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New Year, New Wonderlanders
New
Year,
New
Wonderlanders
Senior Designer, Client Manager
To kick the year off with a bang, we added
two epic new people to the Wonderland
team!
To kick the year off with a bang, we added
two epic new people to the Wonderland
team! To celebrate their first month with us,
we asked Silvie and Janina a few thoughts
about themselves, why they wanted to join
Wonderland, and what they’re most looking
forward to in the coming months and
years!
Silvie | Senior Designer
Hi! I’m Silvie.
I’m Dutch, and have been living in
Amsterdam for the past 10 years. I love
everything to do with visual storytelling
(especially animated TV shows and Wes
Anderson movies) and in my free time, I like
to illustrate and read, as well as watch and
listen to everything I can about psychology
and philosophy.
I started my career working as a designer,
and quickly began specialising in digital
product design. I loved the agency I started
my career with and learned a lot from them,
but I often felt that the projects were all
style, but no substance.
I really wanted to work on projects were I
would be able to spend some time on the
quality of the product, and the purpose
behind it, so after 2 years I moved in-house,
focusing on web design. During this time, I
had the pleasure of collaborating with
numerous different people in a variety of
roles, such as UXers, researchers, analysts,
and conversion specialists, and gained a
wealth of in-depth knowledge in each of
these different disciplines.
However, I again began to feel an itch that I
couldn’t quite scratch. Something was
bothering me about working in-house, and
that was the over-reliance on data, often to
the point of paralysis. Don’t get me wrong, I
think data is great and critical to the design
processs, but we also have to recognise the
need for creativity, and creative
interpretation. People’s emotions can’t be
easily expressed by numbers, and this need
to quantify every decision began to feel
demoralising. That and the realisation that I
was spending a large portion of my time
helping to sell things that nobody really
needed.
That’s when I found Wonderland, an agency
that is focused on creative and meaningful
experiences. Besides that I really like the
focus on raising awareness about
Sustainable Digital Design. Here, I’ll be able
to not only make stuff that looks cool, but
also designs that add value to the world
and affect positive change.
The first month has been great. I’ve really
appreciated the focus on people, and the
team is super nice and talented. Looking
forward, I’m most excited to work together
with the wider team on some of the projects
we have in the pipeline, and delivering
amazing work for our clients.
Janina | Client Manager
Hi! My name is Janina Nyström, a
Swedish-speaking Finn who’s been living in
Amsterdam since 2019. At first, I moved
here for an exchange in 2017, but I ended
up moving back in 2019 when Helsinki
began to feel too small and quiet for me.
Amsterdam is vibrant and alive, while small
enough that you can get to know the city on
your bike, which is perfect for me.
As for my interests, I love nature, cooking,
and trying out new restaurants (which have
finally begun opening again!). I am also very
interested in the film industry and have
been taking courses in film and manuscript
writing. Although, my favourite interest in
the whole world is without a doubt downhill
skiing. I have been skiing for as long as I
can remember, and every year my family
and I go skiing somewhere in the Alps, this
year to Saalbach.
Before joining the Wonderland team I was
working in a very different industry where I
led projects focused on employee
experience, engagement, internal
communications, as well as learning and
development. So although I have experience
in project management, the creative design
scene is somewhat new to me. You might
wonder what made me apply to Wonderland
then? Well, I have always wanted to do
something more creative, but sadly I cannot
paint. However, my grandfather was an
artist and owned a creative agency in
Finland during the ‘80s-’90s. He specialised
in branding and has designed many
famous logos for Finnish businesses, such
as the ‘Made in Finland’ Key Flag symbol
which is marked on all products that have
been manufactured/produced in Finland.
So, in some ways, I have always had a
desire to follow in his footsteps, to some
degree at least. Now I get to be part of
creating cool stuff, and I hope that along
the way I can also move into designing stuff
by taking UX design courses, and learning
from my super nice colleagues.
I am super happy to be joining Wonderland,
not only because of the creative aspects,
but also the people and Wonderland’s
values and culture, which resonate very well
with my own values and way of working. On
top of this, I am really happy to see that
Wonderland is taking action by raising
awareness of the impact the digital world
has on the environment and how we can
work towards a greener digital future.
Moreover, it is a nice change to work for a
smaller company where you know everyone
and can do fun things together after work.
This was something I was missing in my old
job, as my role was very global and my
colleagues were spread out all over the
world. I was also mainly working remotely
and was therefore missing out on the social
perks that come with having an office to go
to.
Now I can (finally) go to the office, which is
fantastic. It is also so much easier to get to
know the people and Wonderland that way,
especially as for my first month I have
focused on taking over projects, getting to
know the company, as well as learning new
ways of working together with designers
and developers. I am especially looking
forward to getting to spend more time with
everyone, enhance my creative side, learn
new things, and manage my first big
project!
It’s been a great few weeks onboarding
Silvie and Janina, and we’re super happy to
have them join the Wonderland team. If
you’d like to hear more from Silvie or Janina
- or anyone else in the Wonderland team for
that matter - we’d love to hear from you. We
have a bunch of open roles currently, which
you can check out at
.
INC 16-22 BRAND EXPERIENCE DESIGN 
