Tanja Fey

Tanja Fey actually wanted to work as an illustrator. Today, as Art Director at Helmut Lingen Verlag and Lingen Design, she is not only responsible for the layout of books and stationery, but also designs packaging for food products. We spoke to her about how you sometimes need a bit of luck on your journey through life, how even supposed detours can lead you straight to your goal and how your own goals can change over time.

Mrs Fey, you work as an art director at a publishing house. What exactly do you do there?

I've been working at Helmut Lingen Verlag in Cologne since 2015 and also at Lingen Design, an offshoot of the publishing house that specialises in advertising and marketing, since 2017. The publishing house mainly produces children's books and calendars, but also stationery. I create basic layouts there and check all products to make sure they fit and look good visually and graphically. One of Lingen Design's specialities is the design of packaging, primarily in the food sector. In recent years, I have worked on a rollout for dairy products, but also designed packaging for antipasti and sausages, for example.

That sounds like a diverse job. How did you get there?

I had to take a few detours and loops to get there. I actually wanted to study art. So after my A-levels in 1994, I took a year to work on my portfolios, which I then used to make applications to two art colleges. However, they both rejected me. That was a bitter blow for me. So bitter that I ticked off the subjects of studying and art for myself.

I had to do something instead, but what? As I grew up with animals and love animals very much, I decided to train as a veterinary assistant. That was fun. I liked the work and the team was great. But I realised during my training that I was missing something and that I would rather do something artistic. So, although my boss would have liked to keep me on and I passed my exam with honours, I left the practice after my training.

And what happened next for you?

After the disappointment with the art colleges and also because I definitely didn't want to go into advertising later on, I had ruled out studying. So I thought about doing an apprenticeship in a creative field. During a two-week job application training course that I attended in the meantime, one of the participants, a geology graduate, took me aside. He gave me the advice that I should reconsider the apprenticeship and study instead. He said that a degree would open the door to better jobs. And it would be a good experience to move to another city and start something new. I thought about it - and then decided that I wanted to study illustration, i.e. drawing.

Not a very common subject, is it?

That's right. So I did some research on where to study it. When I saw that the Faculty of Design at FH Aachen was offering a degree programme in communication design with a focus on illustration, I was really excited. I love Aachen! My family lives in Hagen, but my mum is originally from Aachen. And as a child, I spent many holidays with my grandmother in Aachen. So it was clear: I wanted to go there. I briefly considered applying to another university to be on the safe side, but then I put all my eggs in one basket and only applied to Aachen. With a bit of luck, I was accepted there. (laughs)

To what extent did you need luck?

We had to create a portfolio and a term paper for the entrance exam. I had prepared a self-drawn comic and some portraits for my portfolio. At the preliminary portfolio meeting, Professor Endrikat, who was teaching illustration at the time, looked at the portfolio and told me to leave out the portraits, concentrate on the comics and say that I wanted to be examined by him. No sooner said than done. So I arrived at the entrance exam with the comic pages and, it has to be said, a rather poor piece of homework - and was then assigned to another exam group.

Okay, that's it, I thought. Luckily for me, I bumped into Professor Endrikat in the corridor of the UAS building and spoke to him. And he actually spontaneously accepted me into his test group!

The exam itself was mixed. My drawings were good, but there was still the matter of the bad homework. And I had heard that you can only pass with grades 1 and 2. When I got my grade, a 2.6, I was devastated and thought that was it for good. However, six weeks before the start of the semester, following a hunch, I called the faculties to find out whether I might be on a waiting list. The lady on the phone told me I was in. I could hardly believe my luck. So I packed my things in no time at all and looked for a flat in Aachen. And that was another stroke of luck: I got the second flat I looked at straight away. I think I can truly say that I was lucky.

What an exciting start to my studies! What else do you remember from your student days?

When I started my studies, I was already 27 and therefore a bit older than most of my fellow students. At first I was a bit worried that it would be strange. But it wasn't at all. Everyone was totally open and creative, and formalities like age didn't bother anyone. It was a really good atmosphere. There was also the Rhineland cheerfulness and easy-going attitude, which I wasn't used to as a Münsterlander, but which I think is great. I also really enjoyed working on my final thesis, for which I illustrated the book "Alice in Wonderland". Everything was drawn by hand. I put my whole heart into it.

What happened after your studies?

After graduating, I started my own business as an illustrator. But then I was booked more and more as a designer. My time as a freelancer was very good and instructive, because I designed all sorts of things during that time, from make-up instructions and signage concepts to a medal for the Aachen Carnival Prince.

After about three years, however, I swapped self-employment for a permanent position in a start-up company, for which I had already completed many jobs as a freelancer. I stayed there until 2015, when the company unfortunately closed down. That was a very unfavourable time for my husband and me, as I was pregnant at the time. But after the initial shock, it turned out to be a good thing for me: shortly after the birth of our son, I made an application to Lingen Verlag, where I wouldn't want to leave. (laughs)

Why did you move away from illustration, which is so close to your heart?

Precisely because it is so close to my heart. I really like my work as a designer, it's a lot of fun and it's also important to me. But designing something is not as close to me as drawing things. I'm not as emotional and narrow-minded when I'm designing as I am when I'm illustrating, so I can work much more openly and freely. I only do illustrations for myself now.

At Lingen Design, you work in marketing and advertising - an area that you had previously ruled out for yourself. Is advertising perhaps not so bad after all?

Well, we don't do traditional advertising, no billboards or anything like that. We design packaging for the food sector. (laughs)

Honestly, I'm happy to be where I am now, even if that wasn't my goal. You just have to be open to what comes your way. I have the best job in the world today. The most important thing for me is that the tasks are so varied. There's nothing worse than monotony and boredom. With us, you always have to adapt to new things, tackle things and topics that you've never done or realised before. It's not unusual to have to conjure something up out of nothing. I think that's great.