What difficulties did you face at the beginning of your career?
I transitioned into design comparatively late. Consequently, it was challenging to simultaneously learn technical, formal, and conceptual approaches to design. However, the software and technology is accessible and relatively easy to learn, and there will always be someone else who is technically more proficient than you. It is the quality of your ideas that has value.
What should a young designer do in order not to get hired by anybody?
Be a designer with a huge ego, lacking humility and curiosity.
Are there any things you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?
Most programming languages.
Are there any rules or habits that help you do your job more efficiently?
Listening while I design — to music, lectures, white noise — maximizes my efficiency.
Would you recommend some books that young designers might find useful?
Multiple Signatures by Michael Rock, Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Ulysses by James Joyce
Jessica answered the questions on June 3, 2014.
The answers were published on June 4, 2014.
The answers were published on June 4, 2014.