Alessandra Oliveira - Graphic and Web Designer

1. Alessandra Oliveira – Graphic and Web Designer

2. Alessandra Oliveira • Our head of the week, Alessandra Oliveira, is a freelancer with a load of experience under her belt. She has worked as a graphic designer and art director for over 15 years and in freelancing, she especially enjoys being able to have a direct contact with her clients. She also believes that a good briefing at the beginning is the alpha and the omega of a successful cooperation between a client and a freelancer. Curtains up for Alessandra Oliveira from Brasil…

3. Alessandra Oliveira • 1) First off, can you tell us a bit about yourself? • I am a multidisciplinary graphic designer and art director with over 15 years of professional experience and a focus on brand identity and interaction design, advocate of user centered design approach and responsive web design. • I come from Rio de Janeiro, but I go anywhere. That´s one of the reasons why I am a freelancer.

4. Alessandra Oliveira • 2) If you would search for your profile on Google, which are the three keywords you would type in the search bar? • Responsive Web Design; Branding; Increase Sales

5. Alessandra Oliveira • 3) What was your inspiration and when did you actually decide to become a freelancer? • I have started freelancing while I was still in college. I have worked as an employee too and it has it´s perks, but being in direct contact with clients is energizing and rewarding. It fuels creativity and a design process focused on results. Clients and business owners can provide great insights about their target audience´s needs. A smart client is aware of their public behavior and of problems and obstacles their users face and good design should propose solutions to those issues.

6. Alessandra Oliveira • 4) What kind of services have your clients asked you to provide? • Design for web, print media and video. • Developing the visual identity of events, workshops and TV shows. • Logotypes and stationary. • Illustrations. • Interactive hot sites, responsive web pages, newsletters, banners, menus, icons, landing pages, user navigation flows and wireframes.

7. Alessandra Oliveira • 5) Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess? • Yes, working as a freelancer allowed me to collaborate with developers, illustrators, animators and print producers. I can count on a network of trusted professionals I´ve worked with before when a job eventually demands those extra hours in a short time span or requires a specific expertise.

8. Alessandra Oliveira • 6) Now tell us, how do you find new clients that are interested in your services? • Most of my projects come from word of mouth. I also have a portfolio website for displaying samples of my work. I tried cold calling once but found it particularly difficult to filter contacts from a random list in order to find leads for my freelance business.

9. Alessandra Oliveira • 7) What about freelancermap.com? Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with our IT-network? • I have just joined Freelancermap.com and had the impression that it´s truly making an effort to connect freelancers and clients. I have been long looking for a fair trade freelancer website. There are lots of businesses trying to find qualified professionals and also freelancers out there looking for a company to represent them. I would like to see more graphic and web design jobs posted here.

10. Alessandra Oliveira • 8) How do you set yourself apart from your competitors? What makes you special? • I offer great value at a very small investment rate because I am interested in the mobility and freedom that telecommute allows. This presents an opportunity for clients to hire a professional with the background of having worked both for tech and media companies and as a freelance professional with many years of experience. • I strive to keep improving my skills and give my best at each job and I believe that working remotely will boost the creation of outstanding work. Things like a better life balance and an inspiring working environment reflect positively on graphic design work.

11. Alessandra Oliveira • 9) What are the top three books, blogs or magazines you read to stay up to date in the IT-market? • Zurb, Webdesigner Depot and Skillcrush. I read many blogs on web design and technology, but those three are the main ones that I follow.

12. Alessandra Oliveira • 10) Freestyle! Is there anything you would like to tell our readers? • It all starts with a good briefing. • To other freelance designers I would say, it pays off to be honest to clients when it comes to defending a layout solution or idea. It´s part of the designer´s job to point to the best solution and to be able to explain why a certain visual won´t work for their business or why you made those visual choices when questioned. Reviews are part of the work, but don´t expect the client to art direct you except you´re being hired by an art director for following a defined visual style. Discussions should aim at getting the best result possible.

13. Further freelancerinterviewsavailable on www.freelancermap.com/freelancer-insides Contact freelancermap.com Contactperson: Doreen Schollmeier - International Affairs Mail: info@freelancermap.com Skype: doreen.schollmeier Phone: +49-911-37750286 facebook: www.facebook.com/freelancermapInternational Twitter: freelancer_INT