Hey Mari, What Do You Do?!

Marianna Fierro is an art director at Use All Five. She's a food illustrator, mortadella influencer and was born and raised in a pizza shop in Udine, Italy. People always ask Mari what she does for work, so we did too.

Do people get what you do? If not, what’s the most often heard misinterpretation?
My industry friends do, yes, but otherwise no. When my Italian-speaking parents need to explain my job to their friends, I write a script for them to use. They kind of understand, but not really. I try to simplify my explanation as much as possible when speaking with my Italian friends and family, as there’s a bit of a cultural difference in what a design occupation means to Europeans and Americans. Typically, they’d think of a designer as someone who draws logos with pen and pencil, or creating ads for a newspaper. 

What’s your elevator pitch to describe what you do?
I am a digital art director, which means that I work on designing a lot of websites and apps, and I also work on some of our branding clients. Outside of work, I’m a food illustrator :) 

How would you describe what you do if it was your best friend asking?
Same as my elevator pitch, but they’d actually understand what I mean because most of my friends are in the same field. 

If someone were to ask at the end of a long day at work, how would you describe the day you just had?
I pushed some pixels, had some meetings, made the world a better place. Wink wink.