Tobia Crivellari
UX/UI Designer at Bonagora, Berlin
Hi my name is Tobia and I’m from Italy. I was born and raised in a small town close to Venice called Rosolina. Now I’m currently based in Berlin and I work as a Lead Designer for a company called Bonagora, a B2B platform for the home fa- shion wholesale. I’m taking care of the design of the Android App and the Web App.
When your friends or parents ask you what job you do, how do you answer?
Well, they actually think that I’m playing around with the computer and creating stuff. None of my friends are actually on the tech world so it’s a bit hard to explain them about my work, or better how it works. But as soon as I try the kinda get it and they say that it’s easy peasy. But as we all know, it’s much more than that. I always tell them that creating an app, for instance, it’s not just matter of make the user interface nice and pretty. There is a lot of work behind, lot of people are involved in the process. Still, they think that I’m not working but I’m playing around. Which is actually kinda true. I love my job and I’m having a lot of fun doing it.
What is your background, and how did you train?
My background started as a graphic designer. I get graduated in 2009 in “Science of Communication and Graphic Art”. After that I got my first job in a small print shop close to my hometown. At that time I was really curious about the software I was using, like Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign and I get rally into graphic design.
In my spare time — mostly weekends and late nights — I began playing around with Photoshop, I was really fascinated by this software. So, I started explore it and try to create some piece of artwork by mixing colors, create shapes, use pictures and go crazy with blend modes. I guess almost every designer started join the same way. Fun fact: recently I got a chance to look at some old creations of mine and I was like “Did I really do this?” .
I also remember that at that time I’ve watched a tons of tutorials on youtube, bought courses and read articles and magazines regarding using Photoshop and Illustrator. I was crazy about it! :-) After that I shift my interest toward a technical aspect of design and I become very passionate about UI design.
Every time I looked at a mobile app, web app or desktop app I was really curious about how they can come up with something like that and I was really captured by the UI itself. At that time my training was more about to replicate what other designers were doing to understand how they came up with such amazing and cool stuff. Plus, I was also creating my personal UI. From that point I was just improving my skills about UI design on a daily basis.
Nowadays my training is more like keep myself update on new/current tools (mainly Sketch) and learn new skills (mainly Prototyping and Coding) which I can then apply to my daily job. A good training for me is also playing around with the tools that I currently know and design some UI just for fun and — as I said — playing around, first of all having fun!
What can the web do to make this world a better place? How has the web improved your life (if it has)?
I guess that the web nowadays is playing a very important role on connecting people all around the world. It allows you to stay in touch, share and be informed on what’s going on in the world and mainly in the design community. For instance, I would have never be able to expose myself and show my work if it wouldn’t be for the web. In that sense the web chance the direction of my life basically. From living in a small town and working in a small print shop to living in a big European capitol in a startup and tech world. Well, simply amazing!
Can you show us three examples of interfaces that in your opinion have improved hu- man life?
If we stick to the “everyday life” context I would say: door handle/knob, knife, scissors, hammer, button/switch and wheel. But is still is a narrow selection of things that I have in mind. If we stick to the “tech life” context I would say: Wi-fi, touch screen and re- sponsive design.
On quora.com some 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, what is it?
I think it’s a tough question because there could be different most intuitive interface based on the environment and the context. As I was referring above. Differentiate bet- ween the context and the situation helps to define which is the most intuitive UI ever designed but is still limitative, I guess. But if I really have to pick one I would say the button/switch.
What is your typical workday like?
In my typical work day I used to wake up pretty early in the morning, I like to do that, even on the weekends. I love breakfast so I don’t wanna miss it. I start my day with some workout to keep my self in shape and feel healthy. After that I get ready to go to the office where I start with checking the main social platform I’m in like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MaterialUp, Dribbble and of course checking my inbox. After that I check what needs to be done, and checking with the team as well. At 10:30 stand up with the team to discuss what we were working on, impediments and what will be working on during the day. And after that, back to work and get stuff done!:-)
What is the most stimulating and challenging project you have accomplished?
I worked on a few challenging project. One of them was back at the first company I wor- ked for here in Berlin. The app was called Tunedin, a second screen app with a heavy social components. At that time only the iOS version was planned but then I got the opportunity to translate the app for the Android platform. I clearly remember that I was super confused of the whole set of screens that we had to cover in order to have a good presence on the Android platform. It was a nightmare! I’m talking about couple of years ago. Right now it’s far more easier I would say.
Another project is actually the one I’m currently working on and I would say that is the most stimulating and challenging I’ve worked on since now. First thing, the app is also for web and not only for mobile devices. So the challenge here for me was translating a mobile app into a web app. First time that I did that, so pretty challenging for me. Second thing, the app is pretty complex. It’s a business app so not too much room for entertaining UI, but they need to be clear, clean and very well structured.
Among existing digital services, what is the one you wanted to do?
I love the whole suits of Google mobile applications. I honestly think that every app that they come up with is amazing. I’m always fascinating from what they accomplish and what they create. If I would have to choose only one of them it would be but I can pick 2: Google Maps and Google Calendar. Especially the last one is something brilliant!
I also like a lot of other apps, like Swarm and Forsquare, I really like how they are done in terms of design and user experience.
Many designers make the mistake of starting a project directly from Photoshop: is there a perfect design method? What is your approach to the creative process?
I personally think that it’s not a mistake but it’s just a different way to tackle a problem. Common practice always suggest to start form pencil and paper that allows you to sketch ideas quickly and iterate fast, which is totally true. But personally I think that everyone should have their own method to come up with something as long as it solve the problem and deliver the best UI and UX possible.
I find myself starting on pencil and paper, but also starting directly form Sketch. So, whatever fits best the designer’s skills and method. The final goals it’s always the same best result possible but the methodology can be multiples.
“Design” is an important part of our analogic life. What is the role of the designer in our digital life?
I guess that the role of a designer is really important nowadays because looking around everything it’s UI, and we are challenge everyday to solve problems in terms of UI/UX. I think that designers in these days needs to focus on creating the best experience possi- ble on using a digital service, either a mobile app or web service.
Do you believe it is important for a designer to have a deep knowledge of matters such as User Experience, Interaction Design, Product Design, and Front-end Development?
I believe that at least some knowledge in these field are definitely required. For a designer user experience and interaction design are a must I guess. Then for the other two product design and front-end development depends on which path you decide to take. But I definitely think that a knowledge on these two fields is required too for a designer. Especially regarding the front-end development because it allows/helps you to work closely/better with developers.
How do you make a difference between UI and user experience?
I guess that these two part are blend together in a way, you can’t simply say that UI is how it looks and UX is how it works nowadays. I also think that there is another part that lately has become very important, interaction design which is a mix of those two in my opinion. So it’s hard today distinguish between them because all of theme are con- nected and are influenced by each other. That’s why sometimes I don’t buy the simple sentence: “UI is how it looks and UX is how it works”.
What is your relationship with developers? There are people that have a relationship of continuous confrontation and others of deep friendship: where do you fall with respect to this question?
My relation with developers is great, and I really admire developers. Every time I’m working close to a developer I stare at the screen and I’m wondering “how the can code so fast!?”.
In the environment where I’m working my relationship fall on both sides actually: I truly respect developers and are also friends. I think that developers are great, and I also try to learn from them. They have such a level of abstraction on doing things that is simply impressive. I’m always happy to work with developers because the better is the relationship, the better is the product. And also because they bring to life what I design, which is awesome!
How do you think that your career and job will evolve over the next 5 years?
I honestly I still see myself design UI in Sketch in 5 year, unless a new awesome tool for UI design come up. I really like design, creating, doing things..and I love my job, so..still UI design in front of the screen!
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 a designer?
I think that Dribbble is great place to show your work, ideas, skills and be inspired by other designers. Mainly, it helped me to be recognize as designer and be reached from people that need a design work, it never happened before. It’s also a great of community of designers. Dribbble is very helpful because there is a lot of designers that have different ways of thinking on doing design and they can suggest other ways, ideas and improvements that you probably didn’t consider before and help you to improve your design.
There is just one thing that I don’t particularly like. Sometimes you see these beautiful design that they look perfect, polish and finish but in the comment is specified that is still a work in progress: sometimes they don’t look like work in progress…at all.
Another thing is that sometimes you see some awesome interaction that are not possible to be implemented in a real app because of technical impediments, and in this case would be helpful to have a developer suggestions and see if that it’s really possible or not with the technologies that we have at the moment. This is actually a problem that MaterialUp is trying to solve. Creating a way to con- nect better designer and developers.
What book would you recommend to a Junior Designer?
I would suggest “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug. It’s pretty old but still has the ba- sics of human-computer interaction and web usability. Another one is “The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald Norman.
Sticking with the advice: how about tools for design? What about tools for project management?
Regarding the tool I definitely suggest Sketch for UI design. I was a heavy Photoshop user and I was very skeptical when Sketch came out. But I definitely not regret to have switched to Sketch. I realize how bad is Photoshop for UI design. Is a great tool for other things, but not really for UI design in my opinion. But not all Adobe product are out of my pocket of course. I still use Illustrator for icons and illustration. I also use Indesign for documentation and brand identity. In terms of next step like prototyping I use Pixate, Marvel and Flinto.
Regarding tools for management I would definitely say Trello for project management and Slack for team collaboration.
A famous quotation of David Carson (noted American graphic designer) says: “Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does”. Will UI Design save the world, before, at the same time, or after graphic design?
I think that this is a bold statement. And I think that there is more to do to save the world besides UI/graphic design. But, yes, UI design can help on improving the way peo- ple can save the world. I like it more in this way.
Dribbble : https://dribbble.com/TobiaCrivellari
