Interview with Sarah Parmenter of You Know Who Design

Recently, FYI shared a list of women you need to know in interface design (check it out here). In that list was Sarah Parmenter of You Know Who Design, based in the UK. Make sure you check out her work here! FYI had a chance to talk with Sarah to ask her a few questions.

- Hello Sarah! We are really excited about today’s interview. You were featured on the site a while back in the “Ten Women” post. Your work with iPhones in particular caught our interest; what do you enjoy working with the most, as of late?

Sarah: iPhone UI is really my thing, I’ve had the chance to work on a couple of really lovely iPhone apps that have turned into really high-end work. I’ve worked on Clarus, which is an app to keep a track of Pets records, and MEY (Middle East Youth) which is a kind of social media app for teens in the Middle East.

- That’s quite interesting. Is it challenging working for a limited format such as the iPhone?

Sarah: It’s limiting in the sense that you have a limited space to work within but that’s actually what I find nice about iPhone UI. You can literally hand craft pixels.

- That is really a cool dynamic. Much less space to work with, but that allows for a lot more concentrated design.

Sarah: Exactly.

- Alright, let’s shift for a moment, we’ll come back to the iPhone stuff in a bit. Where did you get your start? Have you always been interested in UI design, or did you, like many of us, come over from art-based graphic design?

Sarah: I came from good old pen and paper. I went to a private school here in the UK which was lovely but the facilities were suprisingly poor when it came to IT – none of the computers had any capacity to run any graphic design software so we were resigned to pen, inks, paint, in the art shed, and it was literally a large shed. Once I left school, and actually while I was still there, i started to dabble at home with some of the graphic design mediums available on the computer and that’s where I really found my niche.

- Along those same lines, what programs do you find yourself using on a daily basis?

Sarah: Photoshop, Ilustrator, LittleSnapper – they are my staple programmes – I’ve never really got on with Fireworks but it is something I’d like to dabble with when I have time. Trouble is, I never seem to have much spare time on my hands!

- What keeps you busy?

Sarah: Design and Development. I spend much of my days designing websites for developers to then code up but it’s almost equal the amount of time I spend in HTML/CSS

- As a UI designer, you are always challenged with thinking about usability. What have you found to be the most important concept to keep in mind to make sure you achieve great usability?

Sarah: The most important concept is a cliché, but it really is to get within the mind of the user. An app that is meant for web professionals for example will have a much higher competency for small icons and bits that might otherwise be missed by the general iPhone user, an App for online shopping will have a different set of needs altogther. It’s all about designing for the results rather than designing for yourself or what you think might look nice.

- Needless to say, agreed. Do you find it hard, sometimes, to balance the desire for artistic expression and usability?

Sarah: Not really, there’s always a time and a place for each design that you might want to use, it’s just a case of sitting on it until the time is right. Try not to get yourself too overexcited by the new font you’ve just bought or the new pattern you’ve just made.

- Good advice for sure. Where do you go for inspiration?

Sarah: Twitter – the links that get posted up daily inevitably lead to me finding some great sites that lead to other sites. The new Ember App is a great source of inspiration too.

- What do you do in your spare time? What are your hobbies, other than making awesome UIs?

Sarah: I’m into Musical Theatre, I’m actually in a production in November playing Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie, it’s a kind of escapism from normal life, and the Mac!

- Awesome! What kind of music do you get into? And do you listen to music while you work?

Sarah: I listen to such a varied amount of music it’s a bit crazy, I’ve recently loved listening to the Andrew Sisters, an old girl group from the 40’s, who are really cute and extremely calming to listen to whilst working.

- Interesting. I’ll have to check them out. :) When is your birthday, so everyone can send you a present?

Sarah: Cute! You just missed it, it’s 9th September – next year it’ll be the day before my wedding!

- That’s exciting!

Sarah: Fingers crossed the weather holds out!

- Any last tips you might have for freelance designers?

Sarah: Yep, I say it a lot across various interviews but specialize in one thing, do it to a professional ability then move on to the next challenge – don’t be mediocore in lots of things, be fantastic in one.

- Great advice! Thank you so much again for the interview.

Sarah: No problem at all, thanks for chatting to me.

Thanks again Sarah for the interview!

Be sure to check out Sarah’s work at her site, and follow her on Twitter, @sazzy.