There are quite a few projects I have created or co-created, across the years – many of which I can?t even share, due to the NDAs signed.
Just as a parenthesis, all that you have seen on this website so far is recent work, done in the past 3 years.
Here are some of the special case studies:
maybe something gone viral, maybe a peculiar project, ?maybe a high impact campaign, ?maybe a huge market coverage design product.
Or maybe something that I have created to support a cause
using visual arts.
Just discover below. Enjoy. 🙂
Once, I heard that there?s a pandemic starting.
It was early 2020. It was late and I couldn?t go to bed. ?
So I started writing and drawing. The story that I have created then –
Went Viral:*
Got Downloaded +15,000 times,
Had Video Versions Seen +5000 times,
It Got Translated Into 15 languages,
Collaborating With +50 People,
On 4 continents. All, Pro-Bono.
It was one March evening, back in 2020 – the first COVID-19 lock-down week in my home country. My daughter had just turned 2. She was after her first accommodation week at the kindergarten. And all the world seemed to twist as we never imagined.
When something drastic happens, I tend to look for ways to make the best use of my skills and creativity – and to serve the world.
I felt this urge to create a story to tell to children – all those kids who had their world turned upside down, with adults wearing masks everywhere, with time spent indoors, with kindergartens and schools closed.
I wanted the story not to focus too much on a common enemy approach – but rather on an ecosystem, environmental perspective. It also had a solidarity approach and some practical bits of advice – at the end. I wrote it in English and worked with a US native speaker editor to revise it. I also checked with specialists the biological aspects that I had mentioned in the material.
I felt this urge to create a story to tell to children – all those kids who had their world turned upside down, with adults wearing masks everywhere, with time spent indoors, with kindergartens and schools closed.
I put the story as an open-source read or print-at-home kind of material, on my website. People were so receptive to this approach. The reaction that the story got proved that it was an appropriate way to communicate to children what was happening – at that moment in time. And then, the snowball effect started.
Starting in the spring of 2020, the story got translated, as follows, into Romanian, Spanish, French, German, Catalan, Portuguese, Macedonian, Russian, Bulgarian, Danish, Greek, Dutch, Hausa, Japanese, and Korean.
I handled this project as a pro-bono contribution to the world. My background as a professional creative, with a BA in Journalism and an MA in Advertising, and my extended work experience with campaigns was a solid foundation for all this effort.
I created all the illustrations in the book on an iPad Pro, using Procreate. I was putting the translated versions of the story on the page myself, in Adobe InDesign. I was checking that the editors that were contacting me to contribute were native/proficient teachers/editors in that specific language.
And, now and again, someone new was contacting me – to put out there another language, to have an interview about the project, to make a video version of the book.
That was another project-within-the project – the video. It was quite impressive how a creative agency, with a specialist in After Effects, was able to convert all the illustrations into an animated story. A generous sound engineer (Stefan) helped out with the music and sound. There was this beautiful voice-over (Mara) telling the story. And the video was on. It unfolded on its own, from one person involved to the other. People living in different spots, with distinct skills, joined their energy – all, pro-bono.
Some translators even wanted to make an audio version of the book themselves – so eventually on YouTube, there are now Romanian (my voice), English, Dutch, and Greek audio-video versions of the story.
It was one March evening, back in 2020 – the first COVID-19 lock-down week in my home country. My daughter had just turned 2. She was after her first accommodation week at the kindergarten. And all the world seemed to twist as we never imagined.
When something drastic happens, I tend to look for ways to make the best use of my skills and creativity – and to serve the world.
I felt this urge to create a story to tell to children – all those kids who had their world turned upside down, with adults wearing masks everywhere, with time spent indoors, with kindergartens and schools closed.
I wanted the story not to focus too much on a common enemy approach – but rather on an ecosystem, environmental perspective. It also had a solidarity approach and some practical bits of advice – at the end. I wrote it in English and worked with a US native speaker editor to revise it. I also checked with specialists the biological aspects that I had mentioned in the material.
I put the story as an open-source read or print-at-home kind of material, on my website. People were so receptive to this approach. The reaction that the story got proved that it was an appropriate way to communicate to children what was happening – at that moment in time. And then, the snowball effect started.
Starting in the spring of 2020, the story got translated, as follows, into Romanian, Spanish, French, German, Catalan, Portuguese, Macedonian, Russian, Bulgarian, Danish, Greek, Dutch, Hausa, Japanese, and Korean.
I felt this urge to create a story to tell to children – all those kids who had their world turned upside down, with adults wearing masks everywhere, with time spent indoors, with kindergartens and schools closed.
I handled this project as a pro-bono contribution to the world. My background as a professional creative, with a BA in Journalism and an MA in Advertising, and my extended work experience with campaigns was a solid foundation for all this effort.
I created all the illustrations in the book on an iPad Pro, using Procreate. I was putting the translated versions of the story on the page myself, in Adobe InDesign. I was checking that the editors that were contacting me to contribute were native/proficient teachers/editors in that specific language.
And, now and again, someone new was contacting me – to put out there another language, to have an interview about the project, to make a video version of the book.
That was another project-within-the project – the video. It was quite impressive how a creative agency, with a specialist in After Effects, was able to convert all the illustrations into an animated story. A generous sound engineer (Stefan) helped out with the music and sound. There was this beautiful voice-over (Mara) telling the story. And the video was on. It unfolded on its own, from one person involved to the other. People living in different spots, with distinct skills, joined their energy – all, pro-bono.
Some translators even wanted to make an audio version of the book themselves – so eventually on YouTube, there are now Romanian (my voice), English, Dutch, and Greek audio-video versions of the story.
Here are some of the countries where the book was viewed or downloaded: Romania, France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Austria, Croatia, Estonia, Moldova, Italy, Finland, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovakia, Norway, Macedonia, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, United States, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, India, Israel, Turkey, Mexico, Thailand, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Martinique, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Palestinian Territories, Iceland, Isle of Man, China, South Korea, Nigeria.
In Romania, the NGO that helped with the Romanian version of the story gathered some funds and was able to print less than a thousand copies for children in the psychiatric hospital – to explain the pandemic. They also used the printed book in children’s summer camps, in rural disadvantaged areas.?
Another story about the translation process is one related to South Korea, where an English teacher used this story’s translation as a group activity for her pupils.
Teachers and educators have used the book as a support material – across all continents.
For the Hausa version of the book, the illustrations were adapted by me to fit the racial context. The collaboration was very well received, and the book served well at some regional events in Nigeria.?
For me, the experience of collaborating with so many people, worldwide, and crossing the language barrier challenges, had immense value. I just can’t explain the feeling of receiving photography from faraway countries with people and the book version, and a smile on their faces – in all that emotionally shaking 2020. This story kept me going. It was a great thing to focus on.
They say that, together, we can create more than the sum of what each of us creates, separately. And they call this “synergy”. This is what “The Together Story” taught me. I am every day grateful for that.
Here are some of the countries where the book was viewed or downloaded: Romania, France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Austria, Croatia, Estonia, Moldova, Italy, Finland, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovakia, Norway, Macedonia, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, United States, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, India, Israel, Turkey, Mexico, Thailand, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Martinique, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Palestinian Territories, Iceland, Isle of Man, China, South Korea, Nigeria.
In Romania, the NGO that helped with the Romanian version of the story gathered some funds and was able to print less than a thousand copies for children in the psychiatric hospital – to explain the pandemic. They also used the printed book in children’s summer camps, in rural disadvantaged areas.?
Another story about the translation process is one related to South Korea, where an English teacher used this story’s translation as a group activity for her pupils.
Teachers and educators have used the book as a support material – across all continents.
For the Hausa version of the book, the illustrations were adapted by me to fit the racial context. The collaboration was very well received, and the book served well at some regional events in Nigeria.?
For me, the experience of collaborating with so many people, worldwide, and crossing the language barrier challenges, had immense value. I just can’t explain the feeling of receiving photography from faraway countries with people and the book version, and a smile on their faces – in all that emotionally shaking 2020. This story kept me going. It was a great thing to focus on.
They say that, together, we can create more than the sum of what each of us creates, separately. And they call this “synergy”. This is what “The Together Story” taught me. I am every day grateful for that.
Once, when I was traveling to Brazil,
I Digitally Illustrated
The Map Of An 80-Acres Land
with a Cacao Farm,
An Ecological Garden &
A Food Forest On It.
I did this by using: Google Satellite Imagery, a farm observational tour,
and then the touch-pad on Macbook, in Adobe Illustrator (brush). This is part of the result.
Once, when working in an ad agency, where I was oftentimes
creating the concept & design for integrated campaigns almost as a one woman show,
I Created An Awareness Campaign
That Exceeded Its Goals By 9%
The campaign was an internal one. It was for a factory ?(world-wide known, Romanian division) that needed its workers to reduce the energy consumption. The objective of the campaign was to reduce consumption by 3%. After half a year, the energy consumption analysis revealed a 12% reduction.
The campaign included: posters, flyers, an animated video, internal incentivising events for the factory personnel. I prepared all of the materials, in terms of concept, slogan, design.
The visual concept was an electricity meter, whose numbers were scrolling extremely fast and from which money bills were flying out.
The campaign slogan was based on a Romanian saying, quite slang, something like “Stop burning it foolishly” – that saying had a double meaning, in my native tongue: “stop wasting time” & “stop burning the energy” foolishly (and, to comprehend the slang level, it can be perceived somewhat like “cut the crap” may be, in English). This campaign was created 12 years ago. 🙂
Once, when working in a tech corporation, in location-based services,
creating navigation and maps user experience design,
I Guided The Creation Of
Cross-Cultural
Iconography Packages
For Digital Products
Present On The Market
Worldwide.
Skobbler was a German startup, a product-based company, with a significant activity in the location based services industry.
Skobbler?s main product was a mobile app. It was based on OpenStreetMap and it was the #1 paid navigation app in many countries (it was very well positioned in the DACH area, while also present all across EU, and then even in the US and other markets). It had over 4 million users.
Why ?was?? Because it got aquired by Telenav. It was founded in 2008 and got sold in 2014 for 24 mio $. I have joined the team in 2012.
I have been the first full-time UI/UX Designer of the Cluj-Napoca office and I have later on, under the guidance of my EU UI/UX lead in Berlin, built the beginning of a UI/UX department in Romania – that eventually got to 3 full-time members and one contractor, while I was the department lead.
Except for my work on the company?s mobile app and other significant B to B products (such as Bosch electric bicycles), I have also worked on building, prototyping and iterating on an in-house map-designing desktop tool.
Why ?was?? Because it got aquired by Telenav. It was founded in 2008 and got sold in 2014 for 24 mio $. I have joined the team in 2012.
Except for my work on the company?s mobile app and other significant B to B products (such as Bosch electric bicycles), I have also worked on building, prototyping and iterating on an in-house map-designing desktop tool.
My work on map design also extended to creating various map styles and optimizing the overall map user experience – map points of interest icons included.
I created the first iconography package for the global users market, with 100+ icons, back in 2013. And then, the second one was for Telenav – after the acquisition. It was in 2017 – and then I worked closely with a contractor on the visual execution of the package.
For both packages, I have used extensive research (specialized studies, focus groups, the use of qualitative and quantitative questionnaires) to make sure all they are unequivocally comprehended – no matter where on the globe they are being used. Most times, globalization was optimal. Other times, localization was key.
In my work, I always needed to take care of the technical constraints and context (the driver?s safety was the most critical aspect of the UX).
Note: The NDAs signed with skobbler and, later on, with Telenav are the reason why this case study is so thin. My work was extensive – it was challenging and rewarding, at the same time. The global context of the products, the safety aspect of the in-car UX, my middle-management contribution – all these aspects I worked on for years built up on top of what I am today as a design thinker. Here are some keywords on my work there: design sprint methodology, agile, wireframing, product design, A/B testing, happy paths, edge cases, user flows, mirroring app, interating, production, cross-functional, native mobile, theming, cross-departments, operational, coaching, carrots and sticks, why leaders eat last, start with the why.
Once, I’ve been invited by a local sustainability art NGO to participate in a collective exhibition.
My Artworks Raised Awareness
On Plastic Consumption
And A Couple Were Selected
For an Exhibition
At the Romanian Embassy
In London
After observing my endeavours in educating for sustainability through illustration, Art Mirror NGO invited me to create visual artivism work on recycled paper.
I accepted the challenge and participated in a collective exhibition at the French Cultural Institute in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Afterwards, a couple of the artworks – entitled “Parallel Plastiverses” and “The Oxymoron of Metonymy in the Plastic-Nature Relationship” were selected for a collective exhibition in the UK.
The event took place in London, at the Romanian Cultural Institute gallery, with the support of the Romanian Embassy in Great Britain, in June 2022.
Title:
“The Oxymoron of Metonymy in the Plastic-Nature Relationship”
Synopsis:
What a paradox, isn’t it, that the very material that keeps the carrot fresh, beyond its time, mixes so barbarically with the rest of nature? Why do we think the plastic wrap over the fruits and vegetables we eat is so necessary and natural? This plastic is a big fat oxymoron in its relationship with nature. Plastic does not keep nature fresh. And it doesn’t refresh it either.
Why do we act as if they do? Plastic as a whole suffocates nature and kills it prematurely. We gather the fruits of the earth too early and ripen them in bunches. Until it’s too late to do it again, anyway. Wrapped, head to toe, living alongside oceans emptied of fish and birds drowning in microparticles. That foil is the best thing for your fridge.
Technique used:
Mixed media on recycled paper – liner, watercolor, dried leaves, recycled plastic film collage, glue
Title:
“Parallel Plastivers – Or When Seeing a Shark is a Joy”
Synopsis:
What would it be like to project the reality on Planet Earth into a dystopia where the use of plastic and other materials or substances harmful to the environment is getting more and more out of control, and the separation of human constructions from nature is becoming more acute? We are on a life-drained and increasingly artificial planet, where synthetics hold people’s health by a thread. The thread has been broken for some time now for so many of the other species because the noxious materials have been invasive and destructive to ecosystems.
How would it be to project the reality on Planet Earth into a utopia in which the use of plastic and other materials or substances harmful to the environment comes back under control, through strict regulations and innovative policies, and the separation of human constructions from nature diminishes?
We are on a planet that is starting to regain its biodiversity, to regain the health of its soil and water, to reduce climate change and its impact. To breathe. Reusing materials and turning them from trash to building materials is complemented by the integration of nature on pre-existing constructions, by adapting architecture to human and environmental needs.
How would that be? In which “parallel plastic universe” do you want to count your wrinkles and grandchildren?
Technique used:
Mixed media on recycled paper – liner, watercolor, watercolor paper collage
roxana.oroian at gmail.com
Thanks for reading – I hope it was relevant.
On the website you can discover
a few more case studies.
I consider all the results of my work
a co-creation alongside my clients.
The selection of studies is just a glimpse
of what my creative process can be.
Stay imaginative and open.
We can go places together.
