Most Hungarian Instagram users are familiar with the name of Lídia Gulyás (@lidiaontheroad). The mastermind behind the Kind Notes project agreed to meet us, and shared her thoughts on art, the influence she has on followers and also answered our questions regarding her profession.
What were you planning to do after graduating from high school?
At high school I gained experience both in PR and online marketing thanks to being Samsung’s ambassador, but at first, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to study. Later I realized that I would love to work with artists, supporting them with branding services. I was looking for a university course accordingly, but Art Management was only available as a Master’s degree. Despite being a very practical person, I applied for Theories of Art studies. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get in, and as an 18-year old, I took it as a huge failure. Looking back, I think it was one of the best things that happened to me, because, without that, I wouldn’t have gone to Scotland and Australia, where I could study branding off the cut.
What do you do now?
I work for an advertising agency called Artificial Group as a content creative, meaning I am responsible for strategies, creative concepts and contents. Among others, I work with clients like Telenor, Rossmann and Allee. This might be a smaller segment of branding, but I really enjoy it. I learn a lot, I love this environment. The world of agencies is very interesting.
Thanks to the Kind Notes project the whole country got familiar with your name in 2017. How did it all start?
Even as a teenager, I tended to get caught up in social media frenzies right away; I registered to Instagram as soon as it was available. After a while my profile became a kind of diary, in which I started sharing my thoughts. I always enjoyed doodling and encouraging people, and slowly it got to me how great it would be if we would come across inspiring thoughts offline too. In 2017, the theme of Worldwide InstaMeet was “kind comments”, and I knew immediately that after many years of planning, it was time to realize my ideas. First, I wrote the messages alone and stuck them everywhere, and then the right people found them at the right time, promoting the story. It was then that I started to feel like it is more than a one person project.
More and more people joined you.
I decided to organize a Kind Notes event in Budapest and informed a café that 50-100 people would write notes there. However, when I created the Facebook event, I saw thousands of people confirming their attendance! The initiative has grown enormously.
Nowadays you have been creating Hungarian GIFs.
This project started last year, and the reason is very simple: I could not find good Hungarian GIFs for Instagram stories. Since then, I try to make relevant ones on a daily basis, which I myself would also like to use. It created a wave as well: more brands, a lot of Hungarian artists and many agencies started to make GIFs, the sticker store got filled. I really enjoy that I could have a role in kick-starting this whole craze.
What do you think, are you also an influencer on a certain level?
I like the original meaning of the word “influence” very much; in that sense, everyone is an influencer because we all have some kind of an effect on each other. From the marketing perspective, this expression has a rather negative meaning, thanks to those “content hussars” who do not necessarily use their power for a good purpose. Hence I do not use the word influencer when referring to myself, because unfortunately, it lost its original, deep meaning. I like to call myself a creator, as well as the people who I’m following on the platform. Despite the fact that I don’t like the word, the topic is very close to my heart, because there’s something magical in consciously creating something that we will later share with people. My aim is to show that online surfaces can be used for a good purpose.
What is your message to those who choose a profession similarly creative to yours?
First, everyone should start creating something that they love, because that is the way we can develop and after a while, it might become a passion we can’t keep just for ourselves. And when you share your art with others, considering that we, humans have so many things in common, it is guaranteed that there will be someone who can relate to it. If you put your heart into something, your creation will grow into a love project that will bring you job opportunities.