Meet a Beamer — Keith Evans, Senior Product Designer
Background
How did you get into Product Design?
My reasons for getting into product design are probably a lot more boring than why I love product design. It was a rational progression from print designer to product designer peppered with late nights learning new skills that I claimed to know the day before. “Yeah I can totally do that.” I love product design for so many reasons. I still get to design, which is my original passion, but the mix of aesthetic choices, functionality, and business considerations means there’s always an interesting problem to solve. I romanticize everything but the thing that keeps me going is the potential for innovation. The realistic chance to improve the way ALL humans interact with technology on a large scale.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
When I was a toddler my dad showed me how to create perspective drawings. He rolled out a huge piece of paper on our dining room table and taught me about vanishing points, planes, and parallel lines. Ever since then I packed all of my school schedules with as many art classes and as few other classes as possible. A few years after high school I continued that trend by going to a college that gave me a t-shirt that said “no more math tests ever!” Which would have been a huge mistake if I ever needed to go back to school. I started working for myself as a graphic designer/web designer/digital strategist or whatever title might have been in the contract I was applying for. Eventually I accepted a permanent position at a dying agency that wanted to “go digital.” I was responsible for building out their digital products which led me to learn more about digital strategy and eventually user experience.
What brought you to Beam?
A fellow designer at Beam. We met at a previous position, left that position, and met up for coffee months later. He had a position at Beam and recommended that I apply.
Working at Beam
What do you enjoy most about working at Beam?
Hands down it’s the people I work with. I know my team cares about me and they genuinely want the best for me in and out of work. I trust the people I work with and more importantly I can tell they trust me. I know that if something comes up I have people I can rely on and that’s something I haven’t genuinely had at other companies.
How has working at Beam helped you grow in your career?
Beam lets me fail without fear. I have the opportunity to try something and if it doesn’t work out I have the opportunity to fix it myself. I think there is a general fear of failure in the workspace of repercussions or the worry that someone would be ready to exploit your failure, I don’t feel that at Beam. At Beam I also feel more empowered to boost others. Design is somewhat competitive by nature but here there is a lack of massive egos. I’ve felt comfortable letting my guard down to uplift others or collaborate instead of always trying to be the best or have the best design or solution.
How would you describe the team culture?
Here’s a quote by Alton Brown “All the gravy is better than some gravy.”
What has been one of the most challenging projects you worked on at Beam?
I have been the primary designer on the Beam Quoting Tool (BQT) since it was a teeny baby idea until very recently. A lot of projects I work on day to day are improvements or innovations to existing products but the BQT was designed and built from scratch which required a lot of research, communication, and iterations.
“Advice”
What is some advice you would give someone who wants to apply to Beam?
Just be yourself. If you’re genuinely a good person and you have a passion for your craft, what could go wrong?
What skills do you lean on daily to accomplish your tasks?
I would say comedy but I doubt any of my coworkers would feel the same. Of course I use a lot of technical skills day to day but I think soft skills are really key. Collaboration leads to a lot of our best solutions and it’s impossible to be a great collaborator without good communication, honesty, and compromise. You really need to be able to gas your team up too.
How do you go about learning new skills for the job?
I typically just volunteer for something, get in over my head and stay up for a few nights until I figure it out or not.
Fun Stuff
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I have about 100 things I’m interested in and even more projects. I enjoy making art in any medium but I’m typically drawing or designing if I’m doing something creative. I enjoy cooking food and even more so eating food which I’m required to do. My wife loves going to haunted houses and I enjoy the feeling I get when we come out alive, which has happened every time so far. I play video games as my main form of communication with friends and family and not because I like to procrastinate and forget about my obligations.
How do you decompress?
I love watching movies with my wife and pets (5 cats and 1 dog.) I also like video games as I mentioned but those are typically more stressful than work.
