Secrets of a creative: top designer Harkiran Kalsi shares her inspiring tips

Fresh challenges help you develop

Harky has worked everywhere from huge charity initiatives like Comic Relief, Children In Need and Sports Relief to big brands and cool start-ups, councils and colleges, and is passionate about spreading positivity and making change through her work. “You go from one place to another and you’re challenged, and you get confidence from it,” she says. “I can pick and choose who I want to work with now, and I can be totally myself. I have the freedom to say what I want to say, without anyone stopping me.”

You need to be tech savvy

“[Design] is a real combination of tech and creativity,” Harky says. “I’m so techy – everything I do in design is tech. It’s a big part of the job. The beauty of doing a graphic design degree over illustration was the tech side of it, all the software I needed to learn properly. Our world is tech led and you have to stay on top of these things. You’re always thinking of ways of doing things swifter and better.”

Inspiration is everywhere

Harky needs tech that allows her to work whenever the muse strikes, which is why her Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G is such a key piece of kit. “It’s slim enough and fits perfectly into your bag, so I can take it everywhere,” she says. “Take it out my bag, create work for a client from scratch. Not just sketches, either, but final pieces of work. It’s easy to do reels, it’s so quick to share files from the phone. It ties into everything. I love the softness of the S pen, how intuitive it is. It feels really natural and light. Moving around on screen in SketchBook is great – moving layers, it’s very smooth, there are no glitches. And the screen is really bright – when you add colour, it comes out very vibrant on the screen. Most of my work is now done on the tab, maybe 90 per cent. I can’t live without it.”

To find out more about how Harky works, click the video link above.

Discover more about the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G at samsung.com