Finding Personal Value
Multidisciplinary designer Lisa Matzi took part in the very first Graduate Residency at LCC, working on Diversity within the Creative Industries. Originally from Vienna, Lisa chose to live and work in London due to its diversity and multiculturalism. Lisa is a people-focused person and as a user-experience researcher and designer, she has a strong understanding of the needs of people, and a keen interest in making positive impacts in the workplace.
Since her graduation, Lisa has been involved in many forms of freelance and company work, developing skills and expertise along the way. She found herself most drawn to freelancing because the work is much broader involving various clients and projects, though it can be scary for someone just starting out. Taking part in the Graduate Residency came to her completely by chance at a time where she was inbetween jobs and had a month of free time. During this limbo, she received an email from LCC inviting her to participate in the Residency. “I really wanted to do something for myself and something I’m passionate about,” she says.
“The Industry Graduate Programme gave me a totally different perspective”
Yet Lisa still felt a sense of guilt for doing something just for the fun of it. But once she got involved in the scheme the guilt disappeared. What she appreciated most was seeing what other individuals on the Residency were working on, all being vastly different to her own work. Lisa says this project was interesting mostly due to her love for London and that, “the most interesting part of the residency was it gave me a totally different perspective.”
With her main focus being graphic design, Lisa loved the fact that she had the ability to create a podcast as part of her Graduate Residency project, describing it as a chance to broaden her skill set; providing the time, space and resources in order to cultivate skills that wouldn’t have happened had she not taken the opportunity. “It was a good chance for self-development and learning something new, which is always a plus,” she says.
“A good chance for self-development and learning something new”
Lisa believes that someone’s personal projects allow a potential employer to see the true value of an individual – who they are and what they care about. Sharing your passion helps others see if it aligns with their own, giving them better idea of who you are. “Passion projects are usually the projects that employers look at the most,” Lisa explains. A project done out of passion creates room for more creative freedom, appeals to employers and can breathe more life and value into your work. “Generally, I’m a very value driven person,” she says. “I struggle to work or engage with projects that have no deeper purpose.”
She wants to make positive change through her work, something that’s defined Lisa ever since being a kid. Her goal is to create content that solves a problem, impacts the world and helps people – even though this can create a lot of pressure and make it difficult to switch off. She thinks that more commercial work sometimes simply comes down to earning enough to pay the bills, though this doesn’t mean that it can’t still be beneficial, and says, “You can still have a positive influence.” Lisa once worked for a financial firm, designing finance apps and remembers having no real interest, not entirely enjoying her involvement and noticing that she was one of the only people in the company who had more of an ethical stance. And without some level of belief work can feel like swimming upstream, exhausting and draining.
For graduates starting out in professional life Lisa emphasises the need to truly know your goals, what you want to do, who you want to work with, and trying as many things as possible. And she knows that mentors can help, a lot. “Mentors are key,” she concludes, “to becoming a really empowered and confident creative in this industry.”
Feature image by Lisa Matzi.