Ehsan Rahimi
User Interface Designer from Iran.
Hello there! My name is Ehsan Rahimi and I’m a User Interface Designer from Iran. I’ve started my career not too long ago, about the early 2013 and as a freelancer. Since then I’ve been learning, practicing and trying to experiment different aspects of UI Design. Recently I’ve been experimenting a lot around Interaction Design and I think it’s really great to bring your ideas to life with meaningful animations.
When your friends or parents ask to you what job do you do, how do you answer?
Well, things are really complicated about technology in Iran. There are people asking you how to send an email to someone or how to install an app on a smartphone. On the other hand, there are younger people who some of them might ask you that kind of questions as well, but some of them are very up to date. So, to the younger generation I say I design websites and apps, to the others I say my job deals with computer, and they usually don’t follow the question.
What is your background, how did you train?
I’ve studied Software Engineering at university. The education was totally old and there was not much to learn. I remember we had a web programming class, and it was like HTML1 or something. So soon I realized it was a waste of time and I hated it, but took me a while until I decided to leave. However it was at the university that I met a talented web developer and we started to talk about assembling a team to work on a project. So we defined the project and I started drawing wireframes on paper without having any clue about UX/UI. I was actually inspired by great websites or services that I’ve been using those days. Then we had the wireframes on paper but we needed someone to design the visuals. We looked a lot for a UI Designer with a laudable taste in design who could work with us on the project, but we couldn’t find one. It didn’t work out. Eventually we started to work on a smaller project and I decided to do the visuals myself. Since then web has been my only teacher and I’ve been practicing a lot to expand my abilities and enhance my taste.
What the web can do to make this world a better place? How did the web improve your life( if it did)?
Web is doing great already. I think information and communication form the core of the web. We’ve been always dreaming of an equal education/opportunity in the whole world and I think this dream is slowly coming true, thanks to the web.
Every single thing I know about design I’ve learnt on the web. It’s been not only my teacher, also my source of inspiration. It’s on the web that I meet very talented people around the world, I discover the best movies, music, books, etc. It’s an incredible opportunity that I think it’s very important for us to learn how to use it right.
Can you show us three examples of interface that in your opinion improved human life?
Touchscreen, iOS, Google
On quora.com, time ago there was a long discussion in answer to the question “what is the most intuitive interface ever created?”; according to Felipe Rocha it is the nipple, in your opinion instead? (http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-intuitive-interfaces-ever-created)
The most intuitive interface that human has ever created? I probably answer this question differently each time. At the moment, I think of a wheel, or a switch.
How is your work day type?
I wake up around 8 (even if I’ve slept late). Then after having breakfast, I spend a notable time on Dribbble, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. to get my morning inspiration and to be aware of the news especially about design. Then I start to work on whatever it is and since then I just lose the time. Music is always playing in the background. Part of the time will be spent talking to clients.
Since I’m almost a movie junkie, I usually watch a film during the day. Movies have always been one of my main sources of inspiration.
What is the most stimulating and challenging project you have accomplished?
It’s kind of a hard question to answer. I think any project (whether big or small) could be very challenging based on the goals you’re trying to achieve. Basically when you’re trying to make things simpler and cleaner (and sometimes just different), it’s always a very big challenge.
For me the most challenging projects that I’ve done are usually my personal projects. I should again explain the situation in Iran. Most of the clients (even entrepreneurs) don’t know much about design and sometimes even about what they’re doing. They also don’t pay enough for that great design which they expect. So it’s very hard to find a good client or project. However It seems like things are about to get started for me. I’ve been offered many more projects lately form oversea clients and I hope at least one of them is going to solve a big problem of its users.
What is, among the existing digital services, the one you wanted to do?
Gosh there are too many great services out there. But I guess Pinterest and Path, because they both start with “P”. Just kidding. Well, I go to Pinterest every day and every single day it’s like a whole new experience. It’s all about design and inspiration, so what is more interesting than that? Everything is awesome about them, the idea, branding and design. I wish I could just be part of the team, it’s like a collection of the most talented people. Both Pinterest and Path has completely changed my mind about UI Design at some point. They are really making the world a better place among the big guys like Apple, Google, etc.
Many designers commit the mistake of starting a project directly from Photoshop, is there a perfect design method? What is your approach to the creative process?
I don’t know how they do it, but if they’re satisfied with the outcome, I’d say nice job to them. I think the whole point is to bring that awesome idea in your head to life, as long as you’re doing it, I don’t care how you start the process.
I usually start with sketching on paper even for the simplest UIs, because I like to have a kind of clear vision of what I’m going to do in that blank page in PS, AI, whatever. Also changing things and exploring ideas is much easier on paper.
The “design” is an important part of our analogic life. What is the role of the designer in our digital life?
I guess it was Steve Jobs who said “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works”. We hear it more and more, because it’s true. So I don’t see a difference between analogic and digital designers. They’re both trying to make something work, to make it easier to use and perhaps more joyful to look at.
Do you believe it is important for a designer to have a deep knowledge of matters as User Experience, Interaction Design, Product Design, and Front-end development?
I think it is important to be familiar with these matters. But I don’t believe it is necessary to follow those matters just like you do about your main specialty. I guess the more you work and you talk to colleagues with different specialties, the more you get familiar with those matters. Knowing the capabilities and boundaries of different matters and platforms makes you more comfortable when you’re working on your next project.
In which way do you make a difference between User Interface and user experience?
As I mentioned before “… Design is how it works”, that being said I can’t imagine a great UI without a great UX, because the UX is defining how it works, the UI is just how it looks.
I also think a great UX is the result of great user research, prototyping, usability testing, etc. When you design a whole concept based on a UX which you’ve imagined, no matter if lots of designers find it efficient, you’re still designing it for yourself. Yes, you’re thinking about a user experience while you’re working on it and you’re certainly happy about it, but how many other real users are going to feel the same?
What is your relationship with the developers? There are people that have a relationship of continuous confrontation and other of deep friendship, where do you collocate with respect to this question?
I haven’t got the chance to work with many great developers yet, but as I said before it is very important to have a parallel relationship with them to get familiar with different aspects of their work.
How do you think that your career and job will evolve in the next 5 years?
Honestly, I have no idea. About a year ago I didn’t know if one day I’m going to call myself a UI Designer. Also you know technologies, tools, platforms, everything is changing so often. What I’m sure about is that I really try to get better in whatever I’ll be doing in the future. I’m really eager to see what happens ☺
A famous quotation of David Carson (noted American graphic designer) says: “Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does”. Will the User Interface Design save the world, before, at the same time, or after the graphic design?
I don’t think there’s anything or anybody that can save the world. We can just try to make it a better place. I don’t know much about rock and roll, but User Interface Design is definitely going to make the world a better place, because it’s about people’s every day experience.
What do you think about Dribbble? Is it a good way to get a job? What’s the best way to find a job as designer?
Dribbble is a great place to get inspired. There are many brilliant designers working on very interesting ideas every day and they’re too many that sometimes it’s really hard to observe every single one of them. It’s also a great place to get job offers, but you know, it depends on how much reputation you’ve got on the community. Whether we like it or not, it’s a social network, so followers, likes and so forth really matters. We should not forget there are many great designers out there who are not members of Dribbble. I think you should not be satisfied by using Dribbble only, you should do whatever you can to get better, get more attention and hopefully get more jobs.
What book would you advice to a Junior Designer?
I guess online articles and videos have made me too lazy to read a hundred pages or more about design. I’ve got some e-books and it’s probably going to be great to read them, but I’d always rather to practice and experiment new stuff. Also to enhance your taste or expand your knowledge about design, there are many other resources. Other than many websites and blogs you see every day, I recommend you watch great movies, listen to great music, go to beautiful places, talk to inspirational people and so on.
Always as far as advices: what tools for the design? What tools for the projects management ?
I have a HP ProBook 4330 at the moment, it’s not that bad but I don’t recommend it. I’m comfortable with a regular Mouse as an input device. I haven’t been using any special tool for the projects management. Since I’m a Windows user (as yet), I only use Photoshop and sometimes Illustrator for designing UI, and After Effects for designing interactions. Sometimes InVision to do quick prototypes.
Dribbble : https://dribbble.com/EhsanCinematic
