This month we caught up with Roopam Sharma, Design head at Team Computers. Team is a leading IT infrastructure and Information solution provider, dealing with well-known names in the corporate industry. About the day-to-day challenges, she faces at her work, her vision and strategies to overcome those challenges – our design head gives us an overall insight…
Tell us about your background as a designer, & what does your regular day include?
I was fond of sketching and drawing since I was young. At school, I would take part in drawing competitions and adored winning. Ended up studying Bachelors in Fashion communication from NIFT, Delhi. The course gave me lots of exposure in visual merchandising, fashion styling and photography. Helped me gain proficiency in the fundamentals in each field.
Yet, what got my advantage was Graphic designing. The joy of converting your ideas and thoughts into a digital format, and playing around with fonts & typography is my motivation bait since I started working in this field.
Which creative products could you not work without?
My iPhone and iMac – I cannot imagine using any other products. I recall that I acquired my first iPhone 6 years ago and not long after, a MacBook for my college assignments. Have been a faithful Apple client from then on. At work, I use a 27″ iMac which gets my day across, easily. I started using Wacom soon after I got a MacBook Pro as it only seemed logical replacing the pencil with a stylus as a design student. From ideating on notes in my phone to transferring and converting these ideas into final designed deliverables on my Mac – results into a seamless transition from idea/concept to a final design.
You must be keeping yourself updated with the latest technologies?
We live and breathe in a technology-driven world. From the morning alarm to ordering food or just going out for coffee. We need innovation all the time. We would have been stuck in the stone ages if we hadn’t learned to evolve and adapt to the new things. Enthusiasm to adapt more and more is of key importance.
The creative community needs to keep themselves updated with the latest versions of technology to meet the demands of the client. This is indispensable.
What are the biggest challenges professional creative people face today?
The biggest challenge I feel has always been to be able to strike a balance between what the client briefs and your creative interpretation of it. To reach a point where the brief is in sync with your creative freedom and the other way round. You won’t always be able to crack that brief or decipher what the job demands exactly, but hang on and be patient. Give it your 100 percent, it’ll work out.
Any productivity tips or tools that you’d recommend to other design creatives?
Start the project with an empty head and don’t go digital straight. Keep a notebook handy with you at all times and make it a habit to put your thoughts on paper first. It might seem old-school, but it saves all that extra time (sitting idle in front of the blank screen). Helps you get your ideas together. And be open to constructive criticism. Switch from the mouse to the stylus and use Apple products for better productivity, as the color selection is the most critical part in the graphic designing field and Apple products won’t let you down. My work process got 10 times faster, with an increased satisfaction level. Let your imagination run wild and ideas flow – you never know at what point you’ll be able to hit the right note on that brief.