Siri Johansson, Associate Principal Product Designer

I take into consideration design as your thoughts and hand taking turns. I’ve all the time liked making and fixing issues which might be damaged, so the concept of crafting issues for a dwelling is admittedly compelling—that’s the ‘hand’ half. When it involves ‘thoughts,’ I discover nice satisfaction in complexity, recognizing patterns, and figuring out the precise questions to unravel for. To me, design is the right mix of understanding human behaviors, invention, and aesthetic expression. The different factor I really like about it’s the strategy of synthesis: to take in any other case insignificant components and create one thing greater and significant from it’s actually magic.

At the second I’m concerned in a few tasks that impression how we hearken to music out loud, at house. Beyond sensible issues, my job is about extra than simply serving to individuals hit play: it is about understanding the place they’re, what the room is like, what different actions they’re participating in concurrently, and so forth. I believe loads about how individuals use music to socialize and the way they negotiate what to hearken to, and attempt to assist get the precise temper going, specializing in the moments once they’re not alone.

1. My workspace could be very sensible. I would like some empty desk house and some pens to doodle with. The result’s usually piles of sketches that find yourself amassing mud. 

2. I additionally wish to have room to post-it my method by means of an issue, cluster, and make sense of stuff in my head, however you want vertical house to do this. When I first began at Spotify, my colleagues mocked me for placing up foam boards throughout my desk, creating a little bit anti-social cubicle. It proved to be a fairly social method although as a result of numerous curious individuals stopped to ask what I used to be engaged on and the way they may get in on the froth board motion. 

3. The Wacom board has been my devoted good friend since my years in industrial design once I used it to attract swooshy strains. Although much less swooshy lately, I nonetheless use it for UX design—it seems like a extra pure and direct method to interface with the display whenever you’re engaged on visible issues. Plus it’s extra ergonomic, an actual wrist saver whenever you spend numerous time in entrance of the monitor.  

4. Sometimes colleagues depart pleasant post-its and I wish to hold them round. 

5. Yes, I do must up my pen jar sport.

One of my most formative challenges earlier in my profession pre-Spotify, was a design analysis undertaking I used to be concerned in nearly ten years in the past. It targeted on younger youngsters on the autism spectrum and serving to them and their caregivers higher handle on a regular basis actions by means of a tablet-based interface. Cognitive perform variation launched me to a complete new stage of complexity, removed from what I used to be used to. 

These children usually face difficulties with advantageous motor abilities as effectively, and in that particular state of affairs, there was a battle between what labored higher cognitively and motorically. For instance, it may be bodily simpler for somebody to faucet a button moderately than to swipe on a display interface, but swiping is simpler to know as a navigational mannequin. At least the suggestions was all the time very clear—if there was frustration with the expertise, the pill risked getting tossed throughout the room! I keep in mind that it appeared inconceivable to satisfy all wants, however ultimately, it was a stark instance of how all design comes right down to discovering essentially the most well-balanced compromise. 

It was the most effective lesson within the worth of staying humble and dealing carefully with the end-users, immersing your self of their on a regular basis lives. I used to be already steeped in a user-centric faculty of thought, however this undertaking actually cemented my perception in that method. It left me intrigued about cognitive science and contributed to me returning to highschool to do my grasp’s in interplay design.

Zadie Smith

Fiction! Design is the type of job the place no matter you do and eat feeds into the work, and I believe taking components of many tales on the human situation helps you turn into a extra well-rounded designer. I’ll identify Zadie Smith as a result of she’s a favorite writer of mine. On my studying listing now could be Feel Free, a set of her essays. I began on it after which misplaced the e-book in a latest transfer. Hoping to ultimately come throughout it whereas unpacking. (It may take some time…)

99% Invisible

The podcast 99% Invisible for reminding me of the considering that has gone into each human made merchandise or course of. I additionally love their storytelling that always begins from one thing seemingly trivial after which unfolds in shocking methods.

James Turell

When it involves artwork, I’m a giant fan of spatial and interactive items, and James Turrell is a favourite. If you end up in proximity to one in every of his skyspaces, go, sit down, and meditate for some time.

I’ll wrap up with a few recs associated to the inspirations I’ve talked about above: I liked the little collection Articles of Interest from the makers of 99% Invisible. They focus on one garment per episode. Fashion is such springboard to nice tales on science, historical past, and life basically. 

I simply get caught in a studying listing of design and expertise books I really feel I must get by means of. It’s actually refreshing whenever you come throughout a e-book that’s related to design, however not written for designers. Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, by Peter Turchi, is one such e-book I hold returning to. Many of the analogies he makes use of on map making and storytelling are tremendous inspiring for design. 

Also, my decision for 2020 is to learn extra. I’ll simply go forward and state that right here hoping somebody will maintain me accountable. That, and to get a plant for my desk 🙂