Mailcube — Interview with Co-founder
An interview with Ademar Aguiar, one of the co-founders of Mailcube.
Significa: Today we are with Ademar. Ademar is a co-founder of Mailcube who has been working with us from the very beginning. Can you tell our readers how we met?
Ademar: I am a Professor of Software Engineering at FEUP (www.fe.up.pt) and we have some subjects that bring together designers, software engineers, and digital media experts. We work with around 12–20 designers every year.
I was about to start a new company (mailcube.com) and I needed some young creative designers to design the interfaces of our website, logos, macOS app and iOS app.
I heard about you (not Significa at the time) being the very best of your year, but I asked for more references from others that had worked with you, and also your professors at Fine Arts, which pointed me to you as well.
That’s when I decided to contact you. And then we met! It was a no-brainer decision: you were easy to communicate with, humble, minimalist, already had an awesome portfolio so far (back 3 years ago), and you had the skills we needed. Not only digital design, but UX, graphical design, illustrations, etc. You had everything we needed to create a successful digital product.
We started the collaboration and the first deliverables were immediately impressive: our logo — we love it!
S: That’s a really nice compliment. Thank you. After that, how did you experience our collaboration?
A: We communicate all the time via Slack, we have a weekly meeting, you have a deep understanding of things, not being superficial, but also not being picky in details, which is common among many creatives and which is usually terrible for startups. You guys deliver on time, are open-minded, and proactive, suggesting things that we never thought of before. Your feedback often lead to improved ideas.
S: We are glad you enjoy working with us, it means a lot to us. We’ve been together for so long, there’s certainly some thing you felt that went well and some things that might have not went that well?
A: Not really. You deliver fast and you deliver good. Sometimes I thought that we should have more time face to face with you, to learn more from your insights. By this I mean that one of the thing we actually benefit from working with Significa is that you not only design pretty stuff, you guys also care about Mailcube, you are proactive, you guys discuss the product with us, you give us your insights and strategy. Which, I gotta be honest, we’ve benefited from a lot.
S: Can you tell our readers if the outcome met our agreement and your expectations?
A: Definitely! Even better than we thought. As you know, me and my co-founders have many years of experience in the software industry and academia, and we managed many teams and projects so far. In 27 years, you are the best designers we have worked with.
Besides, we got so pleased with you that, as you know, you’re part of the team.
S: Good you mention that. How would you describe your relationship with Significa?
A: We’re the same team basically.
S: Are you happy with everything we’ve accomplished so far?
A: Super happy! We consider you our “designers” despite the fact of you not being part of our startup. You are partners in our minds, and this is reciprocal. But I believe the results (public) speak for themselves.
S: Thank you once again! Last question: Would you recommend us to others?
A: I did it already and I will continue to do so!
