Antonia Skaraki: Be Open and Passionate
Creative Director and Founder of A|S Strategy, Branding & Communication
by Elizabeth Lavis
|14 Jan 2025
Antionia Skaraki, Creative Director and Founder of A|S Strategy, Branding & Communication, lives by her personal philosophy of prizing passion and advises up-and-coming designers to never stop trying. “Be open to everything,” she says. “Ride the bus, talk with people, travel, read, and go to the cinema. Be eager to absorb experience and knowledge from everywhere.”
Skaraki lives by this mandate herself, explaining that personal inspiration comes from many unexpected places. “It can come as you watch a bus driving by, a bird flying, or even while listening to music,” she says. “It doesn’t have to come from one particular place. Everything can be inspirational.”
She also credits her Cretan culture for teaching her to listen and embrace, two qualities that inspire and influence her design work, and she has been fascinated with art and colors since childhood. “I always wanted to become a designer since I was a little girl,” Skaraki says. “I was intrigued by observing shapes and colors, which later drove me to become a designer.”
Although Skaraki has a distinct stylistic voice, she can adapt her style to meet brand needs and effectively address the client’s target audience. Doing so requires her to delve into the message and goals entirely and then create a design that’s both aesthetically pleasing and functional.
"NAI", A.S. Strategy Branding & Communication
“The first step in my design approach is to listen to the client’s needs,” Skaraki says. “Then there’s research based on custom-made tools. We need to see the competition and pinpoint the target group. When we know what we’re aiming for, the inspiration comes, and the design result is unique. It’s never generic. It’s always really specific.”
Strategy provides the foundation for design, and then creativity takes over to fully realize the idea. “It’s our philosophy that we can’t have strategy without creativity,” Skaraki says. Every project and client brief is unique, so there’s no consistent fixed time to complete a project. “Our average campaign takes two to three weeks, depending on the complexity,” she says. “But we’ve done outstanding work in three days or one month.”
The client is heavily involved during the initial research period and then looped back in to see the finished work. “Anything in the middle is our business only,” Skaraki says. She and her team establish complete trust and rapport right from the beginning to foster confidence in the creative work and create long-lasting relationships.
“I really listen to them,” she says. “I learn what needs they have. There are many creative people out there who want to show off their talent regardless of the client’s requirements, but I don’t do that. I want to help them achieve their goal. Doing this is the first step towards mutual trust.”
This ability to practice active listening and learning is how Skaraki plans to continue to grow as a professional. “I grow not by thinking as a professional, but as a child,” she says. “I will be a sponge that absorbs everything: knowledge, experience, information, words, and pictures.”
Submit your work for Indigo Design Award competition
