At the centre of our second LLI spotlight is Isabelle Krauze, our UX/UI Designer who has been with LLI since August 2021.
Isabelle is originally from Curitiba, Brazil, and she now lives in Krakow. Join us as Isabelle tells us more about herself and her work at LLI.
How do you usually get your day started at work?
As a fully remote worker, I start my day by turning on Slack. This, for me, is the equivalent of arriving at the office! Now that the weather is getting colder, I light up a scented candle and pour myself a cup of tea (with honey, of course).
At this point, I get started on my set of day-starter tasks: First, I’ll open my company profile at Google chrome, with the same set of tabs on it (email, my personal task tracker on Notion, my calendar, and GitHub).
Next, I check all the updates and unread messages on Slack. I then go through my weekly tasks on Notion (that I define first thing on Monday mornings) and plan out the day ahead. I’ve also been using Tomito as a Pomodoro timer (which is essential for me).
Each morning, I have a project stand-up in which I inform my team members of my current plans. Sometimes these plans change according to the project requirements. If they do, I reorganise my daily plan accordingly. And finally, around 10:00, I start working on my tasks for the day.
What are you most proud of that you’ve recently accomplished at work?
I think I don’t have one particular accomplishment that I’m most proud of; instead, I continuously love the feeling of having solved a problem.
I’m very dialled into the process of things, and I can be just as proud of the path that my thoughts and ideas took to produce something as I am of its final result. With that in mind, what has been making me proud lately is to have received really positive feedback on my latest deliveries for a big project that I’m currently working on.
What do you love about being part of the LLI team?
I really appreciate the sense of trust that we have at LLI. Nobody is breathing down your neck to monitor your work, nor is anyone just killing time. Being a remote-first company, these can be issues that require expertise to handle properly.
My feeling is that the company’s approach is to expect the best from everyone and that we’re all doing something to add value and growth to ourselves and, consequently, to what we produce. For me, that’s gold!
Which tools or resources do you use or refer to to keep improving your professional skills?
On a daily basis, you can find me watching a lecture or listening to a podcast on YouTube or Spotify. I usually refer to them either when trying to learn something new or when looking to hone my knowledge on something that I already know about.
Some resources that I particularly like include:
- Figma: Not only does Figma have many tutorials available, they also store lectures from their annual ConFig events.
- Neuron: I’ve discovered this UX/UI design agency one out very recently, and they have a lot of valuable, in-depth lectures about various topics within the UX industry.
- The Futur: This is a huge channel that produces amazing design related content.
- Femke Design: Femke is a product designer that shares her experience working for big companies like Uber. She also usually shares some templates and files that we can use in our own work and projects.
Any words of advice for those getting started out in a career in design?
Be meaningful. User experience design as a career path is very hot right now, and as a result, there is a significant amount of “Become a UX Designer in 6 months” messaging (and related courses) circulating around the internet. I’m not against these – I am 100% pro people having easy access to knowledge – however, it’s not because it’s easy to learn about it, that is going to be easy to do. So, go deep, investigate, be critical, explore.
Furthermore, be meaningful in what you do. Don’t rely on your own assumptions. Don’t choose a colour just because you like it. Don’t design it for you; instead, understand who you are designing for and create something meaningful for them.
Tell us about your favourite weekend activity.
A perfect weekend for me would have more than one kind of activity. I need to go out of the house for a few hours to compensate for the amount of hours I stay inside during the week. So, going for walks, meeting friends around the city, going to a museum, cinema, anything goes.
But I also love to stay at home doing some sort of handmade crafts. I’m currently knitting a sweater, but I can also be found painting with watercolours, sewing, or trying out any other kind of arts and crafts.
We’re so glad to have had the chance to chat with you, Isabelle!
If you’d you check out more of our LLI spotlights, you can read our first instalment of the series. Stay tuned for more upcoming LLI team members to be featured.
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