several years of professional experience in marketing, the founding of her own social design studio and the birth of her two daughters before she began her master's studies at the Hochschule Niederrhein at the age of 37. Her unconditional will carried her through the difficult and sometimes demanding phases, but giving up was out of the question for her, also because - coming from a working-class family - the academic degree was not a must. And so her thanks go first and foremost to her family, who had to forgo a lot of time spent together. But Julia Timmer also appreciates the very personal support she received from Professor Dr. Sigrun Prahl. She always took the time to answer questions and had a positive and open attitude towards the student's ideas and views, and this still rubs off on Julia Timmer's behavior today. She calls it "challenging leadership at eye level" and tries to implement this in her current position as head of a 10-person creative team at a large insurance company as well. She also took with her from her studies the reflections of Enzo Mari, Victor Papanek and Lucius Burckhardt, whose works are on her desk today and help her in her reflections on participatory design processes and the democratization of design. She personally thanked design theorist Florian Pfeiffer for his work "to do the new role of design in a changed world", who probably did not expect his ideas to be used in the insurance industry.
Even though Julia Timmer toyed with the idea of doing a doctorate after her excellent master's degree and the distinction of winning the Senate Prize for the best thesis in the "Regional Reference" category, the chance to go into business as a manager was too tempting. And she has not regretted this step, having long since revised her own idea of "dusty" insurance. She is currently working on a new corporate design and even met a former fellow student on the subject of "easy language".
She advises future students to remain communicative, open and diverse, to build up a good network and to remember that talents need opportunities.
