Growing with What You Create: Vladimir’s Story, Art Director at 01.tech

Seven years at one company is plenty of time for things to start feeling familiar. For Vladimir, the opposite happened.

He joined the team as a Graphic Designer, initially working on website banners. He later became a Team Lead and today works as an Art Director, helping shape the visual direction of projects, developing team leads, and stepping into challenges that require looking beyond a single design or concept.

Over those seven years, the projects changed, the responsibilities grew, and so did the scope of his influence. Along the way, Vladimir’s own perspective on design evolved too.

We talked about what keeps the work interesting after seven years, why being surrounded by people who think differently can teach you more than any course, and what happens when the results you are most proud of are no longer just the things you create yourself, but the people you have helped grow.

— Probably the atmosphere within the team and how open people were to new ideas.

I liked that you could do more than simply take a task and execute it. You could bring your own perspective, discuss an idea, and try a different approach. For a designer, that matters. Having room to experiment keeps the work from becoming an endless repetition of the same thing.

And over time, that freedom only grew. New projects came along, and I had opportunities to get involved in things that weren't originally part of my role at all.

— I started out mostly working on website banners. Then I became a Team Lead, and today I'm an Art Director.

Naturally, the work is very different now. The challenges are broader, and there is much more responsibility. I help shape and maintain the overall visual direction of our projects, work closely with team leads, step in when things get complicated, and help with concepts, visual solutions, and moodboards.

Before, I was mainly responsible for the things I created with my own hands. Today, I spend much more time thinking about the bigger picture and helping teams move in a consistent visual direction.

Although I still like getting hands-on from time to time. I haven't completely let go of that part of the job.

— I think it was a combination of things, but I was especially lucky with the people around me.

Over the years, I've worked with people who have very different backgrounds, ways of thinking, and approaches to design. Seeing how different people tackle the same problem really broadens your own perspective.

I've also always had the freedom to step outside the usual boundaries of my role.

At one point, for example, a colleague and I worked on a conference booth together. It was a completely different kind of challenge and a very different scale from my usual work. In the end, our concept took first place.

I think projects like that are some of the best ways to grow. You take on something you've never done before and discover what you're capable of along the way.

— It really depends on what's happening across the projects at any given time.

A large part of my work is with team leads. We discuss current tasks and challenges, work through situations where there isn't an obvious answer, develop concepts, refine moodboards, and look for the right visual solutions.

There are also broader challenges that we work through together as Art Directors.

So it's difficult to reduce my day to a fixed set of activities. Sometimes I need to help make a decision, sometimes I need to step back and look at a problem from a different angle, and sometimes I need to get much closer to the work myself.

— One of the biggest for me was the major redesign we worked on in 2025.

We needed to find the right balance between energy and emotion on one side and a calmer, more product-focused visual approach on the other. I think the redesign made our visual communication significantly stronger.

We're already revisiting some of those decisions today, and that's completely normal.

I don't think design should ever be treated as something permanently finished. New products appear, the context changes, the challenges change — and our approach has to evolve with them.

— We're all very different, but I think what brings us together is warmth (with the occasional tendency to overthink things), a shared sense of humor, and a genuine love of design.

Everyone has their own background, way of thinking, and approach to the work. We can disagree and look at the same challenge from completely different angles.

But that's exactly what makes it valuable. You're constantly exposed to perspectives that aren't your own.

— Yes. There was a time when I unexpectedly had to step away from work for about a month.

I was worried that I was letting the team down and wasn't sure how people would react. Instead, I received an incredible amount of support. Everyone kept checking in on me and even wanted to come visit.

That stayed with me.

There have been plenty of great moments over seven years, though. Our company-wide events and the ones we have just as a design team deserve a mention too. There's always a very particular energy to them.

— Personally, I'm proud of how much I've grown.

Even after being here for so long, there have always been new challenges, new perspectives, and new opportunities that made me look at familiar things differently. I think that's a big part of why I'm still genuinely interested in both the company and the work I do.

But I'm especially proud of the team leads I've helped grow and the impact I've had on their development.

That's probably where the change in my role becomes most obvious.

As a designer, you tend to see the result of your work in what you've created yourself. As your responsibility grows, you start seeing more of that result in what the people around you create and in how they grow.

— Non-stop action.

And we're not planning to slow down.

We're currently growing and strengthening the design team at 01.tech. We're looking for people who want to do more than create great visuals, people who want to bring their own perspective, explore new approaches, and help shape where our design goes next.

Explore our open roles and apply on the 01.tech careers page