Fintech Femtech
DESIGN IN SITU FOUNDERSSELİN ÖZÇELİK MÖRTH AND NAGEHAN KURAL ALAN:WOMEN IN TURKEYENTREPRENEUR ECOSYSTEMADVANCED CONDITIONDesign In Situ founders Selin Özçelik Mörth and Nagehan KURAL Alan, who produce projects involving technology in the field of interactive design, were the guests of our Femtechtime department.
*****FUNDA GÜLEÇ YALÇIN*****
We came together with Selin Özçelik Mörth and Nagehan Kural Alan, the founders of Design In Situ studio, which has extraordinary services in the fields of interactive animation and visual design. We got to know two women entrepreneurs who have different ideas on the aesthetics of digital media and human-machine interaction.
Tell Us about your startup?
We founded Design In Situ in 2011 after returning to Istanbul after our master’s degree in Germany. After graduating from Sabancı University Visual Communication Design program, we went to Bremen, Germany for a master’s degree and completed our education on Digital Media. With the interdisciplinary training we received at Sabancı University, we touched on many areas of design. This training provided us with a good knowledge of graphic design, animation, interactive technologies and design-oriented thinking. Then we focused on digital technologies and user experience design at our Germany experience and the art school we studied in Bremen (Hochschule für Künste, Bremen). The companies we work with; In this sense, Urbanscreen and Atelier Markgraph were opportunities to get to know international customers, learn and practice intercultural design. The projects we managed there and our one-to-one contact with large-scale customers such as Mercedes Benz and the Chamber of Commerce carried us forward. Then we came to Istanbul and started to produce projects in the field of creative technologies and interaction design. As two women entrepreneurs and designer partners, we have been providing project-based services to many individual, corporate, local and international brands and customers for 8 years.
What solutions do you have? Who are among your customers?Design In Situ is a boutique, fast and creative team. We produce graphic design, interactive software, photography and video design projects. We work in the fields of creative technologies and visual design. Our clients we have worked with so far; Brands and institutions such as Nike, Samsung, Eti, Sabancı University, Vitra, Unilever, Rahmi Koç Museum, Ziraat Bankası, Coca Cola Icecek. Apart from Nike Turkey office, we also work with Milan, Barcelona and Amsterdam offices. We do the concept development, visual design and software of the game designs created for the events from A to Z, and also undertake the operational management abroad.Our solutions often involve designing experiences that involve people and places. For example, we designed an interactive theater stage in a metro station for the Frankfurt theater in Germany. Hundreds of people passing through the subway station unexpectedly found themselves in an interactive theater stage with the spotlights turning on them by pressing the label names of the characters from the current plays on the ground. In the area we built for Nike at the Barcelona marathon last month, the participants experienced the world marathon record speed of 21 km per hour on treadmills with a game. With the 600 square meter digital museum we designed for Ziraat Bank, we enabled the visitors to experience the works of art from the archive in a different atmosphere. At the same time, we developed an interactive software and design project so that 2,000 works of art can be scanned and analyzed from the archive. The digital children’s workshops, which were also established in the same area, brought the children together with the works of Turkish painters, this time in a more play-oriented environment. All these projects were design projects that strengthened the perceptions of the brands by the user and prioritized the brand experience. Sample videos of these projects can be found at www. You can reach it at design-insitu.com.
What were your goals in the early days of your establishment, and which ones have you been able to achieve today? With our organization, we aimed to create designs in which we can integrate up-to-date technologies at home and abroad and at the same time develop original and creative projects. Every project we do today serves this. Creating solutions for different customers and audiences is what we enjoy most. In addition, one of our goals is to produce not only commercial but also social and artistic projects. In the field of interactive media arts at home and abroad; Today’s Art Festival in the Netherlands, Het Nieuwe Institute; We produced artistic projects in institutions such as the Museums Quartier in Austria and took part in organizations. Women are enthusiastic but not courageous about being entrepreneurs. What would you like to say about this? We made an attempt without prioritizing the conditions and our being a woman. In this process, we have seen both the advantages and disadvantages of this. We work as women in the fields of technology, software and design, and we touch the lives of women with the projects we produce. At the same time, we, as two mothers, manage our responsibilities towards our work and private life in a timely manner so that they do not override each other. But this temporal distribution has never left us behind. Having a job and learning, we aimed to develop people regardless of gender. Every project we do today serves this. Creating solutions for different customers and audiences is what we enjoy most. In addition, one of our goals is to produce not only commercial but also social and artistic projects. In the field of interactive media arts at home and abroad; Today’s Art Festival in the Netherlands, Het Nieuwe Institute; We produced artistic projects in institutions such as the Museums Quartier in Austria and took part in organizations. Women are enthusiastic but not courageous about being entrepreneurs. What would you like to say about this? We made an attempt without prioritizing the conditions and our being a woman. In this process, we have seen both the advantages and disadvantages of this. We work as women in the fields of technology, software and design, and we touch the lives of women with the projects we produce. At the same time, we, as two mothers, manage our responsibilities towards our work and private life in a timely manner so that they do not override each other. But this temporal distribution has never left us behind. Having a job and learning is an experience that develops people regardless of gender, and as long as you are enthusiastic about it, you have no obstacles.