Designer profile: Julia Frenkle

Meet out fearless leader, the founding partner and creative director of Opus Design, Julia Frenkle. Julia was born and raised in Germany but most people cannot detect an accent. She’s natural, honest, caring and a stickler for details. She inspires us everyday with her passion for great design and getting things done.

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When did you realize you wanted to become a designer and why?

I knew very early that i wanted to have a creative career, but i didn’t decide to go into graphic design until i had to apply for college. I was considering architecture, product design, and graphic design. Now I know that I really had no clue at all what graphic design really is. Good for me that I actually liked it once i found out 🙂 I honestly don’t remember why I chose graphic design over product design or architecture. but i know that when I showed up at massart I was already decided on graphic design and never wanted to switch. I did consider a double major in graphic design + photography; didn’t do it officially though, just took a lot of photo classes. and somewhere in my garage I actually still have an enlarger and everything to set up a dark room

What is your funniest design habit or obsession?

To really get into design mode I need to have my desk clean, my inbox cleared, and a good chunk of time without interruption. like at least 4 hours. otherwise I just can’t get in the right mindset. Reality is that this situation is very hard to create and often I have to design in between other stuff. I can do it but it doesn’t feel good. if I have everything taken care of and a time during the day to just focus on a design challenge, that’s when designing is fun.

 What do you like most about designing?

  1. when you’re in the flow, those times where you are working on something it’s coming together beautifully
  2. press checks, just love them 🙂 the smell, seeing the final piece produced, the big machines are very impressive
  3. the excitement at the start and at the end of a project
  4. working as a team, we have a wonderful group. everyone has really cool specialties and it’s fun to see what we can do when it all comes together.

Where did you grow up?

Neustadt and Der Weinstrasse, Germany. in the middle of wine country 🙂

It seemed very boring and normal when I lived there, visiting now i realize how beautiful the place is.

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 What is your pet’s name?

Hasi (germany for little rabbit). hasi has been dead for many years though. maybe died when i was 10. I didn’t take as good care of him as I should have, so I have shied away from having pets ever since. I don’t want the responsibility 🙁 but now I have chickens, they are very easy to care for. and they really are not pets. We get lots of fresh eggs and every once in a while a nice chicken soup.

Favorite musician, book, tv show and/ or artist?

I really like vampire weekend, really different, fun music. Favorite tv show is hard. i’m into a lot of them. Favorites would be: breaking bad, dexter, game of thrones, true blood, modern family, the killing, many more. there is nothing better than being into a great show 🙂