Our ‘Staff Spotlights’ series is a chance for you to meet the people behind the diagrams, and learn something new about the team! We sat down with Tomoko to discuss what it’s like working and living in different countries, as well as her tips for remote collaboration.
Hi Tomoko! Let’s start with a short intro about you and your role at TDL…
I work as a Senior Designer, and have been part of the team for 8 years now. I came to the UK to study Information Design and before that, I was living in Lebanon working as an in-house designer for a university.
You recently spent some time working remotely from Japan – how was that?
It was wonderful as it allowed me to spend more time with my family and help my brother look after elderly relatives. Time differences can be challenging, but it’s something we’re used to managing at TDL as we have quite a few international clients. I’ve shared a few highlights of my trip above!
Do you have any tips for successful remote collaboration?
Stay in touch using whatever means available (at TDL we use Teams and ClickUp, a project management tool) and keep an open conversation going with your team. In my case, I made sure I knew what I was going to be working on during the following day as I started 4 hours ahead of the UK team.
And finally, do you have any advice for anyone looking to move abroad or work in a new culture?
I have been incredibly fortunate to work in various parts of the world - Lebanon and the UK as a designer, and the Far East, South East Asia, Europe, and the US in a completely different field. These experiences have brought me friends from all over. No experience is ever wasted. Even seemingly irrelevant or insignificant encounters can greatly enrich our design work and our life itself. So I wholeheartedly recommend it!
Visit our website to read more about our wonderful team – their hobbies, favourite snacks and deepest darkest secrets (okay, not the last one, but you get the idea!) Link in bio ☝
#DesignTeam #MovingAbroad #RemoteWork #JapaneseFood #JapanTravel #DesignTips
