How Stefan manages his UX design work in a fast-paced environment

UX design is notorious for being time-intensive. There are so many facets to it and so many things that go into the final work. Let's see how Stefan does it on a time budget.

Stefan enjoying the sun outside the office

What do you find to be the most exciting aspect of Superawesome?

When we talk about the most exciting part of Superawesome to me personally, two things come to mind:

• The idea of building a team that will be capable of defining client’s problems and solving them, instead of acting as executors for decisions made elsewhere.
• The impression that the management is always on the lookout for the best talent out there, which gives you confidence that there’s always going to be something new to learn, someone you can learn from and share the knowledge with.

How do you define success in the context of your current position?

Whenever there’s mutual respect and appreciation among colleagues, team members and management produces great results and work that will satisfy our client’s needs and bring them a couple of steps closer to where they aim to be. Whenever this happens, I can say I feel successful at what I’m doing, and this goes for any type of work, including my current position.

How do you handle design decisions with stakeholders on the projects you work on?

I tend to communicate clearly and over-explain things. The process of getting to the solution you’re presenting is, more often than not, more important than the solution itself, so it’s always a good idea to work on your presentation skills and put them to work when presenting your concepts to a client or a stakeholder. I believe this is probably one of the most effective ways of building trust.

The truth is – once you get to this point, you’ll be getting fewer questions about the design decisions that you’re making on a daily basis because they will know you’ve thought this through, and they’ll know you’ve put a decent amount of effort into coming up with the best solution for the problem at hand.

Before working at Superawesome, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

I’ve done a lot of different things in my life. From construction work and agriculture to waiting tables, bartending, and scooping ice-cream. It’s hard to say they were unusual, so I’ll pick the most interesting one — I spent two summer seasons working at a hotel in Alaska, where I had a group of 15 people from different parts of the world under my supervision as a Housekeeping Assistant Manager. I’ll never forget how much the whole experience meant to me, how much it taught me, and how many beautiful places I got to see during my time there.

If given a chance, who would you like to be for a day?

Well aware of how weird this may sound, I’ll say – my father. Fathers are responsible for making decisions that have a direct impact on everyone around them. The thought process behind making decisions as a father is what interests me.

If we’re talking about someone from the design world, that would probably be Aaron James Draplin. He is an American graphic designer, author, and entrepreneur based in Portland, Oregon. He’s been an inspiration to me throughout my design journey so far, and one of the main reasons I decided to do what I do right now.

If you could switch your job with anyone else within Superawesome, whose job would you want?

I feel pretty comfortable designing interfaces and experiences, and I believe that’s going to continue being my main area of focus in the years to come, but since there are other disciplines and areas I’m interested in when it comes to design and creativity – such as animation and motion graphics – I wouldn’t mind sitting in Aleksandar’s chair for a day or two, but before that, I’d have to brush up on my After Effects skills.

Get to know Stefan Cubrilo at Superawesome

Having such a stand-up guy such as Stefan within our ranks is a real honour. With such a diverse background he has the power to look at problems from a lot of different angles, and truly empathise. If you happen to have any questions for him, or if you think he would be a good fit for your project, please don’t hesitate to contact us.