10 in 5. Marco Dondana, Product Designer at Humblebee.
Product Design as a career choice is surely one of the most exciting choices you could make. The role of a Product Designer is so important. Product Design has become strategically critical for the smartest, most progressive, companies.
With that in mind, here’s a dude we’d been scouting and trying to bring to Humblebee for quite some time, and it’s great to have him as part of our team. Please meet … Marco Dondana!
- Hello Marco. How the devil are you?
Pretty good man! - What do you do at Humblebee?
I’m a Product Designer. - Can you tell us exactly what a Product Designer at Humblebee does?
Basically a product designer here is someone with a deep knowledge and experience of digital products. Our tasks range from user interface design to the definition of entire design systems. - How come you ended up working with Product Design?
That’s a good question! My design journey starts way back in high-school where I ended up in an experimental architecture program they had at art school..that led me to pick Industrial Design at the university in Milan where, during the final year, I attended an Interaction Design class. That made me apply to an Interaction Design master’s program in Sweden and from there I’ve just been following the flow! Design Thinking and the Design Process are the same no matter where you apply them. - Tell us about one project you’re particularly proud of…
I’m pretty proud of my latest project here:). We helped to deliver an internal asset sharing tool for a big customer with challenging demands from different stakeholders. - Do you have one good tip for a tool you love, or perhaps a book or resource you highly recommend?
I tend to have very strong opinions about the tools I’m used to… that makes it difficult for me to embrace new ones until I ask myself why the heck didn’t I start using them sooner..my best tip is: don’t be like me, always be open to new tools! - What do you do to make sure you continue to grow as an expert within Product Design?
I try to be as “complete” as I can. Products and services are constantly mutating and the new generation of designers will always be better than the previous at understanding the latest products and tools. What I try to do is to learn something from everybody I work with and especially if what they do is outside of my comfort zone. - How will Product Design evolve in the future?
I think the role of a product designer is very much related to the products interface development. Right now we live in the touch screen era. The future might be all about seamless interaction and then our job will be less and less graphical. We’ll see! - Do you have any advice for people starting out their career and considering Product Design?
My biggest advice would be not focus too much on becoming a [insert-name-here] Designer. Instead focus on becoming a Designer. Don’t take anything for granted and be open to all opportunities that come to you. - If you could give a company one piece of advice (from a product / service design perspective)… perhaps a recurring error you have seen from your career… what would that be?
Don’t build a product and then hire a designer just before launch to “fix the UX”. Involve a designer early in the process to build a better product and prevent expensive mistakes.
If you’re interested in working at Humblebee then get in touch and we’ll meet up for coffee and a chat.
Contact:
Russell Clark
e. russell.clark@humblebee.se
t. +46 (0)734 359 741
w. humblebee.se
