PSDFan Extra

Todays Interview

Todays interview is really a dream come true for me. Fabio Sasso is widely regarded as one of the best Photoshop designers in the world, having written countless articles for PSDTUTS, and for his own hugely popular blog Abduzeedo. When I started this website a few months ago it was people like Fabio that motivated me to push myself in my own designs. To be perfectly honest when PSDFAN first started out I never thought that I’d be interviewing the heavy-weights of the design industry. But anyway, enough about all that, I expect that you’ll want to check out the interview…

1. Firstly I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to do this interview. You’re considered a very well known figure within the design community, but many people may only know you through one of your ventures, rather than seeing the whole picture. Would you mind giving a little personal background information about yourself and your websites for our readers?

Thanks a lot for the opportunity to do this interview as well. Well, I’m a graphic and web designer from Brazil, and before the blog I was working only on web design projects for Zee,a company I found with a great friend of mine, Fabiano Meneghetti. Then in the end of 2006 I started Abduzeedo.

2. What motivates you to design? What do you think makes design so special?

I think design is really important and what motivates me is that we are designing things that will be part of some people’s lives. That involves lots of variables and there are always new things to learn and discover.

3. What is your average day like? Could you perhaps explain your work flow?

It’s kind of crazy to be honest, I usually wake up pretty early, 6-6:20 AM then I read my Feeds having coffee, the first coffee. That takes like 1-2 hours. Then it’s time to blog, however I tend to have an idea of what I will blog about the day before, so I have just write and organize the post. My work day starts 9Am, then I work until 5, for CSNGlobal. After that I’m back to abduzeedo where I work on other things like new features, the new design and stuff like that. Close to midnight some times later than that I go to bed.

4. As designers we will all inevitably have periods where we lack our usual creativity. What do you do when you have a creative dry patch?

I like to practice exercises, go to the GYM or running for 1 hour. That always help me to get new ideas. Even though sometimes not even that helps. So it’s time leave that project aside and work on different projects for one day, then go back.

5. In your opinion, what sets a great designer apart from a good designer?

Well I think it’s the capacity to understand the target audience needs and expectations for project that the designer is working on, and deliver the best solution for that. Sometimes we tend to be very critical when seeing another designer’s work and we forget the context of that design and why it was done that way.

6. Which websites do you visit on a daily basis?

Oh there are so many, my google reader is full of feeds, I like Designyoutrust, ffffound, flickr (several groups), cpluv, smashinmagazine, lifehacker, readwriteweb, signalnoise, signal vs noise, psdtuts… and many more. You can see some of the articles I share visiting my personal site that is a friendfeed mashup, the url is fabiosasso.com

7. What’s the most enjoyable project that you’ve ever worked on and why?

I think it’s the new abduzeedo site, it’s been really cool and I’m working with my brother, also with Fabiano, Paulo, and Aloa. The best thing is that I can look back what I did in the past and try to make it simpler and better.

8. Where do you see the design industry heading in the future?

I think the design industry will be very powerful, because we see some companies like apple showing how important the design is for a product, and of course more companies will start doing the same. As the “user experience” becomes the goal, the design industry will grow and also look for new ways to make some processes simpler and easier.

9. Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview. Do you have any closing advice for up and coming designers?

My advice is keep always learning and trying to improve your skills. Try different things and enjoy the design process, that will really help you when you need to restart projects from scratch. Ah, and of course, have fun.

/Interview

I really hope that you enjoyed this interview, as I know I certainly did. If you liked it then I’d always appreciate a Digg or Stumble. Until next time!

About the Author:

Tom is the founder of PSDFAN. He loves writing tutorials, learning more about design and interacting with the community. On a more interesting note he can also play guitar hero drunk with his teeth.

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