Juuli Kiiskinen joins Columbia Road

Hi Juuli, How did you get good at what you do?

You know, my mom was an art director and dad worked with the analytical side of marketing, so I think it’s in the genes. All throughout my childhood I’ve been influenced by my parents' work, their style and ways of working.

I actually made the decision to go into marketing quite early, when I applied to a high school with a communications focus. Next I went to study multimedia – things like 3D, graphic design, web development, photography, sound design – the full 360 and after graduation I continued to study cross media journalism.

When I found myself in front of Illustrator night after night while articles remained unwritten I realised I need to change direction, or actually, just refine it. This is when I got in to Design Institute at Lahti University of Applied Sciences from where I graduated as bachelor of culture and arts, visual communication.

Where have you earned your spurs?

My first “industry” job was with Snoobi – a Finnish Google Analytics competitor. Working at Snoobi, which was later integrated into Fonecta, taught me all about the analytical and ROI-oriented side of marketing. Next I joined the IT consulting company eCraft as an Art Director. I worked between product development and marketing, including a total brand renewal.

One day my brother who worked as a developer (talking about some serious family-impact!) at Sysart succeeded to lure me to join them as the first ever employee with a focus on marketing & design.

In the two years I was with them I had the chance and responsibility to start marketing from scratch. After a while and a whole lot of work I was invited to join the executive board. Nonetheless, I felt like I had professionally developed as far as I could in that position.

Why Columbia Road?

I wanted to go back to my roots, more close to visual design and applied to a variety of companies. Columbia Road had already previously piqued my interest and I thought that ok, let’s give it a go. One of the biggest reasons behind choosing Columbia Road was the ability to constantly learn and do things I haven’t done before. Previously I’d worked either in marketing, design or development, but here I get to do all – and more importantly I get to learn from everyone around me every single day.

Lauri, what will make our clients love Juuli?

“As a designer Juuli is very commercially oriented, which means that she’s able to create value to help grow the client’s business. We can’t think of design as an art form, it really needs to be business-driven. Due to her education, Juuli’s take on design is data oriented & input/impact driven, which means that she is all about growth,” says Lauri Eloranta, Managing Partner.

What makes your heart beat a little faster?

Like most of the Roadies, I’m quite sports-oriented when it comes to hobbies. But I do love to let my artistic side fly free when not bound by client goals. I’ve been super into hand lettering lately. It’s taught me a lot of patience; I’ll tell you that! I think that it’s important for every designer to distinguish the two personalities: there’s the designer you, who supports, guides people and sells. Then there’s the artist you who can be anything you want, because your art is for you.