What led you into design?
I think getting into design is a similar story for all creatives. For me, it was my interest in drawing and tinkering from when I was a young child. Growing up, I became more and more sucked into a new world which was the internet. In 2011, I started playing video games such as Minecraft, which allowed almost unlimited creativity in the simplest matter – great for a growing-up boy who hadn't yet found his place in the world.
Two years later, I began freelancing for different influencers in the German space. I produced 2D and 3D animations and earned my first money. After this, I worked in the YouTube space for some time and helped to create videos that received over 15M views in total.
Over the period of 6 years, I realized that what fulfils me the most, is designing websites and software. I started working for an agency and eventually ended up studying Digital Product Design and Development at the University of Design Schwaebisch Gmuend. Going to university additionally gave me the benefit of becoming a design engineer and therefore having the ability to code properly which is present in my everyday life now.
What does a typical day look like?
Every day looks different for me, but I usually try waking up at 8 AM. I'm an evening showerer, so for me, the first thing to do is make a coffee. While drinking it, I organize everything for the day. This includes setting deadlines on what to achieve that day, answering messages and emails, and observing analytics for products I'm responsible for to make sure everything is okay.
Throughout the day, I usually then have two big blocks of work focused on tasks, which nowadays mainly consist of coding. One block of three hours concentrated working, lunchtime and trying to purposely unfocus to rest the mind, and afterwards another block of five to six hours of concentrated work. Usually, I have one additional hour to wrap everything up and make it ready for the next day. Occasionally it also happens that I meet someone for lunch or a coffee in the afternoon or go on a walk by myself.
After this, I go to the gym every other day or enjoy having nice dinners with friends. This part of the day is super underrated in my opinion, as it is the time I have the most creative ideas (especially under the shower). Before going to bed I usually watch a documentary or listen to a podcast.
What's your workstation setup?
Where do you go to get inspired?
I do get inspired by having walked with other hungry creatives, by scrolling through posts of companies I adore on Twitter, or simply by intentionally distracting myself from what I do day-to-day so my brain gets more input. I also exchange a lot of design-related posts with Nils Eller who I work with. Travelling is a category in itself as you can't spontaneously do it, but every time I visit a new place I feel inspired too.
Additionally to that, sources for inspiration are podcasts or documentaries. I want to add that I think solely living together with other founders doesn't fix the lack of inspiration. It does the opposite. If you surround yourself with people who all feel, think, and work the same way, you certainly won't generate good and individual ideas in the long run.
What product have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?
Anduril Industries is going wild with their product reveals on Youtube. I think the design of those videos is something different. It makes you feel something, and even without having the need, wanting to participate. It highlights the essential features of their products in such a unique and good way.
Additionally to that, I think when it comes to brand design, Drice on Twitter is doing a really good job. I love the minimal logos he creates.
Last but not least, all the little micro-animations in the Airbnb app. It's super fun to discover these because they happen at the right time and moment, in other apps, I noticed a big lack or even too many of those interactions, but Airbnb is doing something right.
What pieces of work are you most proud of?
In recent months one of my personal highlights to work on was the Hero Animation for our app Sona. This was created using exported SVGs from Figma which I turned into animations using Rive. This process took probably around five hours, but it was completely worth it.
On the engineering side of things, I'm currently working on an SVG native and dependency-free chart library for the web. The issue was that there is no single solution that isn't super complicated and targets use cases that go over some simple dashboards. Working with clients, I always had problems choosing suitable libraries. Most depend on d3.js, which is a great library, but offers too little abstraction when it comes to implementation leading to a super bad DX. My goal is to make a small but easy-to-use chart system that focuses more on dashboards than high-level data visualization.
What design challenges do you face at your company?
Working with different stakeholders, I noticed that I find it quite hard to switch between projects, especially in situations where you need to sit down at least for some hours to get big things done. Switching projects and getting into a flow isn't doable in just a matter of minutes when you want to do it right and iterate. I try to overcome this by organizing myself with set times in the evening the day before, so I always have a rough timeline to look at.
What music do you listen to while designing?
Any advice for ambitious designers?
Go build your own projects. Even if it's something just for fun that you always wanted to do. Make something, but do not stand still!
I always have discussions about the best way to learn design (and coding). My answer is always the same, just build something that you can release out to the world no matter how bad it is. And I do not mean indie products whose sole purpose is to make money. Instead, do something that shows how much you care about the details - how much you're into what you're doing.
Additionally, think of your skillset as a superpower. For example, mine combines design with engineering skills and therefore the ability to execute on the go.
Anything you want to promote or plug?
Linus Rogge and Anton Stallbörger's annual Christmas gift for design friends made me too happy. They are great people, talented designers, and good friends, and they care about the details like no other.
Then, my good friend Nils Eller who is a gorgeous designer who I'm very much aligned with and love building products together.
And last but not least, the eu-inc initiative by Andreas Klinger. We need innovative people to make Europe great again, and looking at things like those, I think we're capable of doing that. I'm excited about the future.
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