What's your career story so far?

I did a degree in Film & Theatre and really enjoyed being creative as a part of my studies. I got into writing music for other people’s films and plays and then started working as a music teacher for a private company after I graduated. I stayed in this role for about 5 years but wasn’t seeing the career growth I felt I needed in this field. My partner sent me this Love Circular bootcamp and I started in February, completed the course in May and landed my role as a Junior Visual Designer by October.

What's your proudest achievement as a designer?

Probably seeing my designs go into our company’s product for the first time. It was a great feeling knowing my designs were going to be used by a large amount of people every day!

What's a typical day in your life?

I’m lucky that I’m able to work hybrid so it really depends if I’m in the office or not! If I’m in the office I usually take a 40 minute commute and arrive by 9:30. We have a daily Product team Stand-Up where myself and the rest of the development team communicate what we’ve been working on and our aims for the day. As the only designer, this is a really great way to check in with the rest of the team. I would say I’m my most productive in the afternoon where I put my headphones in and get into the zone. I work mainly on maintaining our design system and designing new features in Figma within our product. After several cups of tea, I head home around 6ish.

Sam and colleagues

Sam's first design as a Product Designer at his new job.

How's your desk setup looking?

I’ve actually just recently moved house so my desk setup is not quite complete yet! I’m lucky that my work has set me up with one of the new MacBook Pro 16”s so designing on these is really clear.

How do you stay inspired?

I try to follow really great designers on Twitter and check out as many design systems as I can. Dribbble can be hit and miss, but if you know what you’re looking for you can get some really great ideas. I try to keep up with all new Figma updates. Just keeping up with other Love Circular alumni on platforms like LinkedIn can be really inspiring too - it’s great seeing what other people who completed the bootcamp are up to

What advice would you give yourself if you were to start over again?

Start earlier! I probably held on to my previous job for a bit too long, afraid of taking the leap but when I did I definitely had no regrets. Keep designing as much as you can and know your worth!

What's your favourite album/playlist at the moment?

When I’m designing I like to listen to music that doesn’t have many lyrics so I’m not distracted! Depending on my mood I’ll go for some Burial/Boards of Canada/Floating Points. Outside of work I’m really enjoying the new Kelela album.