Ricarda Musil, BA MA

You went to the Akademisches Gymnasium in Graz and then transferred to the HLW Schrödinger. How did you end up at Information Design?

I went to the Akademisches Gymnasium in Graz, but I didn’t want to take Latin as a subject. That’s why I decided to switch to the HLW Schrödinger, to the department of culture and congress management. There I was lucky enough to be taught by Brigitte Schlick and the current headmaster Grete Petermandl – two teachers who had a very positive influence on me. I still remember a trip when we were standing next to each other on the tram. Brigitte asked me what I wanted to do after graduating from high school. At the time, I was considering either studying medicine or information design at FH JOANNEUM. She strongly encouraged me to follow my creative side and try the entrance exam at the FH.

What happened after you made that decision?

I took part in a portfolio consultation that was initially quite devastating for my selected works. But it was precisely this criticism that motivated me all the more. As a result, I created new works and fortunately managed to pass the entrance examination at the first attempt.

What was particularly formative for you in the bachelor’s programme?

At the beginning, I expected to be taught about programmes and technical skills much more intensively. That was a bit frustrating because many of my fellow students came from the Ortweinschule and were already very good at these things. Fortunately, they then helped us a lot. The turning point for me was the fifth semester when we started specialising. It became clear to me that programming and 3D animation were not for me. Instead, I found my passion in the print specialisation. I could have done with knowing this a bit sooner.

Where did you do your mandatory internship?

During my studies, I did an internship at Neuroth in the final artwork, which was a really great experience because I was able to acquire a lot of essential things there, in particular, programming skills that I still lacked. For my big, three-month mandatory internship, I then worked for the advertising agency Kolle Rebbe in Hamburg for half a year. This time gave me an enormous boost in terms of self-confidence. After the internship, I was even offered a permanent job there, but then I had a formative experience. I was commissioned to develop a concept for a brochure for a large German energy company and quickly realised that it was a case of classic greenwashing. Although I had to finish the brochure, it became clear to me at that moment that I can’t work like that – I don’t want to sell my soul.

What made you decide to leave Hamburg?

I didn’t want to stay in Hamburg any longer, partly because of the weather – it was just too cold for me. But also because I didn’t want to be exploited any longer. So I returned to Graz and concentrated fully on my bachelor’s thesis. Fortunately, this commitment paid off: I won a Red Dot Award in the junior category of communication design with my work. I am very grateful to my former head of department Karl Stocker and Elfriede Wolfsberger for this – they believed in my work. Helfried Pilz’s teaching inspired me a lot in the area of marketing; I also wrote my thesis ‘Aren’t we all a bit organic?’ under his supervision.

Has the Red Dot Award influenced your career?

Absolutely, especially in terms of my self-confidence! After my bachelor’s degree, I enrolled at the Karl-Franzens-University for a semester and attended lectures in art history and sustainable studies – that was also very exciting. In autumn, I started my master’s in Communication Design together with my partner Patrick. We also applied for an internship in Cape Town and were lucky enough to receive job offers straight away, so we were able to live and work there for four months. The agency in Cape Town even confirmed that they had become aware of me through the Red Dot Award in my application. After my return from Cape Town, I then applied directly to the Graz-based agency Kadadesign in the area of editorial and branding and worked there as a freelancer parallel to my master’s degree.

What was your experience at Kadadesign like?

The projects, the clients and the work there were great in many ways, especially because of the size of the agency. It was a very good fit. Three to four years after graduating, you are faced with the decision: either take a new, exciting job – or start your own business?

How did you start your own business with the agency BRANDED?

We basically started with four people: My partner Patrick, who worked at Hornig and was already partially self-employed, Christian Perner, who worked at Paperwhite and – like me – wanted a change, and Sebastian, another colleague who joined us. At the beginning, things went really well for us, but unfortunately the coronavirus pandemic has greatly changed our agency BRANDED and all of us have been realigned somewhat differently. However, we still continue to work together on a project-by-project basis.

You also teach at HTL Ortwein. How did that come about?

I set up my own business about eight years ago and applied to HTL Ortwein relatively soon after. My idea was to stay on the ball and continue to maintain social contacts in the graphics field. I also thought that the evening classes would be easy to combine with being self-employed. I was called shortly afterwards and was able to start the next semester. At first, I taught eight hours a week, which was perfect. In the third year, I was asked if I could exceptionally work full-time for a year. That didn’t suit me at all because at BRANDED we had a very good order situation at the time, including a campaign for Wutscher. I remember sitting on the beach in Cape Town, crying and thinking how great self-employment was going. Then we flew home – that was in January 2020 – and in February Corona hit.

So the timing was actually perfect to teach more, right?

Yes, exactly. I then decided to give up some of my customers in order to teach more at the Ortweinschule. There I teach the subjects of marketing and design. I particularly love the ‘virtual company’, the final project in design, because everything is fictitious! I tell the students at the briefing: ‘Now you have the opportunity to do something really ingenious just for yourself, for your portfolio.’ This chance to be creative without any guidelines is something special. In their future careers, they will have to fulfil orders all the time, but now they can really do their own thing – and that’s where great ideas come from.