Sam Thibault — Handsome

Published in

UI / UX Design Interviews

6 min readJun 25, 2014

My name is Samuel Thibault and I am a Product Designer working at Handsome in beautiful Austin, TX. I am 22 years young and have been designing for about 5 years.

When your friends or parents ask to you what job do you do, how do you answer?

I work on a team with super talented people to design beautiful experiences for digital products. My job is to make sure experience from UX to UI is the best it can be to make the product as successful as possible.

What is your background, how did you train?

My background consists mostly of late nights playing with photoshop, trying to figure out how to make things as beautiful as a lot of designers I was inspired by. After high school I gained a lot of valuable experience through various freelance projects and internships which led me to my current position. Even today I find the best way to train is to push yourself past what you think you are capable of. By doing this you are putting yourself in a position to learn from mistakes and grow better as a result.

What the web can do to make this world a better place? How did the web improve your life( if it did)?

Facilitating change, communication and real life human interaction are all things the web can continue to improve on. It is up to us however to make that happen. It is a wonderful opportunity to be able to design for something that can have a direct effect on people worldwide. Whatever the web becomes will be a direct result of the boundaries we push to facilitate it’s evolution. The biggest ways the web improves my life are through communication and knowledge. I use the web to make new connections and learn more everyday.

Can you show us three examples of interface that in your opinion improved human life?

Google, iPod, Linux

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)

Things that streamline human interaction with technology are in my mind the best products. A good example of that would be the mouse.

How is your work day type?

I tend to prefer working later in the day which translates into a lot of late nights. In doing so I am able to transition from client work at the office during the day to projects I do for fun during the evening.

What is the most stimulating and challenging project you have accomplished?

Working at Handsome I have had the opportunity to work on many projects which have been fun and challenging. The projects I tend to find the most stimulating are ones involving data analyzation. It always a challenge finding a way to structure so much information into an aesthetically pleasing and functional product.

Wayfinder Journey Creation, Wayfinder app

What is, among the existing digital services, the one you wanted to do?

Product Design is definitely what I love to do. Being able to construct a beautiful experience from nothing is something I throughly enjoy.

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?

In approaching the creative process I usually use the following route.

Learn — Gather as much knowledge about the product/client you are working on as you can.

Conceptualize — Take what you have learned and shoot for the stars. Knowing what standing and conventions you have to work with think of how you can push the boundaries to give this product a unique experience.

Wireframe — Giving your ideas structure is what will make the design phase of your project successful. All those crazy ideas aren’t worth much if they cannot be translated into a cohesive experience.

Design — By this phase you should have enough knowledge about what the product is and what it needs to be to take it in the right aesthetic direction.

The “design” is an important part of our analogic life. What is the role of the designer in our digital life?

It goes far beyond “making things pretty”. A designer need to solve problems and translate experiences into products that are ideal for the end user.

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 extremely important for a designer to at least have a working knowledge in each. How will you design something without knowing the product, platform, or experiences that need to be integrated into the final product? Having knowledge in each helps you to make better decisions during the process that hold up throughout the project.

In which way do you make a difference between User Interface and user experience?

Without UX an interface can be beautiful but extremely difficult to use. User interface design should be based on ideas established during the experience phase. The end goal is to incorporate the two seamlessly making for the ideal product.

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 believe designers should have at least knowledge of basic development standards and restrictions in order to communicate well with developers. What developers do is not magic. It is unfair to expect them to make something work that is clearly impossible or not the best experience for the user. Your developers should be people who you work with throughout the process as well so they are able to make recommendations as to whether the product can be translated into code in a way that is best for the product and user.

How do you think that your career and job will evolve in the next 5 years?

Technology in our industry continues to evolve towards enhancing the human experience with the world. This goes far beyond our computer screen. I think the key is to keep your mind open and not define your work by the technologies that exist now. Be flexible to whatever the future offers.

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?

The potential User Interface Design has in the everyday world has definitely been undermined in history as to it’s effect on the world. Will the time spent on the further development of design change the course of history? I sure hope so. The sooner the better.

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 definitely a great way to get your work out there and make connections with others in your industry. Reputation is definitely key in landing design jobs. You want to be known most of all as super talented, humble and hard working among other things.