Welcome Wednesday: Michael Moser

It’s Wednesday is it’s time to introduce to you our Design Jedi, Michael Moser. The force is strong with this one, as he started drawing and doodling when he was a younglin, and now leaves us all in awe with his immense skill and versatility. In this article he shows us how his love for designing in a user-centered way changed the visual identities of many brands, anynines included.

Not such a long time ago in a galaxy, we all know…

…there was a kid named Michael, and since early in his life, he loved drawing. Although for a while there, he kinda forgot all about his passion, until later on, when he was already almost an adult.  He started to sketch logos and posters from the bands he loved onto his wall or paper. 

Later, Michael sketched tribal motifs for tattoos for himself or friends and even customized their cars, scooters, and everything he was allowed to enhance.

Slowly it grew into some obsession. While the young man should sit in his Math class, he instead went to the school’s public computers and started creating websites. There he did some funny photoshop montages, and created band logos for his friends as well. 

This “skipping classes” issue sometimes was a better alternative than being sent out of them for laughing uncontrollably 5 minutes every day. See, the teacher had a speech impediment that made it hard for her to pronounce X’s and Y’s, which was unfortunate since there are so many in Math. Besides, the poor woman was squinting hard, and for a teenager this was an opportunity for silly laughs.

Twenty years later, I consider myself halfway grown-up – my wife would tend to argue that, I guess –, now really working in Graphic Design and still loving it!
After being tricked to enroll in a course studying Digital Media at the University of applied Sciences in Zweibrücken, Germany, I realized on the first day that this wasn’t for me… 

The course’s  description gave the impression it was all purely Graphic Design and UX.  In fact the course was dry to the bone Computer Science – and this was the only subject in the world I really didn’t want to study.  

So I got myself an apprenticeship at a small advertising agency where I became a media designer. I loved it. I learned a lot, and I worked after hours and overnights to become better, strengthen my skills, and learn more diverse fields. 

I had the opportunity and the will to learn all about print, web design, PHP, Javascript – unfortunately, this was all before responsive design came up -,  and I also learned about animation and 3D modeling.

I worked at different agencies, publishing companies, E-Learning companies, software companies, big and small. I worked for big German customers like “Deutsche Bahn”, with files I created that were printed in the millions and provided throughout Germany. Sometimes I worked for the optician next door or for nonprofit organizations. I came in touch with large international companies and institutions like FESTO, STIHL, IKEA, McDonald’s, several departments of the United Nations like the UNHCR, the German Red Cross, the International Federation of the Red Crescent and Red Cross – IFRC, and many, many more.

About 7-8 years ago, I specialized in User Interface Design and User Experience Design. I became a member of the German UPA (Usability Professionals Association) and loved visiting the world of usability days and other cons. 

✨I love to design in a user-centered way.✨

And besides that human aspect, that software should be usable, easy to use, and nice-looking; I loved the cases of “cracking the hard nuts”. Nothing is more fulfilling than understanding even the most complicated facts, relations and connections and then breaking them down into an easy and understandable UI, that can cope with complex scenarios. 

…If you’re still awake at this point, you might at least guess some of my hobbies, which to a large part circle around the field of design – can’t help. It’s my passion. 

Since my kids were born, I have had less time for hobbies, but when I find the time, I love listening to music, playing video games, driving RC cars with my sons, flying drones, building gunpla, and riding my bike – blow off dust first.

I came to anynines because of their Company Culture, their appreciation

for employees, the friendly atmosphere and their brought to life truly international work life. Many of our team members are spread around the globe. That makes it a really great place to work.

For applicants, I would only suggest being open to change and embrace a culture of variety and be yourself  – because all other people are already taken anyway. ;-)