Johnny Wang graduated from Shillington Melbourne back in 2012. Since then he’s worked at some of Australia’s leading studios, including brand communications agency Studio Alto and innovative digital studio Art Processors. He’s now a Midweight Digital Designer at Seesaw.
We caught up with Johnny to get an insight into the world of digital design—in particular app design.
Have you always had an interest in digital design, or did you consciously choose it over print design?
After graduating from Shillington I was interested in both, but the combination of my background in IT and the fact that businesses are spending less on print design nowadays meant that most opportunities that came my way were digital.
Since then I’ve developed a preference for digital work. I think I enjoy thinking about user pathways and interaction more than paper stock and printing techniques!
How has the digital landscape in Australia changed since graduating from Shillington?
The digital landscape is constantly changing. Off the top of my head, here are some of new technologies and mediums that have popped up recently…
- Location aware apps and experiences—for example, the MONA app, Estimote and iBeacon
- “wearables”, like the Apple Watch and Pebble
- Virtual Reality—Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard
- Mobile internet use has now surpassed desktop use
- Google now have a self-driving car!
- Apple has started developing a car dashboard interface
All of these open up new spaces that digital design can explore. Most of this technology is still in its infancy so design isn’t a priority yet. However, the more commoditised they become, the more opportunity there will be for designers to explore them.
When you were freelancing at Art Processors, you were commissioned by MONA to give the famously innovative museum app, The O, a facelift. What was involved?
The first iteration of the app had been live for a couple of years already. The app at that point only had the ability to locate where you were in the museum and show you nearby artwork.
Since then we’ve incorporated a lot of supporting functionality into the app design—an interactive map, the ability to explore the artwork by artist, exhibition, author, and a search function. We had to address a lot of user feedback. Now, there are multiple ways of browsing the artwork within the app. For example, elderly or vision-impaired people can now adjust the size of the body copy. There was also the intent to eventually make the app available on the app store (right now it’s exclusively on in-house devices). The new features we worked on get us closer to allowing the app to work independent of the museum.
All of this new functionality needed to be incorporated into the app without sacrificing its design and minimal and intuitive interface.
What was the best part about working on The O for (arguably) the most exciting museum in Australia?
They had a big budget, so we were lucky enough to have a lot of time to spend on making everything the best it could be. The technical team were incredibly talented, which meant that we could really push the boundaries of the app design.
But honestly, the best part was having the museum to ourselves while testing the app!
Do you have any tips for mobile app designers?
I would definitely recommend learning a little about app development, through an app design course or other resource, prior to taking on the design. They’re built in a very different way to websites and it saves everyone a lot of time and stress if the app design incorporates basic development considerations! Luckily, developers are extremely generous people and there are dozens of meet-ups that happen throughout the week where you can attend and ask questions.
The UX and UI are also very different to design for. There is very little space so you really need to find ways to make the content dynamic. You have to introduce layers, but you can’t bury things too deep or the UX can become extremely confusing.
How did you find out about Random Hacks of Kindness? What prompted you to get involved?
Random Hacks of Kindness is one of the many “hackathons” that are becoming more and more popular among the developer community. A friend of mine invited me and it sounded like a whole lot of fun! In fact, if you’re feeling undervalued as a designer, go to a hackathon! Many people there have told me that not many designers attend. Hence, those that go are usually treasured resources!
Out of all the app design projects you’ve worked on, is there one you’re particularly proud of?
I think in terms the design process and outcome, the Next Wave Festival app would be the one I’m most proud of. This had a much tighter budget and timeframe than the other projects I worked on, and I was really happy with the outcome. I also had a lot more ownership of this project, as it was started from scratch.
It was actually one of the toughest projects to work on. The timeframe meant that we really had to focus on our priorities. We had to make strategic decisions on what made it into the app and what wasn’t worth the time or effort.
Want to know more about Johnny? We interviewed him here about his journey from IT specialist to digital designer.
