We chat with Designers & Founders of Studio Born, Ipek Eris Ugurlu & Ebru Sile Göksel. Studio Born is an independent design studio, based in Istanbul, specializing in branding, packaging and graphic design. We learn a little bit about Ipek & Ebru's first jobs and where they studied; they introduce us to their small team, and we discuss why having different areas of interest and inspiration is so important.

Where did you study and what were some of your first jobs?

Ipek: I did my foundation course at IFOG Akademie in Munich and went on to study graphic design at The Surrey Institute of Art and Design in England, currently known as the University for the Creative Arts. After graduating, I relocated to Istanbul and worked at various advertising agencies like Lab34, Leo Burnett and Rafineri, where I met Ebru and one thing led to another 🙂

Ebru: I studied Visual Communication Design at Istanbul Bilgi University. After graduating, I did my masters degree and became a teaching assistant in the same major. Among my first jobs were Make Fresh Media, Publicis Yorum, Manajans JWT, and finally Rafineri, which helped shape my career and where I crossed paths with Ipek. We eventually went on to found our design studio Born.

How did you name your practice and what does the name represent to you?

Coming up with the name was a tough one. After lots and lots of brainstorming and trial/error, we came up with the name Studio Born and it just felt right. We love simplicity so when you think about it, it’s the most simple form of a creative process. An idea is born, shaped and then it grows into a brand. After leaving our agency life and shying away from advertising and moving more towards graphic design, we both worked individually as freelancers on branding projects. When we joined forces it was almost like a re-birth, our studio was born.

Give us the elevator pitch on what you do.

In a nutshell, we are an independent design studio, based in Istanbul, specializing in branding, packaging and graphic design. We love to make brands into natural-born storytellers and our passion is all about transforming good ideas into good design.

What qualities and skills to you look for in a graduate?

Apart from creativity, we look for people who are passionate about this job and are always ready to push themselves to be better no matter what. It’s important for us that they are positive thinkers, problem solvers and generally fun to be around 🙂 Our studio is pretty small so we want everyone to have good energy with each other and encourage working together as a team. We also look for young designers who love illustration, typography, photography, and who have different areas of interest which inspires them.

What are some of the best and worse parts of your job, day-to-day.

We love working with like-minded, driven and passionate clients who have an eye for good design and who trust us with their brands. We’re lucky to be working with some of the most up and coming brands in Istanbul. It really makes everything worthwhile. Eventually, most of our clients become our good friends and we feel motivated and energized when their brands thrive.

The frustrating part of this job is working for months on end on a branding project, where you put in a lot of time and effort, and the project gets canceled last minute. That’s always a big blow for us as it’s usually an idea that we truly believe in.

Who’s on the team, what are their roles and why do you love them?

We currently have 3 fantastic designers on board. Cansu is a great illustrator who’s equally good at branding. She’s very open-minded and talented and has the ability to adapt her style and way of thinking to every project, no matter how different they are. Duygu is great with typography. She has a clean and characteristic style, which we love. Alara, who recently joined our team, is also an excellent illustrator and has a very strong sense of design. She has quickly adapted to the workflow and continues to amaze us with her fast pace and bold design style. During the summer season, our doors are always open to interns.