I had the great pleasure of interviewing the fabulous designer and writer, Francisco Inchauste late last year. Initially published for Royal Thoughts, I thought it’d be great to share it again here:

Bio: 

As a Senior UX Design Specialist, Francisco Inchauste works to deliver solutions that balance beauty with function. He has spent the past decade working with large and small companies on websites and RIAs to create memorable brand-driven experiences. He enjoys contributing to the design community as a regular writer for publications like Smashing Magazine and UX Magazine. He shares his passion for design on his industry recognized personal blog. He enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, running, seeking good microbrews, and browsing for indie tunes at a real music store.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am an interaction designer with a primary focus on applications. They are for mostly desktop and web, with an increasing amount of projects for devices. I work for Universal Mind with a team of very talented people (I know everyone says that, except in this case it’s true). I enjoy contributing to the design community through writing on my personal blog and places like UX Magazine and Smashing Magazine. I think you learn the most about a person from their addictions. Mine are, in no particular order: Twitter, gadgets, B-movies, music (loving the latest from Interpol), craft beers (mostly local).

What was your first job?

I was a busboy at a local restaurant. I cleared tables and assisted the wait staff. You learn a lot about people with a job like that. Some tables weren’t so bad, others made you wonder if they actually got food into their mouths. Burrito cheese slobbered on the napkins and whole potatoes on the floor, it was sometimes a bit nasty. We all made the best of that job and had fun though.

When did you realize you wanted to work as a designer?

I think it was when Paul Rand told me in kindergarten that I should consider graphic design. I had created this wonderful finger painting… ok, that didn’t really happen. I really admired the powerful and emotional advertising I had seen done by companies like Nike and Coca-Cola. I always loved art class in school. I felt comfortable there. I decided I wanted to do something within that realm. I sort of fell into a design specific role in my first job at a local agency and never looked back.

Most people seem to have started off their computing days with Windows. When did you switch to Mac, and why?

I actually started with a Macintosh. My parents bought one when I was younger and I always stuck with them. I had to switch to a PC with one job, and it actually wasn’t too bad. Most of the design applications I used were on there so I only had to get used to some of the nuances of the Windows OS. I was happy to go back to a Mac after that though. It was a welcome change.

Do you have any formal design training, or are you mostly self-taught?

I am mostly self-taught. I was really fortunate to intern at a great company and learn a lot. I found some great mentors there that guided me towards the fundamentals of graphic design. Without them I don’t think I would have the mindset I needed to be a designer. I spent a lot of my own time after work trying out different software and learning how to use them. I also was able to gain experience by volunteering my skills or experimenting with my own projects.

Have you had to adapt conventional offline marketing strategies to work with the new online generation, when migrating from print to web design?

Not really. I think it was a natural progression and never really ran into any problems with it. Where I struggled is in things like brand/marketing guidelines and trying to educate people that it was more important to have a good brand experience, than be so blindly obsessive with rules.

What blogs/books/magazines do you read?

I don’t actually read anything specific online on a daily basis. I’ve found that so many of the resources are regurgitating the same content. I think my time is better spent getting experience working or doing research and writing for my own blog or articles I’m writing for other places. In reality Twitter has become my RSS reader. I also use Yammer at work where colleagues share a lot of good information.

As for print, I try to pick up Wired magazine when I can. A book that I consider a key reference for anyone and everyone in this line of work is About Face 3 by Alan Cooper. It is a great guide for the foundational principles of user experience. Currently I’m reading Handcrafted CSS by Dan Cederholm.

Where do you look for ideas and inspiration?

I find inspiration everywhere except online in showcases or galleries. It’s not to say that I don’t ever reference those or think they are worthless. I’ve just discovered that if I go and look for inspiration online, I find much of the same. Even if there is something I find inspirational about another app or website design, it doesn’t work since it has been created for a different purpose. My inspiration comes a lot of times from classic graphic design and/or reading about things unrelated to the field. I think good design solutions are a combination of not just the right visuals, but the right approach to the problem, which isn’t always the same thing.

What have you done to differentiate yourself from other designers? If there’s no functional point of difference, how do you position yourself to stand out?

I have worked hard to create a personal brand that I think differentiates me. What that really means though is I have simply created an online extension of my personality. It sounds cheesy to say this, but it’s just about being yourself. Simply having a portfolio of work isn’t enough anymore. Sure, you can get idea of skill and/or talent, but that is easy to mimic in some ways and everyone has a portfolio site. People should be able to visit your site and hopefully understand your thinking and approach to design, as well as a bit of your personality. I think that potential employers/clients need to see how you think through design problems, and this is where you can differentiate yourself.

What did you do before you took a position at Universal Mind?

I worked for a technology company where I was helping to build up their user experience design practice. We built up a really great team and I learned a lot about starting something up from scratch. In the end though, the opportunity with Universal Mind and to work with the people there was too good to pass up.

Describe a typical day at Universal Mind.

There’s a lot of joking around, as well as hard work and great collaboration. The studio walls are peppered with sticky notes and covered with sketches as we collaborate throughout the day. We have Pandora running in the background. Whoever gets there first gets to pick the station. Everyone jumps in to offer help or feedback on the variety of projects passing through there. There is always some great discussion around a specific UX problem, or sometimes we get into a big picture talk about the future of interaction design.

Is their anything you hate working on?

When I am brought in to work on something that has already been built. Basically it would be to skin an application or do a quick fix on a website navigation to help try to salvage the rest of it. This type of work sets you up for trouble since there’s not much you can do to fix something that’s has been baked into workflow, or simply try to “paint” over a poor navigation. At this point it’s not user experience design, it’s confuser experience design.

Do you use the same hardware and software at work as you do at home? Any favourites?

It’s the same hardware. Some of my favorite apps are the ones that almost blend into my workflow: Skitch and Alfred. Skitch is great for collaborating and quickly sharing an image or interaction problem when someone isn’t there with you. Alfred is a nice way to search and quickly access files/apps on your desktop, and the Web. Some close runner ups to those would be Dropbox and Skype.

If you were to picture yourself in a career outside of the design world, what would it be?

I would likely be involved in movie making. I am drawn to great stories and the power of visuals. At one time I wanted to become a writer/director. I worked on a few screenplays and loved learning about the structure that many films follow in their story arc and building characters. I think this helped me with my writing and design today.

Lastly, if you were given one last meal, who would you ask to dinner and why?

I would ask Christopher Nolan. He is one of my favorite film directors and I love how he focuses on building up great characters and weaving a compelling story around them. The effects, music, etc, are all used with purpose. I think we both tell stories in our own way.