Hi! My my name is Natasha. I am a multi-disciplined creative with a passion for strategic design and intelligent communication. During the past year I have been exploring the future of digital media at Hyper Island, Stockholm, and now I am available for employment and freelance work.

The short story
I want my work to be creative, intelligent and useful. I believe that the best ideas come from a combination of strategic thinking and creativity. Another important aspect to me is being a good team member, contributing both my knowledge and good spirits to the group. My inspiration comes from every imaginable source: architecture, art, technology, the people around me. I am always on the lookout for new things to discover, new trends to explore and new creative challenges.

The long story
I grew up in the Soviet Union, in the city of Murmansk North of the Polar Circle. The polar nights were long and tedious, and to pass the time I plunged into learning English and then – Norwegian. That paved a path into the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Murmansk. At the same time, I was working as an interpreter in all sorts of cultural and business projects. Languages are still my passion and I know a few of them. Further studies brought me to Oslo for a couple of years and then, in 1999, to Stockholm.

At that point I decided it was time for a change. I enrolled in the Graphic Institute and completed a two-year program of design management. Having graduated in 2002, I discovered that my chances of getting a job were not especially high, so I decided to start my own company. I ran it for several years, freelancing as a designer, a teacher of design and publishing programs and a translator. For a while, I was a web-editor at the Swedish Institute, being in charge of the Russian-language section of sweden.se.

Between 2007 and 2009 I worked as a graphic designer at Narva communication agency, designing and art directing annual reports and other printed matter. Then, I felt the time had came to go digital, so I applied for Hyper Island, which promised cutting-edge education in interactive media. Hyper gave me lots of inspiration, plenty of insights about the future of communication, and every day at school was a great learning experience.