Zagreb, November 29th, 2023

Based in Zagreb, Andrea Jelić is a freelance web designer and part time design director at Brandbeet, a design agency. She started her career as a freelancer and has since then worked for multiple clients from many countries, always understanding the clients and their needs before any aesthetics.

In an interview with TIA, Jelić described the important factor for building a brand as a freelancer and explained her typical work process, from client onboarding to project delivery. She also listed examples of some recent projects she has worked on and explained how to maintain visual consistency across a portfolio website.

Thanks for joining us today. Let’s begin by uncovering some hidden gems in Zagreb that tend to escape the average tourist’s radar.

Zagreb is a really nice and safe place to live. To enjoy the city as a local I would recommend spending a Saturday in the city, starting with a walk, coffee or brunch and visiting the Dolac market for fresh food. For a more active experience going to Sljeme – for a hike or with a car for lunch to have nice city views. And for local city vibes Marticeva street is the main for locals to hang out to avoid the main city center. Secret best burger place Is Burgeraj, one of my favorite places to eat in Zagreb.

If someone were to visit Croatia with a focus on design and creativity, what places or events would you recommend they explore?

I was recently at a Digital Labin Conference, so that is something I can recommend as there are also international agencies/speakers included. As it takes place in Labin/Istria it’s a whole other experience of gastronomy and landscape so it’s worth going there. Next to that it is a good option to visit Zagreb and connect with some of the great design studios/agencies which are here: Holographik, Studio Size, Bornfight Studio and just spend the day with them at their office or meet for lunch.

For those who aren’t familiar with your career, can you provide an overview?

Hey all, I am Andrea a freelance designer with focus on web design, e-commerce and branding. Also 2 months ago I started as a part time design director at Brandbeet so my career changed a bit as I am now in charge of design but also management role which means handling the team, clients and less design daily tasks. I also do photography as a hobby and freelance job.

What is a typical working day for you?

My working day usually starts with planning out the day and what needs to be done so a quick 15-20 min overview of all tasks. After that I have a daily meeting with the team to go through their tasks. After that it’s just working on design/client work. After finishing my part time role as Design director, I continue working on some other projects. I also have an intern which I help with working on some projects so that comes also in-between.

In terms of tasks my day usually consists of meetings with the team, setting up design directions, providing feedback and guidance for the team, having presentations design related to the client, working on social media stuff, working on freelance design projects.

When it comes to building your personal brand as a freelancer, what are some key factors to consider?

For me this is a very important topic to discuss as my career started mainly as a freelancer. So, I would say building an online presence, showing what you are capable of and creating a style/recognition behind it. It’s important to make yourself visible at all times if you want to attract clients and not chase them. I have an online course on that topic which might be helpful to beginners in their career or also advanced designers which maybe didn’t have any online presence so far.

As a designer, what role do you believe aesthetics and functionality play in creating meaningful and impactful designs?

I always believe that just understanding the client and their needs must be put before any aesthetics. We always desire to make wonderful designs but sometimes that can take over the functionality. Just by reminding ourselves about that will make a different approach in the beginning of a project.

Can you describe your typical work process, from client onboarding to project delivery?

Sure! I’ll try to make it short and will take a website as an example. I start with an intro call and setting up both sides expectations and possibilities. After, the client needs to provide basic content or information to start with. I always try to include clients in every step of design rather than working on a project for 2-3 weeks and then get a wrong direction. So, we start with mood boarding to see what the client likes, after that I collect all examples, he likes and start building a few versions of the homepage to give him a few different design options, usually 2-3. After they decide which one they like or the mix of it I implement the design direction on the rest of the website. Further we go into all desktop, mobile designs, setting up the style guide and preparation of animation moodboard for development. I usually like to be included in the development process just to make sure everything works and looks the same.

Tell us about a recent project you’ve worked on that you’re proud of. How was the development process and end-result?

It’s Bertch Capital which I did together with Likely Story. I was in charge of design but they took over development. I was working on moodboards, setting up the design direction and web design. Main goal was to create an experience rather than a usual portfolio website. The plan was to achieve that with clean design, good storytelling, interactive modules and video content. While working on projects their most important part is sustainability so we tried to point that out through storytelling & visual content on a separate page. Definitely an interesting part of the website is the sticky menu on the bottom which opens and folds as you choose the page you want to be on. Also, the footer and contact pop up use their brand orange and makes contrast with the rest of the website. As for development, I have a long work relationship with them. There are never any issues with development. As it was mainly their project I wasn’t involved during development, I just provided references or explanations for all design work I did and how each module should work so that the developer knows how to translate my design and ideas into a live website. Bertch has won SOTD and DEV Award by awwwards, a platform which recognizes and promotes the talent and effort of the best developers, designers and web agencies in the world.

How do you maintain visual consistency across an e-commerce website, especially when dealing with a large product catalog?

I would say next to a designer role you also need to be like a consultant for content, as choosing the right images will hugely impact your designs. I do photography also as a freelance job, so I know how important the images are in all projects. What I like to do in all scenarios with a lot of content is to set up guidelines to make content all consistent. The guidelines are supposed to explain which style the client needs to use on the website, direction for shooting so that makes it easier for future photographers producing new imagery and adding new shots.

Which types of clients do you find especially interesting?

I love fashion of all sorts, clothes, accessories, bags and all that within e-commerce. But also, small studio websites which work within any creative area is fun to work on. Recently I worked for a health clinic which I found interesting. Actually, I always love variety in work.

How do you handle constructive criticism and feedback in your design process, both from clients and team members?

I would say good. If it is constructive, it makes sense and it only directs me to guide the project to a better level, I shouldn’t be offended by that. As we all try to make that project a good outcome, we work as a team client/team and me.

Staying inspired is a vital part of your job. How do you go about finding new sources of inspiration and keeping the ideas flowing?

As I work from home, that can sometimes be a bit exhausting. So I love to travel and explore other cultures, cities, architecture, museums, fashion, interior shops. I think travel and music inspires me the most next to digital or print resources which is an everyday thing.

What’s an interesting trend you’ve observed lately?

Hmm not sure. I always observe in general changes in the industry, how the design tools and all apps change. How years ago you could “only” use AE for animation, there were mostly coded websites, there was just lorem Ipsum for placement text. And now you can animate with pre-made templates, do non-coded websites and use AI suited placement text or images. So that’s kind of crazy and cool for me.

How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance, especially when working remotely or as a freelancer?

Sometimes it can be a bit hard if I have a lot of things on my work schedule. But I try to stick with my exercising schedule no matter what. I have functional training 3 times per week at 5pm and that makes me stop working and I try not to continue after and take the evening for myself. I love to spend my free time relaxing, cooking, being with friends or doing sports so that helps me to find the right balance.

Can you name a fun-fact people would be surprised to learn about you?

I think you would be surprised to know that I actually have a degree in Social Work as that was the path I took after finishing high school. Through the course of my bachelor degree, I started with design as my side job and saw that design was something that was driving me and decided to focus on that. Thinking if it doesn’t turn out, I will go back and finish my masters in Social Work.

Thanks Andrea!

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