Gloria
Ciceri

What led you into design?

Ever since primary school, I’ve loved to go to art classes during the afternoon:
ceramic, music, painting, and photography. I was always excited to watch my teachers doing something creative and then put my own mind and passion to it. At home, I had a similar situation: my mother is into art and design, and my father loves to create objects made from recycled wood.

After I graduated as a Graphic Designer from High School, I studied Art Direction for 3 years at University. I later left that creative field to become a Motion Graphic Designer and joined a small studio in Milano (Italy), where I had a lot of fun for the next two and a half years.

Since I moved to Berlin, I’ve felt more inspired to produce new artworks or to explore different creative things that are having an impact on my personal values and design skills: there are so many opportunities here to be creative.

What does a typical day look like?

My day can’t start without spending a long time in the kitchen preparing a yummy breakfast: Coffee (espresso or filter) + porridge + some vegan protein coconut powder + any sort of seasonal fruits. I’m getting hungry now... I’m addicted to breakfast.

My preferred way to get to Blinkist is by riding my bicycle through four different Berlin neighbourhoods. I love being able to see people coming out of clubs at 8:30 in the morning and then, only 500 meters away, there are families with kids going to school or tourists taking pictures of the Molecule Man on the Elsenbrücke.

At Blinkist, I’m part of the Video Team and the way our projects are managed is very well organized: our project manager set up an amazing roadmap in Asana where I can easily find all the information I need to start work on a new project or to iterate on a social media ad.

I always try to make time to look for inspiration from different fields: animations, videos, typography, illustrations, music etc… There’s always something new to discover and to keep in mind for future projects.

Meeting after meeting, delivery after delivery, my day at Blinkist ends with another nice ride back home or, in the Summertime, I meet my cyclist friends for an after work bike ride that always ends with a beer outside a späti.

What’s your workstation setup?

Where do you go to get inspired?

I can’t stay in my flat for more than 10 hours at a stretch and even if I’ve been living in Berlin for more than 3 years, I feel that there’s always something new to discover. During weekends, I plan long rides with my cyclist friends and I get lost in Brandenburg. It’s so peaceful outside the city and it is there that I look for inspiration.

What product have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?

Frames for future is a beautiful collaborative project where animators from around the world worked together to produce 17 beautiful videos to create awareness about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Climate Action Summit 2019. The result is stunning!

What pieces of work are you most proud of?

We should talk more about climate change and as designers, we should find a way to capture people's attention by creating shareable content around this topic that people would re-post on social media.
If we raise our voice, hopefully someone will hear us.

I created this loop animation during a cloudy Berlin weekend. I was inspired by an exhibition that I saw at the Berlinische Galerie a few months ago.

What design challenges do you face at your company?

Square, portrait, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, audio, no audio, subs, no subs.. every video is different. It is really challenging to convert a 15 seconds square video in a 1920x1080 px - 10 seconds - with audio. I’m a magician! ;)

What music do you listen to while designing?

Any advice for ambitious designers?

Be creative, always, and don’t allow anyone to pull you down or to minimize your dreams. If you set the right goals, you’ll level up with a big smile on your face and standing on your own two feet.

Anything you want to promote or plug?

If you’d like to follow my creative and cycling life, follow me on Instagram.
If you prefer to see what I’ve been working on recently, Dribbble.
If you’re looking for themed playlists to listen to, Spotify.