Alireza Ataei

Over the last 20 years, I’ve developed a variety of identities, campaigns, packages, and promotions for many types of clients, from local start-ups and small businesses to international companies. Working within the considerable diversity of clients from the Middle East - where I am originally from – to Europe – where I’ve lived since 2010 – has enriched the quality of my communication design and has taught me how to think with pure creativity and see the far-reaching ideas my clients want and need.

As a Creative Director, I was responsible for launching a Corporate Design unit. We hired extra employees and started to work on various parallel projects like developing style guides and brand books for some well-known brands like Crunchips, Naturals, Saltletts, Monster Munch, and Erdnuss Locken (Curly). In conjunction, we developed company portfolios, style guides and corporate magazines. The whole process felt like working within a start-up. Agile, efficient and innovative with almost no hierarchy.

At the same time of beginning in the new position, it was decided to separate all 50 Creative Crews into departments called Trade Marketing, Design and Packaging, and Campaigns. I knew a lot about identity and packaging design, so I decided to collect more experience as a team leader in Trade Marketing. After one year I asked to move to Campaigns to work with Jan Rexhausen, a creative and iconic genius. A year after moved again to Packaging. There was an opportunity to build a CD unit, so I took a chance.

I was lucky to get involved with the top German FMCG clients while at Pahnke. I worked on several different creative teams, getting to know new clients and learning how to stay fresh and creative. My German was improving, and I could keep up-to-date with the technical tools and software. I was given the responsibility of building an in-house photography studio and built my awareness of font design, both of which were vital to me wanting to become an identity designer.

Working in a new culture is an adventure but it positively challenged the way I worked and thought. During this year I began to learn German and jumped at the chance to work in their international and national marketing department as well as their private-label business. Working at Lorenz was a valuable opportunity to gain a deep understanding of family-owned companies and their structures in Germany. However, Pahnke, Lorenz’s ad agency, recruited me as a senior graphic designer, so I moved to Hamburg.

Due to some pretty big shakeups just as I started my job, the company decided to launch a new brand for their savory snack production. I began working directly with the CEO and had to be agile to propose some brand names, hence Chuckles was born. My team also created a character named Chuckles and featured him on the first package design. We then managed the foil printing production as well as the brand’s POS materials and print campaign. It was time for me to take an even bigger step.

The experiences and know-how that I’ve collected before gave me the confidence to start with my design studio. The clients' amount growing up and I had to expand. At the end of the year 2006, we were seven. Managing a compact and agile creative team, writing appropriate concepts and strategies in cooperation with brand managers on the client-side as well as building a long-term trustful relationship with them were the tasks which I was involved at ARAT studio.

Working in Shahdiran was one of the most beneficial periods of my career. At the time, they were going to launch two new brands in addition to their well-known brand “Goldis”. Besides all the time talking with professional strategists about brand positioning, I learned how to propose various identity and packaging design approaches. Thanks to their in-house printing department, I learned the principles of gravure printing, from prepress and engraving to color proofing and printing.

I left engineering and applied for an illustrator job at Katibeh. I had some know-how because of all the illustration courses I took in high school, and I loved them. Fortunately, the vacancy actually had nothing to do with illustrations but with graphic design. At the end of the first year I felt a new power because I could translate the colors, typefaces, forms, and ideas that were running in my mind to the screen. It was just the beginning.