An example of what a multipotentialite can do for a business

web design

I may need to start with the definition of this strange word, “multipotentialite”.

A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits.
It stems from the word multipotentiality–a psychological and educational term used to describe people who display aptitudes across multiple disciplines.
The term was popularized by Emilie Wapnick on Puttylike and in her 2015 TED talk, Why Some of Us Don’t have One True Calling.

Actually, before starting this blog post, I’ve taken a test on Wapnick’s website. The result says I am a Simultaneous Multipotentialite.
Multipotentialites who favour the simultaneous style are at their best when they have many simultaneous projects and passions in their lives. Basically, the octopus is their heart creature, with each arm working on something different.

Simultaneous multipotentialites…

  • Are energized when they frequently switch between their diverse range of topics and projects
  • Have their fingers in several projects at any point in their life
  • Have many different skills and love go between skill sets.

I think this describes me pretty well!
So today I want to talk to you about my collaboration with Mother Tongues and you’ll see why in a minute.

2017

Mother Tongues is an organisation founded by Francesca La Morgia, a cultural and creative entrepreneur with a background as linguistic professor. She specialises in all things bilingual and focuses on bilingualism in children. All her projects and ideas come from this very specific background.
I approached Francesca in the Summer of 2017, when my freelancer career was not very successful and I was looking for a turning point (or at least something to do to occupy my time!). Well, that email turned out to be one of the most important I have ever sent!
We started our ongoing collaboration, giving life to so many wonderful projects, that I cannot even list in only one blog post!

Researches show that teams are particularly successful when very specialised people meet multipotentialites – or multipods. That’s because the two categories put together a very focused vision with a creative approach that explores various points of view.
I think this is why Mother Tongues grew so fast in only less than 4 years and now attracts many people from different professional backgrounds. 

About Mother Tongues

Mother Tongues is a not-for-profit organization aimed at promoting multilingualism in Ireland, working with schools, families, community groups and artists through a range of activities that allow children to experience language in new and exciting ways outside the home environment. 
I started to work as a graphic designer for Mother Tongues since late 2017 and I had the pleasure to give shape to all of the marketing material and resources created since then, both online and printed. 

While the organisation grew, it started to be clear that the need for creative outputs was growing too.

I designed the first logo and brand identity in 2017 and in the last few months, after the COVID crisis, the Director decided to refresh the brand once again with the aim to make it more modern and user-friendly. You can see below some of the material created as well as the mood board I used to inform the rebrand.
I’ve also designed the logo and marketing Material for the Mother Tongues Festival, the largest Festival in Ireland celebrating multilingualism through the arts.

 

Graphic design

mood board, rebrand

In 2017 we decided to create the Festival and I took care of the management – and I’m still on it, currently organising the 4th edition.
From Spring 2020, I am also the coordinator fo the online language classes for bilingual children.

When you do great things, you can’t keep them for yourself! So I created the websites for the three main areas that go under the Mother Tongues umbrella, including the Festival and Language Explorers, a language awareness initiative for primary schools. 

Web design

Video editing

Language Explorers activities are designed to raise awareness of linguistic diversity in the classroom and in the community and to promote an interest in language learning.

One of the most interesting activities of Language Explorers is the workshops run in the classrooms (before and, hopefully, after Covid).
Not everybody gets the real potential of these activities, so we created a short video with some images taken from one of the last workshops of 2020. This is one of my first attempts at video editing! A very easy one, but one has to start somewhere!

Photography

As you may already know, especially if this is not the first time you visite my website, one of my biggest passions is photography.
Mother Tongues has started mainly with private talks given to small groups of parents or in companies like eBay, IBM etc. Time went by and the numbers of events and activities increased rapidly. If you don’t have documentation, you may as well stop doing any kind of activities, especially in the 21st century, where images are vital, particularly when it’s time to promote your work.

Being a young non-for-profit, Mother Tongues didn’t have the budget to employ a professional photographer to document the many events going on… So, I volunteered for the role with joy! With my means, I covered events such as book launches, workshops, parents and toddlers groups, talks, public meetings, promotional campaigns… and at the moment I’m also the official photographer for the Mother Tongues headshots! 😀

So, what is the main takeaway of this article?
Do not ever underestimate a person just because they didn’t decide what to do when they were 4 y.o. and stuck with that call until now.
Do not underestimate people who study many different fields without being a guru in any of them.
Do not underestimate people who jump from one passion to another and find joy in it.
They could be your best partner in crime!

Let's talk about your project

Drop me an email (info@elenacristofanon.com) or fill in the form below. I will be happy to assist you!


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