Meet Chanthy - A Day in Life as a Graphic Designer at Urbanland
From the outside, Chanthy appears quiet, speaks few words and softly even when spoken to, and prefers to keep things to herself. However, if you get to know her more, you will realise she is an excellent and seasoned designer with more than 5 years of experience creating eye-catching graphic designs and animations for both local and international clients. What she lacks in speech, she makes up for in design and work ethic.
Can you tell us about your typical working day at Urbanland?
Every morning, I spend a considerable amount of time commuting to the office at Raintree by my motorbike. By the time I arrive, many of my colleagues are already there. So once I am settled, I would go through the to-do list for the day and prepare some notes for the marketing team's regular stand-up meetings.
In these meetings, I reprioritise tasks for the whole day or week, depending on the campaign we are running. I always bring lunch with me from home, so in the afternoon, I tend to eat in the office and chit-chat with my colleague in the comfortable and quiet lounge area overlooking Vattanac Tower.
In the evening, my team sometimes goes out to the large outdoor bar area we called the “Crown” on top of the Raintree building to talk about our day and discuss remaining works under the setting sun.
What is the difference between working at Urbanland and your previous workplace?
The main difference is definitely the working environment. The Urbanland offices are situated on the first and the top floor of the Raintree office building with such a beautiful open-plan office design that is comfortable and refreshing. I feel energetic every time I enter the building.
I work on the top floor, in which I enjoy the flexibility of the workspace. The seating layout allows me and my colleagues to move around with ease and when I need privacy to focus, there are small rooms that I can go to. On top of that, when I need respite from work, I can go to the lounge area with a soft sofa and cushion.
Also, working here you can be mobile, meaning sometimes I can visit Chankiri, our Borey project, or K Mall, our community mall project. These different locations have their own office space that I can use and it is very refreshing for my brain to be on the move once in a while like that.
What are you most fond of at Urbanland?
Many things, but if I have to choose the top one, it would be my colleagues. They feel like family to me and I feel at ease working with them.
Tell us about a time when you were most creative.
I am most creative when I discuss new ideas with my colleagues. Each of us is exposed to different content and visual inspirations, so whenever we get together, I closely observe what kind of content they appeal to and the visual elements that attract them to the content, so I become more conscious about what attracts people in general such as the trend, and so on.
Tell us about a time when you underestimate yourself or your ability
Whenever there is a new challenging task, I feel that I will not be able to complete it, but with the help of my supportive teammates, I am always able to pull it off. So this fear has always been proven wrong.
At the moment, what is the most satisfying thing that is going on in your life?
The most satisfying thing that is going on in my life is the fact that I am able to maintain my workout routine. Every evening after work, I would play badminton to release stress and keep my body in shape. I think people need to exercise more, especially the fact that many young people now are sedentary, meaning they work at their desks a lot. Light exercise is a great way to end a busy work day. I definitely think it is doable if we put our mind to it.
