Annika Hansteen-Izora (she/they/he) is an artist, writer and designer. They’re currently the Creative Director of Design and UX at Somewhere Good, a social media startup reimagining the internet.
Originally from East Palo Alto, Annika’s childhood was communal and artistic. Their parents, grandparents and friends were all hands-on in their upbringing, which was filled with music, dance and video games and rooted in pan-African culture and a Black Panther revolutionary spirit. Their dad was the founder of a technology organization for youth of color, which got Annika into computers and gaming early on.
This familiarity with technology quickly opened up additional creative avenues for them — and at the age of 10, Annika designed their first zine on Microsoft Word. “I loved the idea that I could make a book for my friends to read,” they say. By middle school, they were interviewing local bands for their self-published zines.
Annika went on to pursue a dual sociology and psychology major at Oberlin College in Ohio, but their student job managing a music venue on campus was what ended up impacting them the most. “The venue was very white-centric, and I wanted to bring in new voices: Black, POC, queer and trans voices.” Alongside scouting for and booking artists, Annika especially enjoyed designing concert fliers and forming a new identity for the venue. Slowly but surely, Annika embraced the option of following their creative spark and becoming a full-time designer.
“How can we strive to strengthen community in online spaces? How can we think about what web design looks like in terms of safety, care and accessibility?”
From a curated internet to a beautifully chaotic one
As a web designer, Annika likes to think of the internet through the metaphor of a digital garden. “The internet is not this clean, precise space,” they explain. “Instead, like a garden, it’s messy, communal and requires nonlinear growth.” Annika wishes to embrace the chaos of the online world. “We’re living in an extremely curated age, but I want to talk about the mess of the internet.”
For Annika, this messiness means creating web experiences that are loose and exploratory. They aim for the opposite of perfectionism and prefer designs that don't guide visitors through each and every step. “The user should be free to go wherever they want, and to connect with whomever they want.” Annika hopes that this approach will allow for web design to cultivate more meaningful human experiences and connection.
“I love that you can have an entire world on a website,” says Annika. They appreciate how anyone can build their own space online, serving as little worlds of self-expression. “What's really exciting to me about the web is exploring these new ways that we can connect to each other, be there for each other and for ourselves,” Annika remarks. “There are infinite possibilities in that realm. And that's what's really tight to me.”
“We're focused on connecting people of color to the things that they love and through that, connecting with each other.”
Carving out online spaces
One way in which Annika attempts to put these different ideas into practice is through their role as Designer and Creative Director at the social platform Somewhere Good. “We're focused on connecting people of color to the things that they love and through that, connecting with each other,” Annika says.
Their work at Somewhere Good revolves around the mission to bring joy into people's lives through the screen. “What are the ways we can play with the capabilities of a phone or a desktop to bring out joy? Everyday, I keep discovering new ways to mess with the screen that can bring something really cool out.”
Until recently, Annika was also the Creative Director of Ethel’s Club, a social and wellness platform for people of color. “It started as a physical space in Brooklyn. With the pandemic, we completely shifted things online, which has been incredible because it's opened itself to be an entire global platform for wellness that’s centered around and healing for people of color.”
In line with the digital gardens metaphor, Annika explains that communities are inherently messy and interconnected. While these traits can often be seen as negative, Annika is actually interested in tapping into them in the online platforms they design. “How can we strive to strengthen community in online spaces? How can we think about what web design looks like in terms of safety, care and accessibility?” They ask.
“All this different digital art can be created, from TikToks to gifs to memes. Designers today are taking these emerging forms of digital art and platforms and pushing them in weird, experimental and dope new ways.”
Dreaming up new realms of possibility
Annika recently launched their new portfolio website on Editor X. “As a designer who isn’t a coder, I love that Editor X allows me to make something really cool, tactile and flowing. I love how things on the web can change and move in really dope ways, and Editor X allows you to explore movement even if you may not know as much about coding.”
Tech and creativity are closely tied for Annika. For them, our current cultural moment calls for creative experimentation and play with new forms of media. “All this different digital art can be created, from TikToks to gifs to memes,” they say. “Designers today are taking these emerging forms of digital art and platforms and pushing them in weird, experimental and dope new ways.”
Most of all, Annika wishes for this innovation to lead to change. “I hope that designers will be the folks who are really pushing against the grain. We need to see the ways things are currently built and what isn’t working, and strive to make something new.”
Annika likes to think of designers as dreamers who imagine alternative futures and see beyond the familiar constraints, in an attempt to break the norm. “I feel like dreaming is the impetus for something new and non-standard.” They say. “And that is where really incredible work comes from.”
Watch more of Annika’s story in the series: Design’s New Wave.
