Katie Baynes

Prior to working for Gravit8 I studied Graphic Design at uni (left without a degree but that’s a story for another day and it hasn’t held me back!), had a lot of bar jobs, managed a café and then worked my way through a couple of marketing/graphics jobs and eventually UI design, before I started working for Gravit8 (then DB Systems) as a Graphic/UI Designer in September 2016.

I work equal parts as a UI Designer for the software we produce for clients, either at physical shows (touchscreen apps etc) or online (virtual event platforms etc), and as a Graphic Designer for any internal and marketing content required for Gravit8.

“What drives me in my role? The satisfaction of providing perfect graphics of course ;)”

I fell into the tech world sort of by accident, but the industry has managed to keep me hooked for the duration of my career so far and unless ‘Save the Whales’ suddenly becomes a viable option, I’m staying!

Last-minute changes is the most challenging part of my role. But it is the nature of the events industry and I have gotten pretty used to it over the years, definitely keeps me on my toes!

“We’ve lost some great people over the years and gained many more, but have still managed to keep the same core feeling that we’re friends and are all ready to drop what we’re doing to help out on a project that’s about to go live.”

If I could give any advice to my successor it would be; don’t feel embarrassed to ask ‘more techy’ colleagues what something means!! I’ve worked at Gravit8 for 6 years and still have to ask what some of the team who eat, sleep and breathe technology are talking about sometimes.

When it comes to the current environment of the industry, I guess it’s all a bit up in the air at the moment?

There are a lot of opportunities for companies to go potentially very different ways, the pandemic has shaken everything up, which I don’t think is a bad thing. It’s forced people to think differently and discover new solutions, at Gravit8 we have done a lot of that; with our brand new VEP for example!

“I couldn’t predict the next 5 years, but I think anything that is going to encourage more online, so less use of travel and resources, is going to have a huge positive impact on environment, and personally I’m all for that.”