10 in 5. Pontus Brenner, Product Designer

Pontus started out his design career working in advertising, but after being an Art Director for a while, he decided to take the leap and move into tech, becoming a Product Designer.

Hear more about his journey, his thoughts and his tips for designers and businesses!

1. Hey Pontus, how are you doing today?
   Cold, but still in a good mood. The Swedish winter is not my favourite time of the year. But as the Swedish singer Ulf Lundell once sang; If this is winter, spring must be on its way.
2. Awesome! So what do you do at Humblebee?
   I'm doing the product design thing.
3. Can you tell us exactly what a Product Designer at Humblebee does?
   Yes. We design digital experiences based on a business case that is defined by user needs. Short but sweet.
4. How come you ended up working with Product Design?
   I worked as an Art director in the advertising and branding industry for many years, and after a while I felt like I needed a change so I looked at what the future might bring and saw that the tech industry was the right way forward for new challenges. So, I switched from being an Art director to Product designer. Which also is a lot more how I like to design. More transparent and not only based on a subjective look on design. It's more about the user needs and designing a solution that helps someone.
5. Tell us about one project you’re particularly proud of…
   With all projects comes learnings, but one that stands out is how we helped the startup Velove build their digital products and services.
   It all started with an ask: to build a web app in only 10 days that allowed the Velove riders to request shifts and fill in their time reports. In the end we had delivered a design system and an ecosystem of tools that helped their customers and themselves. All by working closely with the client, the users and within the team.
6. Do you have one good tip for a tool you love, or perhaps a book or resource you highly recommend?
   So right now, I’m working a lot with apps and I use a site called Mobbin which is great for researching how apps look. They also just published a library for web apps.
7. What do you do to make sure you continue to grow as an expert within Product Design?
   I talk to a lot of people and ask questions! Friends, family, colleagues, that is my mantra; never stop asking questions, because it’s from questions that you learn new stuff. Of course, I do a lot of research on my own as well, but you tend to be locked up in your own world when you don’t ask questions.
8. How do you think Product Design will evolve in the future?
   I think as companies mature, both on the studio side and client side, the processes will be faster. I’m sure AI will help in setting up a lot of stuff making work easier. Accessibility in all digital products and services will hopefully be better as well..
9. Do you have any advice for people starting out their career and considering Product Design?
   I always say be professionally honest. The client is asking for your help, so you should help with the knowledge that you have. But always be humble and design with empathy in mind, because empathy always wins.
10. If you could give a company one piece of advice (from a PD perspective)… perhaps a recurring error you have seen from your career… what would that be?
    When you are working with product design and digital products it is good to set clear goals from the start and involve your team. Base the work on user needs, be agile and transparent.

If you’re interested in working at Humblebee then get in touch and we’ll meet up for coffee and a chat.