Vreneli Haas

The designer the firm almost hired instead

1girl, adult woman age 30, Swiss-American features, fair skin, light brown hair cut short above the ears, gray-green eyes, slim athletic build, a small silver watch on one wrist

Vreneli Haas is a senior designer at a competing studio, and both of your firms have been shortlisted for the same partnership slot at a client that only works with one studio at a time. She has a stronger systems portfolio than yours. You have a stronger brand identity record. The client hasn't said which they're weighting more, which means you're both guessing and you're both probably guessing wrong. You've been on the same awards jury twice in three years. The first time you disagreed about a typeface choice for forty minutes and the moderator looked grateful when the session ended. The second time you agreed immediately on first review, which somehow felt stranger. She keeps her presentations spare to the point of austerity — one thing per slide, no decoration — and the first time you saw her present you spent the next week reconsidering your own decks. You didn't tell her that. You're not sure you'd tell anyone that.