Spotify Design Team
To have a good time Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re proud to current a particular sequence of In the Spotlight to have a good time API creators and the group. Today’s headliner is Shota Pangilinan, Product Designer for Spotify for Artists in New York. Put in your headphones, hit play, and browse alongside!
Questions & Answers
Why are you a designer?
In my youthful days, I had all the time hoped to do one thing impactful within the sciences. I keep in mind making a self-illustrated felt cutout in kindergarten that learn “Scientist” beneath a lab coat adorning determine (If solely selecting a profession had been that easy). I suppose being ½ Japanese and ½ Filipino, medication was all the time an anticipated profession path for me. So, I began off majoring in Neuroscience, however I finally fell in love with Cognitive Science and Linguistics—a topic on the intersection of know-how and the human thoughts. I selected this main after studying An Alchemy of Mind by Diane Ackerman in my sophomore yr. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by folks and the way magically mysterious the thoughts’s expertise is.
In our function as designers, we think about sensible & fantastical options for actual folks by the lens of curiosity & awe of the human expertise. It’s fantastic to consider how nice design can outline tradition, id, and actuality by human creativeness. By designing the techniques and artefacts of tomorrow, we outline the truth of attainable futures, at present.
Describe your job at Spotify with out utilizing the phrases “design” or “designer.”
We construct cool stuff that generally fails and generally succeeds. We hear, we be taught, & we strive our greatest with growing nuance & considerate intention for our artists. We attempt to do our greatest for our creators with massive ears and shiny eyes.
Show us an image of your desk, and clarify why it seems the way it does.
This is my WFH setup in my Lower East Side condo, New York.
-
Snake plant: This unhealthy boy has been with me ever since I first moved to NYC in 2017. He has by no means actually wanted water and has caught with me by thick and skinny. Sadly, I’m seemingly bringing a pupperino into my household this fall, so the snake plant could have to pack its luggage (Dogs are allergic to ’em!).
-
Coach, pillows, throw blanket: Working from house could be difficult on my temper and temperament, so I fortunately have this sectional to work or relaxation on when issues get hectic.
-
Hasami porcelain: You gotta love these elegant tumblers. Sometimes I’ll fire up some Japanese immediate espresso or combine some matcha!
-
Audio Pro T4: A used Bluetooth related speaker retains me sane on the finish of the day once I play some tunes aloud in my makeshift workplace.
-
AirPods & AirPod Pros: A bit overkill, however helps rather a lot to have choices since I typically run out of battery on these infants from conferences and such all through the day.
-
Samsung Space 32”: This display screen is a bizarre one. It clamps to the sting of your desk so you will get most desk house!
-
Hoya Heart Plant: A bit plant from my companion for my twenty fifth birthday.
Tell us a couple of time you beat an intimidating design problem.
There’s numerous very attention-grabbing design challenges I’ve encountered right here at Spotify over time, however the one which stands out as probably the most difficult is one which I’m presently engaged on now.
My workforce works on constructing out the platform and personalization for the Artist workforce expertise. It’s been a means of continuous discovery in an evolving trade. Our workforce kicked off the undertaking out of a hack week and have been pushing the product additional over the previous few years. A undertaking like this takes imaginative and prescient and persistence, ensuring to maintain the smaller chunks of labor grinding as you head in the direction of that grand future you’ve set sail in the direction of.
Name three non-designers you’re feeling impressed by when designing.
Zach Lieberman
Zach is an artist and educator in NYC. From his personal private web site “I create artwork with code…I make interactive environments that invite participants to become performers. My main focus is how computation can be used as medium for poetry.” Is there something cooler than that?
Peggy Gou
South Korean Berlin-based DJ. She’s bringing Asian illustration to European digital music in her all-print summery outfits. I noticed her set at Awakenings 2018 in Amsterdam and she or he was the standout performer at a primarily European DJ scene. Also, she has a number of the coolest tattoos I’ve ever seen.
Harley Streten
Flume has been the soundtrack of my working life. His music is uniquely his personal, energetic and cacophonously elegant. The finest method I can describe his most up-to-date “Hi This is Flume (Mixtape)” is just like the sound of dropping a pan down a wormhole. He created a mixtape visualizer to hitch his mixtape right here.
What would your self-portrait appear like?
Any last shout-outs or stuff you’d prefer to share?
A giant shout out to the mentors and teammates I’ve had at Spotify. This has been one hell of a trip with some significantly type and clever people. I’m repeatedly challenged by the issues we’re tackling and impressed by the folks I’m fortunate sufficient to do it with.
Shout out to the squads I’ve labored with, particularly the Highlights workforce, and a particular shout to my Creator Design workforce for making me really feel like household.
Shout out to Ronny Ho and Kate Lee for main SPACE, Spotify’s Asian Employee Resource Group. They lead AAPI month at Spotify & throughout our platform. You two have constructed a house for the Asian group at Spotify. It’s been a pleasure being your good friend.
Follow me on Instagram @shota_pan.
Credits
Spotify Design Team
We’re a cross-disciplinary workforce of people that like to create nice experiences and make significant connections between listeners and creators.