What does it take to help shape a platform trusted by the world’s leading brands and media operators? For Anita Richard, Lead Product Designer at Celtra, it requires a mix of radical simplicity, deep empathy, and a lifelong obsession with visual communication. Since Celtra’s early days, Anita has worked alongside our founders and engineering teams to transition our tools from execution-focused crafts to high-level product strategies. In this Q&A, she reflects on her journey from the Academy of Fine Arts to the evolving landscape of ad tech, and how over 14 years of growing alongside Celtra has shaped her into the design leader she is today.
What sparked your interest in product design, and how did your career path unfold from there?
My interest in product design grew organically, feeling less like a career choice and more like a natural extension of who I am.
From a very young age, I was drawn to design, art, and craft. Creativity was always present. I spent hours absorbed in visual worlds exploring design magazines, sketching, and creating. I grew up surrounded by artists and educators whose goal was to inspire and communicate ideas visually. This environment became my foundation, teaching me that design is about intention, clarity, and efficacy, not just aesthetics.
My professional path started while I was pursuing my master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at a marketing agency as a graphic designer. There, I learned the importance of client relations, respecting brand guidelines, understanding campaign strategies, and delivering high-quality work at speed. My interest soon shifted toward digital marketing and creating digital experiences, including websites. This was a turning point—designing interactions, flows, and outcomes—that marked my transition from static graphic design to core product thinking.
It was during this time that I met Matevz Klanjsek, one of Celtra’s founding members. When Celtra was just emerging and full of possibilities, he mentored me and guided me in building something entirely new in the ad tech space. I started as a visual designer focused on execution and visual craft, but quickly became exposed to real client problems, tight deadlines, and the complexity of building tools for an evolving advertising ecosystem. Working directly on client-facing projects taught me how design decisions impact business outcomes, campaign performance, and user trust.
Over the past 14 years, I’ve helped shepherd Celtra’s product through every major evolution, from a Rich Media builder to a Dynamic Creative Optimization platform, to Social distribution, and now to Agentic Advertising and Creative AI.
My career path hasn’t always been linear, but that is precisely what shaped me into the Lead Product Designer I am today. Growing alongside the product, the company, and the industry has given me a unique perspective and a deep sense of responsibility in designing a platform that stands as a trusted, industry-leading solution for digital advertising, relied on by the world’s leading brands and media operators.
What are the top 3–4 traits that make a great product designer, and why?
At the core of my work are the principles that guide how I design: passion, empathy, collaboration, and simplicity.
Of these, simplicity is probably the most challenging to achieve. Creating something that feels effortless requires deep intention and constant refinement.
Empathy is fundamental. Designing intuitive workflows, clear systems, and products people genuinely want to use requires more than just understanding user needs in isolation. It requires seeing the full picture: what users are trying to accomplish, where they struggle, how they define success, and how their experience fits into a broader context. Additionally, this perspective extends to understanding the market landscape, competitors, identifying meaningful advantages, and anticipating industry direction.
This way of thinking is grounded in systematic and critical thinking, a skill set I developed early on as a member of Mensa. Problem-solving games and analytical exercises shaped how I approach complexity today—by breaking it down, recognizing patterns, and designing systems that scale. Building a product like Celtra is about creating cohesive, flexible systems that can evolve alongside the platform.
Collaboration is essential. The strongest outcomes emerge from close partnerships with product managers, engineers, researchers, and fellow designers. My most meaningful growth moments came from working closely with exceptionally talented teammates. Those moments sharpened my thinking, expanded my perspective, and ultimately led to better products.
What does a ‘typical’ day look like as a lead product designer at Celtra?
There’s no such thing as a truly “typical” day in my role, and that’s what I love about it. My days naturally shift between strategic thinking and hands-on design, constantly moving between long-term vision and fine-grained details.
Some days are focused on ideation and strategic thinking; collaborating closely with product and engineering on roadmap discussions, exploring new opportunities, and thinking through how evolving technologies, user needs, and business goals intersect. Other days are deeply practical: reviewing designs, refining interaction details, testing user flows, or giving thoughtful feedback to designers on the team.
What are the biggest challenges you face in your role, and how do you tackle them?
One of the biggest challenges in my role is balancing innovation with legacy. My role sits at the intersection of what’s desirable, viable, and possible. The product may push for new functionality, engineering may reveal technical constraints, and design systems may introduce limitations. Because I know the product’s strengths, flaws, and potential, I tackle this by embracing a deeply iterative approach. We ideate extensively, test against real use cases, gather data, take what works, refine it, and evolve it gradually, ensuring it moves us forward without disrupting the overall experience. Celtra is a mature platform used daily by global customers, meaning every design decision carries weight. We must continue evolving, adapting to new formats, standards, channels, and now AI-driven workflows, while protecting the trust our users have built and preserving the workflows they rely on.
How has your role evolved since you joined Celtra? Any big pivots or surprises along the way?
Over the years, my role has evolved from execution to ownership and product leadership. I joined Celtra early on, working closely with Matevž, learning from his vision and helping bring it to life through design. As the product grew, so did my responsibility. I moved from focusing on visual craft to shaping how the product works, scales, and delivers value. That shift marked my transition from execution into product thinking and leadership, where design became a strategic function rather than just a craft.
Over time, I also stepped into mentoring and supporting other designers, helping them understand both the product and the broader design space we operate in. That’s been a particularly rewarding part of my journey—seeing others grow while contributing to a stronger, more cohesive design culture. At the same time, I’ve always stayed very hands-on. I enjoy diving into complexity and solving problems through critical thinking.
More recently, I’ve been contributing to our next-generation product direction, as we adapt to Agentic-driven workflows and a changing market. Being part of shaping that next chapter, building on the foundation we’ve created, has been both a challenge and an opportunity. It’s not just about maintaining an existing product, but helping define what comes next.
Looking back, there hasn’t been a single sharp pivot, but rather a continuous evolution, from craft to strategy, and from contributing to actively shaping the future of the product. That progression is what’s made the journey both dynamic and deeply fulfilling.
What do you love most about your job, and what makes Celtra stand out as a place to work?
Celtra has never just been a workplace for me—it’s been a place where relationships grow into genuine friendships, built on mutual respect, trust, and shared ambition.
Over the years, we’ve gone through a lot as a team: building products from the ground up, navigating industry shifts, sharing wins, and lifting each other up. That kind of journey creates a unique bond.
What’s the one tool or habit that keeps you sane and productive?
I wouldn’t point to a specific tool. What really keeps me sane and productive is how I manage my time outside of work, which feeds back to being effective at my work.
I’ve learned that stepping away is often when I do my best thinking. Whether it’s going for a run or taking a walk, that space helps me clear my head and come back with better, more focused ideas.
At the same time, a big part of that balance comes from being a mom. My son is, in many ways, my most genuine source of feedback, both good and bad. He keeps me on my toes creatively. Whether it’s coming up with games, explaining things in a way he understands, or just keeping up with his curiosity, he constantly pushes me to think outside of the box and get to the point quickly.
What’s something about your role that most people misunderstand?
A common misconception is that product design is mostly about UI and visual polish. In reality, that’s just a small part of it.
A big part of my role is alignment, communication, and decision-making, working across product, engineering, and design to understand different perspectives, constraints, and goals. Product might define what we want to achieve, engineering clarifies what’s technically possible, and my role is to connect those dots.
In my role, I act as an orchestrator, bringing together diverse perspectives and constraints to shape solutions that are not just visually strong but also technically feasible and ultimately deliver value to our users.
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