To showcase our band members, from time to time we put a Spotifier within the limelight. Today’s headliner is Grace Kwon (she/her), Senior Service Designer for Business Affairs in Brooklyn, New York. Put in your headphones, hit play, and browse alongside!
Questions & Answers
Why are you a designer?
Two of my favourite designers Charles and Ray Eames as soon as stated, “The role of a designer is that of a very good and thoughtful host, anticipating the needs of his [or her/their!] guests”. Whether it’s potlucks or workshops, I like internet hosting. The artwork of gathering individuals and insights are two areas I’d wish to grasp all through my life and profession in service design.
Describe your job at Spotify with out utilizing the phrases “design” or “designer”.
Part diplomat, half translator – my job consists of sense-making, facilitating, and untangling complicated enterprise processes and knowledge into digestible and dependable sources of fact for readability and alignment amongst stakeholders.
What would your self-portrait appear like?
Who could be your dream particular person to collaborate with and what would you make collectively?
Esther Perel. Esther’s tackle relational intelligence broadened how I view the which means of labor, life, and love. Whether it’s facilitating workshops or conducting interviews, her work has taken my design follow to a different stage! I’d like to collaborate in constructing out a service mannequin of her new card recreation, Where Should We Begin, in order that extra individuals can have entry to her unimaginable work and strategy to remedy.
What’s one piece of design knowledge you’d give to your youthful self?
Underneath the visible there may be the visceral. Always have a look at what’s behind and past what meets the attention.
Complete the sentence: “People are sometimes shocked once I inform them…”
I’ve crossed the most important continental space on Earth – Eurasia – in 20 days. Starting from Vladivostok and all the best way throughout west to Moscow, I used to be on a 20-day practice expedition with solely 4 stops alongside the best way. I realized the way to bathe with a water bottle (emphasis on the “a”) as a result of there have been no showers on the practice! My particular expertise: survival.
Show us your completely happy place – someplace you go to recharge your inventive battery – and select a soundtrack to go along with it. Tell us why you picked your spot.
Location: Bouwerie Iconic Magazines, Soho
Soundtrack: Whitney – No Woman
There’s a spot in Soho (NYC) known as Bouwerie Iconic Magazines the place all of the magazines from the world come and go. I will be in there for hours. It’s the place I’m going to do some private R&D. Some of my favourite magazines are The Gentlewoman, Real Review, Kinfolk, and Deem Journal. There’s one thing about touching paper, flipping bodily pages, and looking out by spreads and spreads of lovely pictures. Print shouldn’t be lifeless!
What are you enthusiastic about proper now?
I labored on a weblog submit on service design with an unimaginable group of coworkers right here at Spotify. It was a labor of affection and I’m actually excited for the small however mighty group of service designers on the market to satisfy my colleagues, the wonderful work we’re doing and the insights we’ve gathered whereas tackling some furry design challenges!
Any closing shout-outs or belongings you’d wish to share?
I’d love to provide a shout out to my supervisor, Lisa Selden, Director of Operations in Business Affairs. She took a leap of religion with me when she introduced me on as Spotify’s first Service Designer. Her unconditional help for me and my profession development has been invaluable.
I need to shamelessly plug in my LinkedIn. Any up-and-coming service designers who want a portfolio crit or a espresso chat – please be happy to attach. I do know navigating the service design business isn’t any straightforward feat. Here for y’all.
Credits