Design Feast Series: Designer’s Quest(ionnaire)

Krystyn Heide

Designer and Developer

Website template Smith

Primary design concentration:

I guess I’d say my primary design focus is experience, it’s definitely the primary goal in my designs. Whether it’s creating a template someone can adapt easily for their needs, or an interface that is delightful both visually and in the usability sense, I’m always keeping the end user in mind.

Most preferred tools for designing:

Sublime Text is my best friend. Photoshop and Illustrator were my first loves. And nothing, nothing beats the smell of a well-used sketch pad.

Website template Smith

How and why did you choose to become a designer?

I come from a family of left and right brainers—architects, musicians, engineers and artists. We’ve all got a bit of creative and nerd driving us at all times. Being a designer is the perfect balance of both for me. I’ve also been fortunate to work with insanely talented people, which is simultaneously inspiring and challenging.

What are some of the challenges you encounter as a designer and how do you deal with them?

Burnout, I guess? I started working for a baby startup as the second employee. In the past six years, the company has continually evolved and grown, and my role in the company has as well. It keeps things interesting, but every once in a while I feel like I never want to look at another line of code or bug report again. That’s when I know I need to take a breather, whether it’s spending an entire weekend outside, taking a day off to draw, or at least going for a walk.

What is your definition of an “elegant solution,” that is, good design?

Edit, edit, edit. Keep it as simple as possible.

From skills to values, what makes a designer successful?

A paycheck? [Laughing] Honestly, just making a living doing what I love is success to me. If you mean the type of ‘success’ that comes with being well known, I think that’s simply from creating work that people like, and not being a dick.

How do you stay motivated and grow personally and professionally as a designer?

I interact with other designers on Dribbble and Twitter every day. I also make the time to continue learning whether it’s books or articles on sites like A List Apart. And I love, love conferences like Valio Con and Brooklyn Beta. Those are the days of the year where I’m so on fire to create. I come home and fill my sketchpad and write a ton of notes and wish that I could make that energy stretch out for the entire year.

For those aspiring to become a designer, whatever the discipline, what is your advice?

I would point them to “What Advice Would You Give a Graphic Design Student?” by Frank Chimero, because like him, I have no idea what I’m doing, and everyone is just making it up as they go along.

Website template Scout

What is your quest in design, from a professional practice, education or evolution standpoint?

Delight. Designers and developers enable necessary connections between people. We should make them delightful.

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