How better experiences are designed

What made you join Spirii?

Spirii is a company with a very meaningful mission! I was looking for a place where I could contribute to making a positive impact on our world which seems to be in an increasing amount of distress. Even though I don’t drive yet, I do believe in the EV movement and I’m excited to be learning all about the systems and processes in the background that can enable it.

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What makes a design successful in your opinion?

Design is successful when the problem you’ve set out to solve for someone stops being a problem.‍

It’s the moment when you see a sparkle in someone’s eye - when they realise there’s a simpler way to work or to complete a certain task.

Apart from the very practical things that have to do with your daily work and tasks, design can also be successful in less obvious ways - when your awareness is brought to something that wasn’t obvious before and that results in behavioural change.

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What’s a small design detail you care deeply about, that others might not notice?

I notice how digital interfaces respond to interaction. Sometimes the most subtle change of colour, a little shadow or highlight can tell you so much about what is possible in this space, where to look and what to follow. It’s fun once you start to notice the intention behind these details as someone has put them there for a reason with the ultimate purpose of helping you figure things out more easily. That’s ultimately the reason why different apps/software feel different.

I notice these things often from an accessibility point of view too, because I’ve worked on a digital accessibility product in the past and I learned first-hand from a few colleagues who had different levels of visual disabilities how extremely painful it is to get simple things done when digital experiences are not built with that aspect of quality in mind. I’m the one who notices when there’s no focus state on a button or when you can’t complete a task using a keyboard, for example.

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What makes collaboration between design and development successful?

The belief and trust that we get to a better result if we can challenge each other and come up with solutions together. The best collaboration I’ve had with developers has always been the result of a process where the whole team is involved in coming up with ideas, when everyone feels they are welcome to give input and can challenge things when we can do better.

Design and development need to have a very similar idea of what good-quality software looks like, not just from the functional perspective but also in terms of the quality of interface experience we agree we want to offer.

But most of all, I think that design should be fun! Great ideas come when you’re having fun, when you feel there is space to play around, experiment, fail and stumble upon unexpected things.

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What part of your job do you enjoy the most?

Ah, there are many! One thing is organising the chaos - being able to map out seemingly disconnected insights into a story of what is challenging today and what needs to be addressed for the bits and pieces to get sorted out. Envisioning a new solution is fun.

Then the next stage is presenting a potential solution to a customer and hearing their thoughts on it. Sometimes you get them clapping their hands, sometimes you get them confused and puzzled - either way, it’s a moment of truth in a way. The response you get might be something constructive, that allows you to improve and sharpen the concept but also gives you a sense of the impact the solution might have.

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Dream road trip – where would that be?

I just recently bought tickets for a trip to Costa Rica with some friends, so that’s the road trip I currently dream about.

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