Designers in Telenor

Three things I learned as a designer

To show off our brilliant designers working in Telenor, we’ve decided to do a a series of interviews, asking about topics such as favourite tools, great books, useful learnings and valuable tips & trick. For this first part of the collection we talked to five of our designers about what they consider as their most important learnings so far.

Paul Seymour

Director, Product Design — P&M, Digital Care — Group (Bangkok, TH)

My favourite word I learned in Japan is ‘nomi-nakeshun’ — a hybrid of ‘drink’ (nomimasu) and ‘communication.’ Actually has a slight negative connotation to the locals (salaryman culture), but it definitely is a functional concept that can be put to good use :)

I’ve learned an unstated part of being a designer is to educate the client (i.e. stakeholders) in what design actually is. Telenor still has many that need to discover and understand the value of design. As Apple surpasses the trillion-dollar mark, it should be somewhat easier to gleen that “good design is good business” (quote by Thomas Watson). However, admittedly, design is still a fluffy concept for many, from its multifaceted layers of detail, to the day-to-day basics of what designers actually do. I’m ‘in the field’ focused mainly on Telenor’s self care apps, trying to fight the good fight along with various types of designers in the BUs. But, there’s clearly a need for a home base to coach the many levels of management towards a deeper understanding of what design is, as well as get those of us in the trenches the tools needed to succeed. So, it’s nice to see this site launch; I have high hopes it makes headway in this respect.

My most notable learning, however, is the importance of making the customer central to the product creation process. When I was in Nokia Design, this ‘design thinking’ thing didn’t yet have a trendy name. But, we practiced prototypical methods to uncover customer insights to fuel concept creation. Design has always started with research and immersion; it doesn’t matter if it’s a logotype, a service concept or an app. These days, it is a well vetted, cross-disciplinary standard process at many digital companies. A current objective is to make sure this way of work is adopted and adapted to actual BU working realities; to lead to fulfilling true needs of their app users. At the same time, user research doesn’t do your job for you as a designer — users can’t actually tell you the solution. Our job is to ‘read through the lines’ of what our customers say (without bias!), try to guess what they’re really thinking, then dig down deep to the emotional underpinning and satisfy those wants.

Lastly, something basic, but essential: If you’re designing for a mobile screen… design on a mobile screen. Attach a device (permanently?) to your computer. Move things around on the monitor, but make judgements looking at a preview on the phone. Please, don’t make type too small — there’s probably a reason why Google Design defines Android body copy as 16dp high. Visual design is a craft; a balancing act of a number of elements through intense trial and error. It isn’t produced talking around a whiteboard or LCD projector; it’s finished by hand, when that last pixel is slotted into just the right place. But, it won’t actually be right if you’re not experiencing things on the same medium your audience will. If you’re making a magazine, you print things out at 100% scale on paper and hold it in your hands. For the same reason, look at an app design on a phone, and literally walk around with it; then, you’ll know it works.

Randi Finnvik Solli

Senior Interaction Designer — Mitt Telenor — Telenor Norway

I’m not a big fan of coffee, and do not need it to survive. It is very un-Norwegian :)

I have experienced how extremely important it is to work in a cross functional team. Us in the Mitt Telenor-team in Norway is very lucky in that sense, where everyone has their own specialties. It is not only about being cross functional though, but also finding the best way to work together to exploit each other’s specialties. We are constantly changing our working methods, always striving to become an even better functioning team.

Our team started using the Google Design Sprint methodology this year. We experienced that it is a great way to block out time in a busy schedule, a quick way to get a lot of ideas and actual results, and it works wonders for making everyone gain the same understanding of the problems and the status quo. Some parts we found can even be used for smaller workshops.

Our design team started using Abstract last year, which is a version-controlled hub for Sketch files. For us, Abstract makes it easier to share files and work together when you have many projects you work on simultaneously, without losing control of the design files. It still has its limitations since more people cannot work in the same file at once. We have also been using shared libraries for some time. It works great to make prototypes and sketches faster, but it is also our “source of truth” when it comes to components we use in the app.

Sinisa Sasic

Senior Digital Product Designer — CONNECT ID — Telenor Digital, Trondheim, Norway.

I guess I don’t take no for an answer :) I believe nothing is impossible, it’s just a matter of how and why. If someone tells you that something is impossible it may mean that they have never truly tried it.

Sooner or later, and more often than not, designers experience a situation where they believe that their design is superior. For instance, one may produce a beautiful interface and be praised by his peers and even clients for the work they did and score big points on social networks. But then, when this work becomes a part of a real product everything falls down and designer ends up disillusioned. The truth is: users simply don’t care. They have their own ways of thinking, agendas and emotional reasons for using your product which may be entirely different from what you have imagined. That’s why I think that designers have to remain open minded and humble, even if they have a lot of experience. Users will always surprise you, no matter how hard you try to make them not to.

One may be a great designer, but without an environment and team that supports it, he will have a hard time achieving a great design. Greatest of things are still made in collaboration and a system that supports it, which is why I love working in Telenor.

When I started in design, I saw constraints as the enemy of my creativity. Ignoring constraints seemed to give me more freedom to design something. However, this changed, and I learnt to love constraints as they are exactly what defines design, making it more certain to happen.

Although nothing is black and white, in essence design is not art — as much as art is not design. In design, art is one of the tools at disposal for solving a problem. Engineering is also but one of the tools. Similarly in art, design is just one of the tools for expressing yourself. Design doesn’t exist without a problem and constraints. A designer embraces constraints and navigates within a plethora of conditions. An artist doesn’t have problems with constraints — he shatters limitations and expresses himself unconditionally. Too often designers end up in a trap of attaching themselves to their work. I believe that the reason for that is their desire for expressing themselves, rather than solving a problem, and that is what artists do. Once one lets go that desire, he can focus his entire energy in finding a solution, which is what designers do.

This is a rough translation of the opening ceremony in Ninjutsu (Japanese martial art) before the training begins. A teacher starts, and sometimes ends, every class with this statement reminding the students that every moment in life you meet someone is the opportunity for you to grow: every time is the “right” time. That’s also why I love working in Telenor — you constantly meet a lot of extraordinary people, and they increase your knowledge and push your boundaries.

Phyu Mon Theint

Manager, Service Design (Digital) — Customer Experience — Telenor Myanmar

As a working mother, I’m a fan of optimising processes. In personal life and in my career, I believe time should be spent doing what matters and I’m actively seeking ways to automate mundane tasks so I can spend time on finer things in life.

As a start up enthusiast, I’m used to being one-woman department where I take on different roles. Working in Telenor for the past years has helped me learn and tackle new challenges everyday working with colleagues from different functions across various expertise. It still blows my mind every now and then how seemingly two unrelated studies or principles would complement each other in achieving the same goal in real life. And I learn new things every day.

I find it easier for designers to understand each other’s expectations and requirements. However, stakeholders’ mental model of a product might be different from what you have envisions or even described. I find visual helps such as wireframes and prototyping tools help set expectations and minimise misunderstandings.

As team grows, it is important that the customer journeys are measurable and AB testing is optimized. Through different functions involved in the team, we have different perceptions on how things should work. It usually helps when we can AB test options and compare conversions.

Ouzair Hafeez

Product Designer — IoT Products — Telenor Pakistan

I got into design completely by accident, back in 2009 I developed a website for one of my clients and they asked if I could design a website for one of her friends, I took the project on ( with a mere fee of $50USD :) ) as a test run and for some reason they liked the end product :D and through reference after reference I started designing Logos, Business Cards, Stationery, websites and applications for different clients, the beauty of it all was that you come across so many different problems and use cases, that for a designer solving a problem its very refreshing and enlightening. It’s been 4 to 5 years now since I have settled into a more specialized role of a UI/UX Designer.

One should always put their work forward, if you are aiming for that pixel perfect design it won’t happen unless your work is exposed for constructive criticism.

It is good that as a designer you give your user experience a top priority but it also important to keep the business requirements and constraints in mind as well. Instead of fighting against the tide learn to ride it, make your opinions and ideas presentable for your stakeholders, learn to speak their language because after all we all are in the same boat.

A healthy competition hurts no one, if you’re a visual, UI, UX or interaction designer go on Dribbble, Behance or Pinterest where ever you find your inspirations from and find best designers and try to beat them by coming up with a better design or a better disruptive solution.

Telenor Design

Telenor design is a cooperative effort led by a group of designers, researchers, and developers at Telenor.

June Kyong Trondsen

Written by

Design, climb, eat

Telenor Design

Telenor design is a cooperative effort led by a group of designers, researchers, and developers at Telenor.

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