Sebastiano Guerriero

UI/UX designer from the south of Italy, currently based in London.

I spend most of my time designing and coding user interfaces for websites and mobile applications. I’m the co-founder of the design studio Amber Creative, and co-founder of CodyHouse, a library of coded nuggets for web developers. I’m currently moving away from client works and focusing my efforts into building products for web designers.

10 questions for Sebastiano Guerriero:

• What did you do before becoming a designer?

  I have a degree in Economics, therefore I spent many years studying marketing and all that stuff. But web design became a fundamental part of my life before I could even think about using that degree.

• Where do you turn for inspiration?

  The work of other UX designers. You can find plenty of inspiration on websites like Dribbble, Behance or by surfing through web design galleries like Awwwards.

• Which are your favorite studios, designers or agencies?

  I admire a lot the design teams whose contribution is fundamental to build tech realities like Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram, Google...they often come up with new UI/UX solutions that inspire us all. If I should name some designers/developers, I’m a fan of Jason Santa Maria, Dan Cederholm and Jeffrey Zeldman.

• Is your city a good place for designers?

  I’m from Naples, a wonderful city in the south of Italy; then I moved to London, which is definitely a great place for designers.

• Which technologies are you excited about in 2015?

  3D printing and wearable tech.

• Do you listen to music while you work? Describe your playlist.

  I do all the time! Some of my favourite artists are the Muse, Radiohead and Tricky, but I also enjoy a lot listening to the amazing movie soundtracks created by Hans Zimmer and Alexandre Desplat.

• What are you cultural influences? (Music, books, films, ideologies, etc.)

  See question one ;-)

• Have you got an academic background or are you self taught?

  Self taught, I could split my design education between online courses (60%) and books (40%).

• What do you do in your free time?

  I like spending time with friends and family of course. And I do like boxing, which will hopefully sounds like a treat for late-paying clients :)

• Where do you see the industry in 5 years?

  That’s a tough one! I see a rise of UI/UX specifically for huge screens, like big TVs, as well as for new very-small wearable technology. Besides, about the next generation of UI designers, I think knowledge of motion design and coding basics will be fundamental skills, not just optional add-ons.

• Are you working on any personal projects?

  I’m currently working on 2 personal projects: codyhouse.co, a library of free html, css and js nuggets, and Nucleo, a soon-to-be-launched smart icon set that can be customized by the user.

• If you could give one piece of advice to newbie designers, what would it be?

  When you start, take in account that every designer out there went through a “phase of frustration”. You look at the work of designers that inspire you and you see an unbridgeable gap. It’s normal. It’s in that phase that you need to gather your strength and keep going. Great results will follow as long as you don’t give up!