Interview with Maja Matas Jurčić

I am currently the Head of Corporate Identity department at a major retail corporation in Croatia - Pevec, and am also working as an Lecturer at the Academy of Arts in Osijek.

It is solving problems, bringing excitement, heating up emotion.

Depending on my mood, I would say currently its packaging design for fun products like snacks and home products with twist.

I have to say Christmas Tee packaging concept. The final design came as the end result of thinking about the meaning of Christmas. Ultimately it was the sharing of your time with your loved ones, so the packaging concept was pushing the idea of sharing a warm drink during the cold days of Christmas.

I would say a logo or brochure, but Im not really sure.

It would be wood, because of the natural feel, even though I don't use it that much.

At night!

Functionality and user experience.

A whole spectrum, from excitement to worry :)

I feel proud.

Its originality and the ability to solve a problem or to present information the best possible way.

The purpose and set goal.

To reduce unnecessary products, solve problems and tell the truth.

The future is unknown. There are so many shifts towards the digital field - the tangible and virtual will have to coexist within same projects.

It was in 2016. in Zagreb and I want to hold my next somewhere I didn't before.

It comes through thinking and research, and sometimes when I stop and relax.

Since I wold in a couple of disciplines - from visual communication design, packaging to product design its hard to pin point an exact style. I would say its contemporary mixed with the impressions I gather travelling the world a lot. My design is never plain or crowded. I would describe it as clean with a special twist which creates new usage.

I live in Croatia. I am not so dependant to the county I live in because since I was little Ive travelled a lot and seen many different cultures which had a great impact on me.

Sometimes easy breezy and other times hard but at the end Ive never had a client which wasn't satisfied with the design.

I would suggest for companies to search for designers which have solved similar issues like the one the company has. For each project someone who would be a fit for that individual project. It is hard to match up, but with a little luck everything is possible. My experience in the ones who shouts about their design the loudest have the weakest designs ;)

It includes briefing, a lot of research, prototyping and sketches, meetings and sleepless nights.

My favourite design items at home is Louis Ghost chair by Phillipe Starck. Others are Rex chair by Niko Kralj, a movable bed which Ive designed, Kikkerland everything (for example wooden guitar spoons), my red electric bass guitar...

Each day is a bit different but for instance last monday Ive woken up at 6:30, drove to the corporation I work for, did a lot of different branding and packaging projects till 4, drove to the university and did work for my PhD, came home for an half an hour to have some dinner, went to meet a client and played tennis till midnight.

Apply to workshops, competitions, internship as soon as possible!

The positives are that you are able to create, evolve, produce, thrive. The negatives are that you don't have free time where you can stop seeing the world through the eyes of a designer.

The golden ratio ;)

Organisational skills, persistence, bravery and visualisation skills!

Adobe softwares, Mac hardwares, Design books and everything else that comes handy in-between.

Very well as to the business site, except for the fact that I take on too much so my whole day is basically evolving around designing.

It depends on the task and especially on the client. From a couple of days to a couple of months.

Are you a fashion designer? XD

I think that the different job that I had - leadinga design studio, designer at an agency, lecturer at a university, freelance designer and now a head of a department in a corporation are all equally important and pieces of a greater puzzle.

Ford, Opel, Burn, Nestle, Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Ministry of Justice Republic of Croatia, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek, Croatian Mediation association, Fashion Incubator etc.

Self-initiated, because there are no limits.

I am always looking for new challenges, so I think the next step is abroad!

I am leading a team and also designing myself.

My latest project is Samopev packaging which won the bronze A'design award and I am currently developing more packaging designs for other products in the Samopev series, which is exciting.

The contact information is provided on my website http://www.majamatas.com. People can contact me either via e-mail, phone or social media.

Feel free to get in touch!