Meet Sourcebits Design Team!

Hey everyone!

This is Piotr, art director at Sourcebits. I’d like to take this opportunity and talk a little bit about our design team. Why would I do that? Well, to be honest — there’s quite a lot to brag about!

My goal when I was completing the team was to find the best people from different environments. I was aiming to gather an eclectic, diverse and multicultural group of individuals. I have a strong belief that this method allows to create a very specific mix: dynamic, unique, able to approach problems from many angles and unpredictable (in terms of ideas of course!) And this is what I’m looking for in design: raw energy, unique ideas, dynamic and quick adjustment to ever-changing conditions and last but not least — fun.

Today I’m proud to be able to tell this — we have managed to do it. I believe we found some of the best designers out there. They come from various places on the planet. They have completely different cultural backgrounds, habits and native languages. And believe me, they are talented!

So here they are, the All-Stars team of Sourcebits (in alphabetical order so no one blames me for preferences!)

Philipp Antoni (Austria)

Phil is in his early twenties, yet he stands behind what most of you look at everyday probably: he designed interface elements and icons in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. Yes, this Microsoft. And not some obscure back-end stuff: widgets, toolbar and app icons. He is also an author of many fantastic themes, widgets, desktop pictures and themes. Not to mention his web design and coding skills. Oh, and he’s a typography geek.

He’s beginning the last year of his design school in Austria in September, which is something we’re very happy about — his theoretical background will be a great asset to our design skillset.

Benjamin George (India)

Our young icon artist and iPhone UI designer. He juggles pixels with ease and grace. Has no fear when dealing with piling requirements and is always positive. He’s the good little spirit of the team.

Gary Jacob Howe and Jon Plumb (UK)

This is our brand design micro-team. They have been mates forever and work together brilliantly. They initiate projects, recognize requirements, panic and run. But then we grab them, put back and they do magnificent job guiding clients through challenging projects, providing English-proper user interfaces and pretty visuals. They are versatile and come up with so much initiative that I have to stop them!

Kieran Mithani (UK)

Kieran is actually mates with Gary and Jon, but I’m listing him separately because of his main area of interest: movement. Kieran specializes in motion design: movies, animations, jingles and whatnot. He’s got an eye for dynamic narration, vibrant colours, twisty and concise plots. All of this makes him an invaluable addition to the team.

Sourav Sagar Panda (India)

Don’t be misguided with this rather playful last name. Sourav is a pro of all pros as far as 3D design is concerned. He has polygons for breakfast and breathes with shaders. His observation skill is uniquely sharp and his feel for harmonious colours makes him a very good painter too.

Raghavendra Shet (India)

Raghav is one of these guys: he comes to the office in Bangalore, sits down quietly and without questions produces solid user interfaces and then dresses them up in wonderful visuals. Independent, open-minded and very eager to learn. It’s a kind of person you need in your team if you want to remain sane. Oh, and also was the Gold Medalist in the 4th National Level All India Painting Competition in 2000!

Alexander Stremiakov (Belarus)

Our another European secret weapon. Alex lives in Belarus and is a heavy-weight interaction designer. And by heavy-weight I mean really serious. His excellent analytic skills, ability to squeeze the last problem out of an interface and sharp eye for logical defects make our projects sensible, organized and highly usable. His skills also make the whole development process easy to understand for both developers and the client.

Na Wong (Hong Kong)

Na (also known as Chun Kin) is a superhero: a Machine-Gun-Man who juggles projects with almost inhuman ease and provides unique solutions, valuable feedback and lots of fun. He’s one of the most experienced members on the team. He brings in a personalized mature style, which goes extremely well with everyone else’s tastes and attitude, which in turn makes him a key player in many situations. He is never late, he never fails. Giving him a task is like shooting a Patriot rocket: aim, shoot and forget.

Shemin Krishnan and Kiran Shastry (India)

This is our excellent 2-man-design-army. Shemin plays with 3D when he’s not busy fixing, slicing and adjusting visuals. Kiran is a true slicing Terminator, he makes his first steps in icon design and is extremely helpful in day-to-day interaction with developers. Both of them are silent, humble and undoubtedly — indispensable. Also, they usually complete their tasks ahead of deadlines. How cool is that!

I’m not sure if it’s entirely appropriate but I’ll say it for the sake of completeness of the impression: yours truly won an Apple Design Award in 2006 and happens to be completely obsessed with details, organization and unusual solutions. I was also gifted with quite good communication skills which allow me to steer this ship with efficiency, intensity, discipline and fun.

So there — I hope you enjoyed this insight in our All-Stars team. I am very excited to work with these fantastic (and fanatic!) people and am confident that we will achieve truly outstanding things.

Now we’ll go back and have more fun with pixels, if you don’t mind.