description is not that different. In the non-profit, my job was to reach as many users as possible, while in advertising, besides reaching potential buyers, our job is also to sell a product.
MM: Does Martina have some role model among the established designers in Croatia, region or the world? Is there someone whom you particularly admire and from whom you’ve learned a lot?
Martina Ukić: I admire the most my friends, because I know how hard they work and how much effort they invest. I am immeasurably happy that they succeeded to stand out in the world of creativity, and that they still fight for honest and innovative design.
MM: What kind of projects you particularly enjoy?
Martina Ukić: I love working on different projects, although it demands a little more effort. I believe that this makes me more productive, as it enables me to move away from the work in my mind and look at it from a different angle.
Ana Tavić: My favourite projects are the ones which make me feel that I’m leaving a mark on the community and in society in general. I love non-profit organizations and businesses who “sell” what I truly believe in.
MM: Was the recent competition for Young Lions of Croatia one such project? What do you think was the magic ingredient that brought you victory and the trip to Cannes this year?
Martina Ukić: The Young Lions competition was a real challenge, which Ana and I managed to solve with simplicity. Just as Dieter Rams said – less is more. It happens to all of us to fall into a vicious circle when we work, and we constantly try to force some solutions, even though we know that the best solutions are the simplest ones.
Ana Tavić: Young Lions were exactly one of those projects – it’s a project in which I truly enjoyed creating a solution. Taking into account my professional background, but also interest in zero-waste lifestyle, this project couldn’t have been a better fit. I believe that our solution was a win because we devised it from the zero-waste perspective. We removed everything unnecessary, and each element was well thought out and fit in the broader picture.
You can see Martina & Ana’s winning work from Young Lions Croatia here.
MM: Now that the first impressions have settled, how do you perceive the possibilities that are opening up for you with the win at this competition? How excited are you for all that is to come?
Martina Ukić: Winning this competition, of course, means a lot to us. Such an award is always a great motivation and confirmation to us that we work well as a team. But there’s no room for relaxation, because the real challenge is yet to come.
Ana Tavić: First of all I have to say that we entered the competition to test our limits, and see if we could succeed in producing a creative solution within a tight deadline. And we also wanted to see how well the two of us would work in a team, since we haven’t known each other longer before the competition.
It was only after the awards ceremony that we realized: “Hey, we’re going to Cannes!”
We are excited, we look forward to meeting new people and new experiences, and we are grateful for this opportunity that doesn’t come to many.
MM: How are you preparing for the Young Lions competition in Cannes?
Martina Ukić: We don’t have any special preparations, apart from going to work every day and trying to give our best in our everyday work.
Ana Tavić: We aren’t preparing. After the win, we returned to our everyday routine and work on other projects at Sonda. We look forward to Cannes, but we are not stressing ourselves with the outcomes. We will give our best, but we also won’t forget to enjoy this wonderful experience.
MM: The whole world is in a state of crisis. People say that creative ideas can help solve a range of problems. What is your opinion on that?
Martina Ukić: Creative work can draw your attention to something. It can encourage you to think and even act, it can change or reinforce your attitudes, but I still don’t think we have so much power that we could change the world to any great extent.
Ana Tavić: The simple definition of the design we used was that design actually solves a problem. Designers are the ones who can realize the existence of a certain issue and then creatively work on its solution. Creative ideas often go outside the framework, and sometimes what is needed is exactly that – to muster the courage and think differently. Then, the solution comes to you.
MM: Are young creatives braver than their senior colleagues?
Martina Ukić: Young people, who still do not have a career that they’ve built, can afford some crazy ideas, because their mistakes are viewed differently. However, the most important of all is what the client is like, and what the art director is like, because ultimately, freedom in work depends on them. Agencies in the region are certainly brave in making brave ideas, but clients usually aren’t, and therefore we often see good works that could have been exceptional, only if they were given a chance to be such.
Ana Tavić: There’s a saying that calm seas never made a good sailor. Clients often want something different, but still similar to something that already exists. You should muster the courage and take the risk, and you’re already half way to success. Older people have more experience, but the young have more risky ideas which they aren’t afraid to show. They just need to be given more opportunities to do so.
MM: What would you advise your peers, to join you in this industry or to try to find a better job?
Martina Ukić: Work in creative industries is definitely fun and dynamic, but of course, like any other business, it can be stressful and tedious. Constant learning and training are part of the job description, and by setting new, tougher challenges before us we train our brains and develop our creativity. My advice for young creatives is to believe in their abilities and not to give up when they meet an obstacle.
Ana Tavić: It depends on the job they want. If they are flexible and want a dynamic job where every project is different – by all means, welcome! But if they prefer steady office jobs, where they don’t need to employ much creative thinking, then this type of industry, unfortunately, is not for them.
MM: What do you consider the most valuable lesson you’ve learned over the years you’ve spent in the communications industry?
Martina Ukić: I believe the most important thing is not to neglect ourselves. After all, it’s all just a job.
Ana Tavić: The most valuable lessons are yet to come, so I would say: Never stop learning, and never forget to enjoy the experience.
MM: Do you have free time? How do you enjoy spending it?
Martina Ukić: I like spending my free time with sun and sea, far away from the screens, and I always have a notebook by my side, to scribble my thoughts down.
Ana Tavić: I like filling my day with tasks, because I function best that way. In my free time I like to read, learn new things, try out some new paleo recipes and hanging out with friends.
