Meet Giulia Hartz, an Illustrator and Strategic Designer supporting companies and individuals with illustration and branding.
Here, Giulia talks with us about her journey from a tiny town on the shores of Lake Garda to Berlin, where she started exploring visual thinking and illustration – which turned out to be her greatest love and into a blossoming creative career.
Can you tell us about your background and what made you want to become an illustrator and strategic designer?
I was born and grew up in a tiny town on the shores of Lake Garda. After high school I moved to Milan dreaming of Sottsass and I studied Product Design at Politecnico di Milano. In 2016 I left pretty Italy and arrived to Berlin where I undertook a Master course in Strategic Design. During my Master, I started exploring visual thinking and illustration – turning out to be my greatest love. Pink is my favorite color, I have been having bangs for 19 years and take everything away from me but coffee. I am currently supporting brands and humans with illustration, branding and strategy from my studio apartment in Prenzlauer Berg.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
The main inspiration comes from the interaction with people and real life – from the experiences I live, memories from my childhood and especially from the conversations with my friends. Collaborating with activists and having conversations on humans rights is always a great inspiration. Working on such topics always makes me realise what a powerful tool illustration is – allowing elaborate messages to be encapsulated and delivered so concisely!
Who are your biggest artistic influences?
I am so lucky to live in a city full of creatives and often be able to call them friends. I cannot even name all the incredible artists that I am surrounded by: Josephine Rais, Kika Klat, Elena Scilinguo, Ju Schnee, Michela Picchi, Daniel Ramirez Perez, Viktoria Chichon and many more. All these people constantly inspire me both on a human and professional level!
Silence or music when creating? And if you do like to listen to music while creating, who is currently on repeat on your playlist?
Silence! To focus and create I need a lot of calm – both on an auditory level with silence and visually with white walls. So, you can mostly find me at my desk with AirPods on noise canceling mode!
What do you do to get yourself out of a creative rut?
The best ideas come when I’m not at my desk – doing grocery, riding my bike or right before sleeping. My process is to immediately type them on my iPhone notes and then get back to it in my work time. The list is always longer than the creative block, so that’s definitely a good strategy for me to get out of my thoughts and rather execute. Alternatively, I never say no to research! There are never enough things that you don’t know or remember about. I look into old toys, read design blogs, scroll my Instagram feed and see what others are doing. Let all sink in, hopefully it will turn into some spark soon.
Can you share with us any exciting future plans you are currently working on?
In the plans there is something quite straight to the point: keep on doing the good work and growing personally and professionally. Hopefully with nice people around! For other spoilers, follow me on Instagram 🙂
You can find out more about Giulia via her website – www.giuliahartz.com
