Jason
Dsouza

What led you into design?

Growing up in the 90s, I was a kid who was surrounded by never-before-seen technology—the Nokia and Sony Ericsson cell phones, arcade video games and their consoles with joysticks, and the timeless Frutiger era—I remember feeling excited about living in the future, as if I had reached it somehow. Back then, I didn't know design had a big role to play in all this. Today, these gizmos have definitely turned into my inspirations.  

I have always loved computers. They were not just boring, complicated tech artifacts—to me they were portals of creativity. I mean, c’mon, look at a Sony Ericsson w550i and tell me you weren't inspired?! In hindsight, my road to design was inevitable.

Fast forward to 2019, I stumbled upon product design quite accidentally. It was an IG post describing how front-end development depended on good user experience and visual—and not just code. And suddenly, I saw my childhood memories through a new lens.

Remember how different it felt switching from one mobile phone to another? — I yearn to create that kind of delight instead of just receiving a bigger rectangle in my hand in the name of an upgrade.

I also feel a sense of responsibility to create the type of computer experiences I had as a kid, for the people around me today.

What does a typical day look like?

I start my day at 8.30 am with coffee and a couple scrambled eggs. Need a solid breakfast because what lies ahead needs that kind of energy. 

For the next 90 minutes I putter—walking around the house, chit-chatting with my family before they start their day, planning the day’s meals and the necessary grocery shopping. 

My work day starts with checking twitter DMs and catching up with friends in the field, slack messages, and emails.

I align my day such that I tackle only one design problem on a given day. This allows me to dedicate time to create all the possible variations I can to solve it. Most times, I also let the solutions sit with me for a while, so that I can come back with a fresh mind before taking the final solution forward. 

At 5.00 pm, I take a break to have some tea and usually engage with fellow tinkerers on twitter—there are a variety of builders and makers that inspire me. It is insightful to talk to them about what they have been building. 

6.00 – 8.00 pm is when I work-out—either gym or some raquette sport. 

From 8.00 – 9.00 pm, I begin wrapping my day by sending out updates to different teams (usually in different time-zones) and closing the day. 

The family gets together for dinner at 9.30 pm, where we usually talk about our respective days. I finally wind down by scrolling other social media, reading a book and catching up on my favourite newsletters on my RSS reader. I go to sleep by 12.00 am.

What's your workstation setup?

Where do you go to get inspired?

In a word? Everywhere. Live concerts, concert videos and posters, rock music, emotional music, and dance music inspire me because I am amazed by how a band and its frontman can ‘work the crowd’ and get them cheering and singing, single handedly. 

Pixel art graffitied on the streets of Paris is inspiring because it can pack so much in such a small space–not much different than what icons in an interface do. 

I'm awestruck by car designs like the 911s—to see someone design a body and hull that is not only aerodynamic but also looks sublime. 

I rummage through works of artists like Mondrian, Picasso, Jony Ive, and Saint Laurent del Rey; diligently watch movies by Wong Kar-wai and Ridley Scott; read about poignant architecture like the Falling Waters by FLW, browse artifacts from the Bauhaus and art deco era, and invest way too much time admiring watch face aesthetics by HMT, Seiko, Orient, and Hamilton. 

The thing that all these elements have in common is how they grab attention and retain it enough to tell you a story. There is always something to learn from these and bring to my design process—a lesson to make products connect with the masses and learning ways in which design can influence emotions, atmosphere, and even actions. 

I also use Arena, Pinterest, Mobbin and other similar sites for a vibe check, and I constantly rely on these in my design process for a sense of direction as well as to refine my designs.

What product have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?

Pedro Stolf recently published a project experimenting with language. (Also published on Twitter.)

This is an interesting experiment because it sets out to provide a method that does not rely on the linear nature of speaking (first learn a language, then talk sequentially), but explores a way to directly convey the meaning of what is being communicated by using shapes and symbols.

This is similar to what emojis did to convey a happy/sad face, and also similar to how we command a computer to open the camera by drawing a C as a gesture.

What pieces of work are you most proud of?

Throughout 2024, I have been experimenting with interaction design to push the limits of what limits us today in the world of tech.

Peak-A-Boo is a concept that I have written extensively about. This is an alternate solution to tackle the annoying and anxiety inducing red dot iPhone notifications. 

Cyclops is another fun concept I built. It is an iOS action camera widget that is live, instantly available and a re-imagination of the iPhone camera control button. 

I also explored a keyboard throttler that controls the tone of text. I call it The Brain Rot Simplifier and it converts your text-input into a spectrum of output that is varying levels of formal to casual. 

What design challenges do you face at your company?

In the last couple of years, I have been extensively exploring interface design for software with AI-integrations and consumer social apps. Cracking a good UX for something that is NOT an AI chat interface is tricky. There isn't much inspiration out there right now for how an AI can look for a particular use case.

For example, think of an omnibox but built without the conventional design of a rectangle that waits for your input. What could that even look like?

I try to overcome this challenge by surrounding myself with people that inspire me, and in turn push myself to think out of the box and not worry too much about failing.

What music do you listen to while designing?

Any advice for ambitious designers?

Be expressive, be rebellious, and most of all be humble. 

Be a creator second, but first be an ardent learner of the craft. 

Good things take time, great things take learning. 

Be curious, learn from the new as much as you'd learn from old ones. Everyone has something to share. Design will take you places you've never imagined.

Also, get a solid office chair, your back will thank you. You are going to be spending a lot of time sitting there and tinkering.

Anything you want to promote or plug?

Come see how my brain works @radcraftor on twitter/threads or just drop by to say a "Hi!"