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Unleash your creativity Find out more about the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G and how it can inspire you at Samsung.com

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Harky is also a fan of the tablet's high-resolution 12.4in AMOLED screen, which allows her to create and showcase her work to its best advantage - rich, detailed and impactful.

Whether she’s creating a Children In Need hub, eye-catching fundraising kits for Sports Relief or Red Nose Day, attention-grabbing campaigns that highlight issues around racism and inequality, or working with brands to hone their visual identity, her tablet lets her go where her talent, the brief and her inspiration take her. “I really like how easy it is to use,” she says, “and I love the softness of the S pen. I really like how intuitive it is. It’s so quick and easy, and feels really natural and light and soft to the touch. Moving around on screen in SketchBook is great – moving layers, it’s very smooth, there are no glitches. And the screen is really bright. It comes out very vibrant on the screen, when you add colour to it.” With such a wealth of varied experience, a palpable excitement and infectious enthusiasm for her work, as well as a strong, distinctive, versatile and imaginative style, it’s no wonder she was named by art and design magazine Creative Boom as one the 25 most exciting graphic designers and illustrators working today. With so much going on and a raft of new projects and clients, Harky needs her tech to be light, portable and connected whenever and wherever she needs it. “It’s slim enough and fits perfectly into your bag, so I can take it everywhere,” she says. And as a designer, the design is very cool too. It helps with my creativity and productivity – most of my work is now done on the tablet, maybe 90 per cent. I can’t live without it.”

As Harky explains, tech like her Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G is crucial to her work. “You're always thinking how you can do things swifter and better. I really like how intuitive the S pen is. And the screen is so bright and vibrant."

Harky's high impact, graphic style is perfect for everything from creating brand identities to raising awareness of key social issues. She was recently lauded as one of 25 designers to watch

A powerful visual and creative tool like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G is an essential piece of kit for those who work flexibly. Its 5G connectivity means you’ll never be at the whim of a slow or intermittent Wi-Fi connection, with up to 13 hours battery life – and rapid recharging capability – makes it the perfect mobile companion, especially for creatives on the move like Harky. “You go from one place to another and you’re challenged,” she says of her work, “and you get confidence from it. I can pick and choose who I want to work with now, and I can be totally myself. I have the freedom to say what I want to say, without anyone stopping me.”

"I love the softness of the S pen. It’s so quick and easy, and feels really natural and light."

HARKIRAN KALSI

Tech has been crucial to Harky’s work from the beginning. “It’s a real combination of tech and creativity,” she says. “The beauty of doing a graphic design degree over illustration was the tech side of it, all the software I needed to learn properly. You need to be tech savvy. You’re always thinking of ways of doing things swifter and better. Our world is tech led and you have to stay on top of these things.”

Harky grew up in Leamington Spa in the Midlands, and answered to an artistic calling from an early age. “Since I was a kid, in fact – my mum was a fine artist, and I think I just got the gene. I can remember doing a Christmas card competition at school, and I came second. I’ve still got the picture – it’s quite decent for someone that age.” Some people grow up knowing more or less exactly what they want to do in life. Harky is one of those people. “I always knew I was a creative type and I knew it’d be something I’d hopefully have a profession in,” she says, and an arts foundation course in Coventry put that destination on track. She then studied graphic design and illustration before getting a public sector job as a graphic designer, which kept her busy for a decade. “Councils, colleges and charities,” she says. “It was awesome. I was doing posters and things, I was part of a team, it was exciting and I loved it.” Nevertheless, she had her sights set on London, and after heading up a design team at Warwickshire College, she finally landed a job in the capital with Children In Need. “I worked for the BBC, then I got lots of freelance work, and my career went on an amazing journey.”

Kim inks up the lino print, places the paper on top, and rolls the press over it to create a stark, distinct image.

A close up of the finished lino cut which she has intricately hand carved, ready for printing.

Kim draws the sketch onto a lino tile. From her design archive, stored on her Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360, she can access further ideas and inspiration to help her piece take shape.

Kim uses magazine tears, newspaper cut-outs, photographs and images of sculptures and paintings to create a mood board that inspires her initial sketch.

Harky uses her Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G to create one of her design pieces from an initial sketch. Because the tablet is so light – weighing just 608 grams – it's ultra portable and versatile, so she can use it to work anywhere.

A creative making a major impact

Working as a freelance designer, illustrator and muralist from her home and studio in Forest Hill in south London, 37-year-old Harkiran ‘Harky’ Kalsi’s has created her unique, high impact and empowering art work for everyone from charities like Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Children in Need, to brands and organisations like Footlocker and the NBA and publishing houses like Stormzy’s new book imprint with Penguin, #Merky Books. She also runs her own business selling hand lettered prints online via Not On The High Street and Etsy, and works as a freelance designer for brands and broadcasters, as well as socially conscious campaigns. With such a multifaceted creative portfolio to manage, Harky needs to rely on technology that is dependable and powerful and adaptable enough to serve her needs, 24/7. For her, this takes the aesthetically pleasing form of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G. “Absolutely!” she exclaims. “I’m so techy – everything I do in design is tech. It’s a big part of the job. I can’t live without that tablet now.” Its portability is key – for such a powerful tool, it’s remarkably light in the hand, weighing in at a mere 608 grams. “I can take it everywhere,” she says. “Take it out my bag, create work for a client from scratch. Not just sketches, either, but final pieces of work.” And since the tablet’s 12.4in AMOLED screen (the one Samsung uses for its finest smartphones, mobiles and TVs) is so high-resolution, rich and detailed, her work looks its very best, too. “That’s what’s really cool about it – there’s no need to stress.”

INSPIRING journeys

“Our world is tech-led and you have to stay on top of it”

Kim uses her Samsung Galaxy S21 phone to take an image of the lino print. She then uploads this to her laptop, blowing the image up and editing it to create a crisp, clean design.

Artist-designer Harkiran Kalsi can chart her creative career path back to a school Christmas card competition when she was eight. Here she talks about the art and design of carving out a career in the creative industries, and the tech she turns to for inspiration and support

Produced by Independent Ignite Project Manager: Lauren Sandiford Words: Ruth Emery Senior designer: Loraine Fajutag

It’s that freedom, flexibility and opportunity that she looks for in the tech that facilitates her creativity and vision. “Everything I do in design is tech,” she says. “It’s a big part of the job, from design through to animation. If I have this tablet in my client’s office, I can just pull out my work in front of them, show them sketches and illustrations. It’s the ease of it I love. That’s what’s really cool about it.” As well as showcasing and sharing her work, Harky’s tablet is essential to creating it, from initial inspiration to final design. “During lockdown I was always doing doodle work on the tablet. It’s so much easier with the tech set up on the tablet – you don’t have to faff around. If I don’t like something I can add or take away colour. It’s easy to do reels, it’s so quick to share files from the phone. It ties into everything.”

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