Kevyn Smith

I have over 15+ years in Digital design, product design, UX, responsive web and motion design. I believe that good design can change the world and that starts with great research and using data to inform my designs. Using a trans-disciplinary approach to design, I am able to leave behind the confines of a conventional method by combining UX fundamentals with years of experience in Product Marketing, Digital strategy, Market Research, and Brand Management

UX design and interaction design are fields that have boomed in the past few years but as a seasoned designer, how do you think your beginnings in the field were different from designers of today?

I feel design today is more driven by hard data and developers. Design systems dictate a lot of the look and feel and product designers are tasked more with solving problems with design and using research and data to inform their designs. Agency work is still Blue Sky a little more than product work.

When creating a brand identity, how important is target audience research?

Very important. I do not create brand identity's but I know knowing your audience is key to creating a successful brand that resonates with them.

What was the first project you worked on professionally, and how did you land it?

The first project I worked on was at an agency I was at and it was a website for National Geographic.

Was there something specific about Art Directing that made you realize it was the path for you?

I think just being creative in life and loving art and movies, and design from an early age made me want to use my creativity in my professional career.

How do you make sure that the system that you create is a flexible system that adapts to a growing and changing brand? How do you define flexibility and how do you make sure you make it flexible?

I think you need to think about future proofing your designs so that they can scale with the brand and that the system integrates elements from the brand that can be evergreen and not change much. I think having a living organic and always changing design ecosytems and design system helps with keeping things fresh, on brand and easy to update if things change.

How did you get interested in creating? What were your early influences?

My early influences were movies, museums, Art History and Art, I wanted to go to film school but found my passion in video editing and advertising, and art history. I loved the Apple ads that Chiat Day were doing and some of the early brand work coming out of Nike.

How is your approach towards each of your creative skills different? Is the starting point the same?

I have a defined 3 step process, that I use for all m y projects, some projects utlilize the whole process while other projects use parts of it, but there is always an intitial strategy and vision process, learning about the brand, the landscapre the users, etc, then a phase for vision and one for execute. The vision stage is where the bulk of the design discovery lives and the execute phase is more for making it and getting designs in the hands of developers.

How do you manage critical feedback on your work?

I have learned to leave your ego at the door, if the client is not happy, make them happy even if u have to go the extra mile. I try to spend a lot of time with the client in strategy sessions upfront and bring them along the journey so that I really am collaborating more with them than just designing in a vacumm and showing them stuff for feedback. This process helps to reduce friction and feedback and get to the solution faster.

As creative professionals, a large chunk of our process is finding inspiration for our work. How do you come up with new ideas for your projects?

Looking at various verticals in business, competitor brands as well as best in class brands, watch movies, play video games, submerse myself in all things creative and the answer will be thwere somewhere.

Every Creative has their style but it can be difficult to bring that style to different projects with different clients, all with their own styles. How do you bring the two together?

I tend to lean on the client brand for style, or intial work, and try to use best practices in UX and UI to keep the experience something that is new and innovative while still adhearing to some basic design patterns and principles users are accustomed to.