Hi, I’m Zoe Tollenaar.
I started ZOTO Design during my final year of uni in 2015, right after I got my first freelance gig. In hindsight, I could have just used my full name (as ZOTO was and still is a one-woman show) but I was aware of how painful my surname is to both spell and pronounce.
Since then I’ve done a mix of freelance, contract and full time design roles. For a while freelancing was just something I did on the side, but when I moved to London in 2020 and COVID hit I was forced to go fully freelance. Because no one was hiring in the UK I did a bunch of remote work for various businesses and film productions back home in New Zealand, as well as some businesses in the states.
I did go back to agency work for a bit but I'm now purely freelance again, as it allows me to travel while still doing remote work for clients in NZ and the US. I’ve worked on a diverse range of projects across various industries, which has built up a good client base and also expanded my skillset. I still learn something new from every project, and probably will forever, but that's a good thing.
I regularly work with various forms of print and digital media, usually independently, but I’m also happy to collaborate with others to get a project over the line as efficiently as possible. If you'd like more details on my work experience, my CV is here, or if you'd like to see my film work folio (that I can't publish due to NDA's) then just flick me an email.