Discover the interview of Elena Pavlova from Pavlov’s Design in Riazan, Russia.
How did you become designer ?
I draw since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Drawing, inventing and creating is an integral part of me. After the artistic school, it was natural to study to be a designer. Although I also dreamed of becoming a geologist, but my mother did not let me study, because it was far away. Well, I didn’t have much choice in general.
And after studies I went to work in an advertising agency as a designer. Thus, I embarked upon a career. But the most interesting and important things began when my husband and I created our own agency, first a design one and then a branding one. Pavlov’s Design. It’s because we were primarily interested in a strategically correct design. We aren’t really interested in just design as art or design for the sake of design itself. We deal with and develop rather a design as part of brand strategy, a tool to achieve goals and a design that inspires.
How would you define your vision of design, your style ?
The main thing for me is inspiration. I am inspired by people creating products or services, and I try to convey this inspiration in design, to create something that will inspire consumers and producers for further development. I know my goal is achieved when, while presenting the project, I see a spark in the customers’ eyes, they begin to imagine that they can do even more and it inspires them.
I would characterize my design style as emotionally inspiring. A design that can not only convey information, but also strike a chord.
For the future, what are your professional projects ?
Now I’m passionate about branding and style. I am developing a training system for the agency designers to transfer brand values into visual language. For example, do you know what Kindness or Openness or Caring looks like? What are their shapes, colors, lines, pictures? In general, I am now passionate about transferring internal strategies and content to an external image – be it a person, a product or a company.
What do you like the most in your job ?
Everything. Both process and result. I like to explore, to discover new things. During my work I had to visit a lot of places and see a lot of things, starting with bread and meat production and ending with a gold factory, where gold and silver are remelted. I worked with small and major customers. But the most joyful about this work for me is to be useful and see the work done by my team in a store or in a basket at the checkout!
