Kerning from the best — 5 minutes with Angela Chua
Kerning From the Best is an article series where I’m having quick chats with remote and freelance designers from around the world to learn more about what makes them tick.
This month’s edition features Angela Chua, a freelance product design consultant based in the Philippines.
Enjoy!
What does a typical morning look like for you?
Typical morning starts very early, working out (now at home) on weekdays before getting to the grind of the day.
What has been your design journey?
I freelanced most of my career of 13+ years, starting with icon and UI design for early iPhone and pre-App Store apps.
I built a small boutique studio along the way, am now leading user experience design for a B2B hospitality startup, a premier digital note-taking app, and keeping busy with freelance projects here and there.
What do you find yourself having to repeatedly convince others of?
I tend to not impose my viewpoints on others, quite frankly. But industry-wise, I’ve been pushing for collaborative and empowering tools that anybody can get into, namely Figma and Webflow.
Do you have a mantra?
Work smarter, not harder. ;-)
Where do you want to go?
Where and how can change from time to time but, I want to continue being a part of interesting products, seeing them from idea to launch and everything that comes after.
Who do you look up to?
I’m a maker in my core, so I really admire people who, despite their success, still create their own art — whether that’s design, writing, creating stories by interviewing, building businesses, crafting music.
So people like Paul Jarvis, Dan Mall, Bill Simmons, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
What’s your desk setup?
I have a simple home office as I have been working remotely most of my career. I used to have more but elaborate setup but nowadays, it’s just usually a MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro together.
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