Pavel Proshin
UX/UI designer from Moscow, Russia.
I’m a self-taught interactive designer with 12 years of work experience, currently living in Moscow, Russia.
When your friends or parents ask to you what job do you do, how do you answer?
Well, usually I answer that I do design the apps you use in your phone, that is partially truth.
What is your background, how did you train?
Back in 2002 I occasionally came to the local TV station to apply to the position of Video Editor which was really a mysterious job for a guy who had never seen how the video editing is done. There I learned Motion Design and video editing and that determined my future as a motion graphics lover. After that amazing experience I decided that I wanted to try myself in web and print design and changed the city to a larger one where I applied to the position of Designer at the local AD agency where I learned how to apply my knowledge of video-editing process to the graphic design. I started to try things in web design as well. And today is the day when I can fully combine all of them in my projects including the animation which I adore.
What the web can do to make this world a better place? How did the web improve your life( if it did)?
Web designers have already done a great job in improving our lives. Look at these examples starting with Spotify — the service who has converted $0 income to $2bln for musicians in 4 years for example. Or the Dropbox with that you don’t have to carry any files with you anymore. All of those educational and inspirational services available online or the Skype which connects people over the globe.
It’s amazing how easily my mom can access any information she needs while she’s at home: classic paintings or any book you can imagine, or even take a short trip abroad with Google Street View.
Can you show us three examples of interface that in your opinion improved human life?
Mouse, Touchscreen, Kitchen
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)
A book is intuitive enough I guess.
How is your work day type?
My typical work day begins when I get up at approximately 9am, drink coffee take some breakfast and go to the office. There I’m getting inspired on Dribbble and Pinterest for the first half of the day, reading mail and doing some experiments, just checking “what if”.
Then I’m doing the regular projects while listening music and browsing web. In the end of the day when I leave the office I can spare some time on my personal projects which sometimes take a hell lot of time to finish. For example my latest one is Iconic Barcelona. The deadline has been set to 1 week, but in the end it took about 12 days to finish it.
What is the most stimulating and challenging project you have accomplished?
Yet it was the amoCRM system redesign for sure which I was redesigning for about a year. And it’s still not 100% implemented. The project is a huge CRM system with a bunch of users who love old design. But the task was to bring it to nowadays to compete on the international arena.
What is, among the existing digital services, the one you wanted to do?
There are couple, mainly they are for audio enthusiasts (audiophiles) since they are hardly usable at the moment and since I am an audiophile so I have to use them too. Audirvana or Amarra are the examples.
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?
The process should start in your head and your heart, while the instruments doesn’t matter. Regarding my approach — I don’t use any wireframing software. Sometimes it’s only in my PSD or on paper but mainly in my head.
The “design” is an important part of our analogic life. What is the role of the designer in our digital life?
The role of the designer in our digital life is the same as in the analogue. It is really important to think over the whole product’s look and feel from the beginning till the end. From tools you use to tools the end user will use. And more important is how your user will use it. Ask yourself: Do you need the product you design? Do you believe it will bring something to that world, what it’ll give to the users? The questions are the same for either of the design worlds.
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 don’t believe so in particular, the Front-end could be skipped, but I plan to learn it ASAP. While it is important to combine the basic principles of UX and interaction design though.
In which way do you make a difference between User Interface and user experience?
The UI is the “look” part of the process while the UX is about the “feel” of it. In my opinion, these are connected parts of the whole design process. Moreover, I believe that the good designer should combine those.
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 like good team members and professionals in any field of design process. If you are lazy then I don’t like you whether you are a Dev or Designer. Winning teams should believe in and love their products, if you don’t then you should leave.
How do you think that your career and job will evolve in the next 5 years?
I’ve recently become an Art Director, and I still like it) But I love to make stuff on my own and based on how the design evolves nowadays I believe I’m gonna use all my skills in near future + will add a couple more like Front end and 3D maybe.
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 really think that design could save anything more than the time. While it’s important too, the role of designer is to make the products as intuitive and easy to use as possible.
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?
In combination, yes it’s one of good ways to find a job, but at the same time you have to be more than just a concept maker. See, on Dribbble right now there are too many concept redesigns that are not so implementable in reality as they could be. Why? Because what looks beautiful is not always implementable or usable. Templates? Yes some of them are beautiful but who’ll use them in real apps?
The best way to get a job for designer is to think and design. Try to make a concept of the app which will help people. Not just another “weather” app or widget. Animate it and send as your portfolio to the potential employer. If it’s a smart concept, you’ll probably get it. Sometimes, even if there are no positions opened.
What book would you advice to a Junior Designer?
Unfortunately, I don’t read much of the books mainly because of the lack of time. But I would recommend to learn from web since it is the main source of design information for our time and, particularly, myself during past 7 years. And experiment more of course.
Always as far as advices: what tools for the design? What tools for the projects management?
Wacom, Adobe CC/Skala, Sketch for someones. For PM tasks I prefer Trello with Harvest app extension.
Dribbble : https://dribbble.com/theppd
Website : http://theppd.com/
