Interview with Davide Pisauri - Ux designer
Davide is an Italian designer who became famous thanks to 'Designer in Fuga' but, before that, there is a long story about Vancouver, trash movies and the discovery of what being UX Designer means
I had the chance to have a chat with Davide Pisauri, UX Designer at Luxottica and (as he defines himself) 'Director of Fun' for Designer in fuga, the Youtube channel that has become famous in the niche of Italian designers. In this interview we talked about his beginnings, how he became a designer, its current and future projects.
Let's start from the beginning, what did you want to do when you started out?
I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and when I got out of there, I definitely didn't want to be a general web designer. In 2013 I had a passion for directing (I wanted to be a blockbuster movies director, that kind of movies with huge monsters, huge explosions and a lot of clichés, to be honest) and, that same summer, I also won the chance to do an internship at the American Film Instutite in Los Angeles, right after graduation.
But then you came to Vancouver, Canada. Was it a rational decision or a leap of faith?
Well, that same summer a friend had just been to Vancouver. She told me about this wonderful city, describing it as exactly the place I wanted to live in. So I did what everyone does: I started researching, to find out what it was like to live in Canada. I would say it wasn't a leap of faith, I didn't know if it would be the right place for me but I was hoping for.
So when I landed there, I felt that Canada was the place for me, the place to fall in love with. Within minutes of being there I said to myself: 'I would live here'. In fact, it's a place I would go back to tomorrow, because I feel that my experience is not complete.
It was in Canada that you discovered the existence of the UX designer, how did it happen?
I discovered it while I was looking for a room in Vancouver. I was travelling in a car with the guy who was going to rent me the room and he told me about this thing called 'the UX designer', which I didn't know at all. At the time I listened to him and I just put the information aside in a corner of my brain.
I wasn't interested in it at the time.
Then, when I started looking for a way back to Italy, 'the UX designer' popped up. At the beginning I didn't know what it was, but as soon as I understood it, I said to myself: damn, I want to do this :)
With ‘Designer in Fuga’ I'm trying to do something more accurate, always telling how people live abroad but from the designer's point of view, a new point of view.
So, after some experiences around Vancouver and Los Angeles, you came back to Italy as a UX Designer and you are now working at Luxottica.
What is the role of the designer in Luxottica? Do you like working there?
I like it, after 5 years I'm still happy to be part of it, it's a great reality. As a designer you have a lot of responsibility because you work on the best known brands in the industry and you can have impact on millions of people.
You have the opportunity, as a team, to achieve great results and experiment with things that didn't exist before (note: Ray-Ban.com, one of the sites on which Davide is involved, allows users to try on a pair of glasses in front of a PC, simply using a webcam, thanks to Augmented Reality by recreating a virtual mirror).
A new kind of experiences that people don't expect and that leave them surprised.
Working with products that are used so much, by so many people, you realise how much your design and your work can affect the sales experience, it's so cool.
Coming to the last months, how did you come up with 'Designer in Fuga' and how did you find the time to develop it?
Designer in Fuga is the final product of my desire to make videos, my passion, and from a previous experience called 'Italieni', even though that was a type of content that was still too generic, although it talked about Italians abroad, there was a desire to tell a different point of view.
In fact, surfing the web you always find the same content out there, which talks about how people live abroad but told in a generic way or about very specific professions.
With ‘Designer in Fuga’ I'm trying to do something more particular, always telling how people live abroad but from the designer's point of view, a new point of view.
Designer in Fuga is achieving great success, are you satisfied?
I expected it to be appreciated. Mainly because, after recording the first episode (which I recorded months before recording the others), I talked to trusted people and gathered a lot of useful feedback. So, I knew people would like the format somehow, however I didn't expect so much involvement from the people who follow the channel.
I have been amazed by the amount of messages I receive, both from designers with 10 years of experience and from those who have just started. Write to me both from Italy and abroad.
What I have appreciated most in these months has been the total openness of so many designers who have told their stories and opened up to me. I mean, even though I was a stranger, they chatted with me about both the best moments and the hardest and most difficult ones, in a very honest way.
A way of telling stories that seems to have been appreciated. What does the community say?
Look, that's the best part, in fact many people ask me to do more questions about the bad moments, because in the end they are part of the full experience that every designer has had.
I'm a person who likes to ask questions and over time I've learnt to ask everything I can, so having all these people who have decided to tell their stories with no filters, and then being able to share their stories with other people, makes me happy.
I am so grateful to all those who have opened up to me and who, I hope, will continue to do so.
What are the plans for the future of 'Designer in Fuga'?
I would like to have more live content, make the discussion more dynamic, giving the chance to ask questions in real time to the interviewees. I would love to make it happen, because it's something that so many people have asked me for.
Can we have a few spoilers?
I would love to do a month in Fuerteventura and bring different contents, doing interviews with Italians who are there, but this time live. I would like to interview them to ask for advice about how to leave, live and organise themselves abroad, as perfect digital nomads.
To conclude the interview, talking about the future, how do you see yourself in a few years?
I would like to be the head of a team, to have the opportunity to help training junior designers, supporting them in their growth by sharing what I have learned. I would also like to have a great memory of 'Designer in Fuga', knowing that I was able to take away a lot of gratification from my work and from the channel.
I want to thank Davide for chatting with me, it was really interesting to discover more about him. For those who don't know him, here is his Linkedin profile.
I recommend you to follow the Youtube channel 'Designer in fuga', there are contributions from so many designers, useful for those interested in getting an idea of what it is like to live abroad but also for those who are simply curious.
Thanks for reading! 🙏
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