Kerning from the best — 5 minutes with Anton Sten
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 Anton Sten, a UX design lead working remotely from Sweden.
Enjoy!
What does a typical morning look like for you?
I usually get up at around 6 am and make me and my wife breakfast.
Then I usually work out before a shower. At around 8, I’ll take my dog and we’ll walk to my office which is just a 5 minute walk from where I live.
At my office, I’ll start my day by making some coffee and responding to emails before I dive into work.
As I’m based in Sweden but primarily work with clients in the US, my mornings are often quiet and meeting-free.
What has been your design journey?
My family got our first desktop PC sometime in the mid-90’s. While I primarily used it to play Captain Keen and UFO Enemy Unknown, I also started playing out with Photoshop.
I hung out in a lot of online chat communities (IRC) and got into the hardcore / straight edge music scene. Within the scene, there’s a strong DYI culture so making flyers for shows, writing and designing a fanzine and even creating custom covers for mixtapes (you guys must think I’m a 100 years old now) was all a given so learning Photoshop through my passion was effortless.
In 1997, if you knew Photoshop and the basics of HTML (in fact, there wasn’t anything besides basic HTML at that point) you were essentially a web designer.
Through some connections, I managed to get a couple of jobs designing websites for companies when I was still in high school, but I had my eyes set on Hyper Island. As soon as I had finished high school I applied and was luckily accepted (I didn’t really have a backup plan).
I then spent roughly 10 years working for agencies in Stockholm, London and Copenhagen before I decided to go solo. I’ve now been freelancing for more than 10 years!
What do you find yourself having to repeatedly convince others of?
I must have great clients and co-workers because I can’t think of anything!
Do you have a mantra?
This too shall pass.
Where do you want to go?
Stay healthy and stay happy.
I love the work I’m doing and I feel extremely privileged to be able to do this kind of work from a small town in the south of Sweden.
Just 10 years ago, I feel like it would have been impossible. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the work of UX designers will change over the next 5, 10 and 20 years as user interfaces will be based on other inputs than screens (voice for instance).
Who do you look up to?
– My wife for doing work I could never do
– Kim Granlund and Toke Nygaard were some of the designers I absolutely adored getting started
– The entire family at SuperFriendly
– Anyone doing their thing, regardless of what other people think
What’s your remote setup?
I have an office away from my home. I think that’s crucial for me to have boundaries.
In my office I have an iMac on an IKEA desk and I have a Herman Miller Aeron chair that I love.
Follow 8px Magazine for all future articles & interviews.
A selection of our other interviews:
P.s. we’ve teamed up with DesignLab to offer out their courses to 8px readers. Want to learn UX from some of the industry masters? They offer both short and long courses, where you’re teamed up with mentors from Github, Dropbox and the BBC.
