When did you know that this career is what you wanted to do?
I have always been attracted to various forms of “design” or “art”, at least as long as I can remember. As a child, I spent countless hours drawing, building things and creating stories. I oriented myself toward fine arts at first, then graphic design and finally digital design (now product design). I feel it was a natural progression for me.

What’s one thing you wish you knew when you first started your career?
When I first started my career, I quickly realized that this industry is fast paced and continually evolving in terms of approaches, tools, platforms, and available technologies. Shortly after I graduated, the first smartphones and tablets arrived in Europe, opening a new world of possibilities in terms of design, but also reinforcing the need for established principles around people / computer interactions when designing for such platforms. This was a pivot for me, and introduced something radically different from the print and illustration-oriented work I had been doing thus far, but I embraced it with as much excitement and curiosity as possible. Since then I have had multiple pivots and learning moments in my career. I think this is the nature of our industry. So, being curious, eager to learn and resilient is probably the advice I would give to my younger self.

How do you unwind from work mode?
As a digital product designer and full time remote employee, I spend a lot of time indoors and in front of screens, so I’m naturally drawn to non-digital activities when I feel I need to unwind from work. I recently moved to the east coast and really enjoyed exploring my surroundings, especially the beautiful nature around me. If I feel more like staying at home, I found that simply reading a good fiction book in a cozy setup helps me to relax after a busy day at work.

How do you organize your mobile apps?
It used to be by color, then theme… But I have too many apps to make it work now so I switched it around: usage frequency > theme > color.

What other areas of creativity are you interested in exploring?
There are adjacent disciplines I have always had a strong interest in, like typography (I would love to learn and practice more and maybe try creating a new font one day), or illustration (I have been doing illustration both professionally and for passion projects for many years, especially at the beginning of my career, but I have struggled to find the time over the past years…).

What is your evaluation process for projects at the Davey Awards this year?
When evaluating a project, I take in to account the following: creative dimension of the entry and if it is adding to / revisiting the industry standards in an innovative way that is yet familiar and intuitive to users – accessibility, readability and usability, especially for interactive projects (web or mobile) – general layout, typography and spacing and how this is used to convey a clear hierarchy of information, cohesiveness and a clear message while expressing a brand and tone of voice – and of course, how well this project is actually serving its users / viewers, answering their needs and addressing their pain points.