Steve Roberts

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Steve Roberts ("SR") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

SR : After working for a London design agency for a number of years, I was getting tired of the hectic schedule, which is when I thought it would be a good idea to specialise and ended up landing in product design. Since then I've been working with various start ups around the UK and national corporation like Nationwide and Gumtree.

DL: What motivates you to design in general, why did you become a designer?

SR : In short, to have people use it, and hopefully make their lives easier or better.

DL: Did you choose to become a designer, or you were forced to become one?

SR : When I was a young boy, I painted small army figures and always had my head in a paint by numbers but I was quite into sports and wanted to be a p.e teacher but fortune had it that my school dropped physical education due to lack of popularity, so choose product design in its place and from there I haven’t looked back.

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

SR : It ranges from branding projects, product design - responsive websites, mobile apps (user experience and user interface design), style guides, iconography, illustration. The designs I'd like to work with more is anything that brings a challenge, maybe new innovative technology.

DL: What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

SR : Get your work out there, whether it's a website portfolio or uploading works to inspiration sites much as Dribbble or Behance, these don't have to be projects for clients, they can be self initiated.

DL: What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

SR : A good designer will give a client what they "want", a great designer will give a client what they "need"

DL: What makes a good design a really good design, how do you evaluate good design?

SR : Has it accomplished the brief? In short, people are using it, and hopefully making their life easier or better.

DL: What is the value of good design? Why should everyone invest in good design?

SR : Well design is the whole thing. It's the way it looks, way it works, way it smells...it's the whole thing.

DL: How could people improve themselves to be better designers, what did you do?

SR : Listen and collaboration. To pass all that knowledge along we need to talk. And talk. And talk and talk and talk. We need to be in the same space, we need to share stupid ideas before we get to the good ideas.

DL: How do you define design, what is design for you?

SR : Design is a tricky word. It means different things to different people. For myself, design is the whole thing. It's the way it looks, way it works, way it smells...it's the whole thing.

DL: How do you think designers should present their work?

SR : Get your work out there, whether it's a website portfolio or uploading works to inspiration sites much as Dribbble or Behance.

DL: Which design projects gave you the most satisfaction, why?

SR : An app I designed in my spare time called smalltalk. It organically has grown to 40k+ users, showing me that users like and want to use the app without the influence by any marketing.

DL: Where do you think the design field is headed next?

SR : I can see user interfaces becoming more and more minimal, touch specific and voice activated. I can see there always be a place for branding and marketing.

DL: How long does it take you to finalize a design project?

SR : Couldn’t say an accurate time frame as all clients have different objectives and goals, but broadly I would say longer than you'd think.

DL: When you have a new design project, where do you start?

SR : I work with the client to understand their needs. It always beings with getting to know the client.