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Interview with the Interface Designer Fernando Lins.

Another day of the #macfestival, another interview on MacStories!

Today I had the pleasure to chat with the interface designer Fernando Lins.

You’ll find his official website here: http://www.fernandolins.com/

Enjoy! ;)

Hi there! Can you please introduce yourself to MacStories readers?
Hello everyone, I’m Fernando Lins, a 23 years old graphic design student and freelance art director and interface designer from São Paulo, Brazil.
- How did you interest in design - especially icon design - get started?
My interest in graphic design began after buying the Playstation® game Wipeout®, its interface, icons and packaging were designed by this incredible (now gone) british studio called The Designers Republic. Their style was so different and fresh that I started researching about them and met other designers with similar styles, and I thought “that’s what I want to do”. Regarding icon design, it was when I bought my first Mac in 2001. It came with OS9 as the main OS but OS 10.1 was pre-installed. I instantly fell in love with the big, detailed icons and started training to make my own.
- What would be a typical process for you when starting out a new design project?
Well, first of all I make sure it is a project I am interested on. Even though graphic design is a service I render for my clients, I want something out of it too, and I’m not talking about money. What will this project teach me, and what can I learn from this experience, are things I ask myself first. If the project is interesting enough, the client and I will settle the legal and financial aspects of it (contracts, estimates, timeframes) and then I go into the research necessary for the project. The more information the client can supply about the project, the better the results will be.
- Where do you find inspiration?
Mostly, music. I listen to music all day long, and as an electronic music lover I have been learning to produce music over the last year or so. Since I have always read a lot about art, I am influenced by both classic and modern artists, from Van Gogh to Micah Lidberg, and I try to show that a little bit on my works. But since us icon designers have to follow Apple’s design guidelines in form and function, that comes through only on my authorial design work and personal works.
- Has Mac OS  changed the way you design / work? (if you use Mac OS)
Certainly. Mac OS spoils us all with the ease of use and various built-in graphic tools. Color management through ColorSync, Exposé and integrated PDF support are simply wonderful. When I have to create something at college, where all the computers are Windows machines, I feel lost and take a large amount of time to get simple things done.
- Which apps do you use most to create your works?
I create my artwork 100% on Adobe Photoshop CS3. I used to do some icons in Illustrator, but then I moved all of my work to Photoshop. Very rarely I will mock an icon up on Luxology Modo, a 3D software.
- Do you have a “favourite” icon among the ones you’ve designed?
I believe TinyPlanet Software’s “Knapsack” is one I am very proud of. It took me a lot of time to get it done, there are lots of little lighting details on the backpack’s fabric and I had to create a technique to make those. I have used that technique once again on an upcoming icon, which should be out soon ;)
- Can you please describe us your workstation?
Well I have a big architect drawing board as a table, because I needed a lot of space on a rigid material. On top of it I have my 20” iMac, which is my main machine, some watercolor material next to it, my external HDDs, a lamp on the left side so I can draw at night, lots and lots of pencils and papers, my dear tablet which I can’t work without, and a pile of moleskines for sketching and writing. My printer, scanner and a large amount of design and art books are on a table next to this big one.
- Can you tell something about your future releases?
Lately, mainly due to this last year of college, I’ve only had time to work on professional projects, nothing personal unfortunately. I plan to, once I have some free time, finish “Molten”, which is a system icons replacement set for Mac. I have started work on it, as you can see on my website, but time has been short and it hasn’t evolved much. On the professional side I am working slowly on a new portfolio website and there’s plenty of new work to showcase by the end of the year.
- Thanks for chatting with us! Have a great Festival :)
Thank you!

-Hi there! Can you please introduce yourself to MacStories readers?

Hello everyone, I’m Fernando Lins, a 23 years old graphic design student and freelance art director and interface designer from São Paulo, Brazil.

- How did you interest in design - especially icon design - get started?

My interest in graphic design began after buying the Playstation® game Wipeout®, its interface, icons and packaging were designed by this incredible (now gone) british studio called The Designers Republic. Their style was so different and fresh that I started researching about them and met other designers with similar styles, and I thought “that’s what I want to do”.

Regarding icon design, it was when I bought my first Mac in 2001. It came with OS9 as the main OS but OS 10.1 was pre-installed. I instantly fell in love with the big, detailed icons and started training to make my own.

- What would be a typical process for you when starting out a new design project?

Well, first of all I make sure it is a project I am interested on. Even though graphic design is a service I render for my clients, I want something out of it too, and I’m not talking about money. What will this project teach me, and what can I learn from this experience, are things I ask myself first. If the project is interesting enough, the client and I will settle the legal and financial aspects of it (contracts, estimates, timeframes) and then I go into the research necessary for the project.

The more information the client can supply about the project, the better the results will be.

- Where do you find inspiration?

Mostly, music. I listen to music all day long, and as an electronic music lover I have been learning to produce music over the last year or so. Since I have always read a lot about art, I am influenced by both classic and modern artists, from Van Gogh to Micah Lidberg, and I try to show that a little bit on my works. But since us icon designers have to follow Apple’s design guidelines in form and function, that comes through only on my authorial design work and personal works.

- Has Mac OS  changed the way you design / work?

Certainly. Mac OS spoils us all with the ease of use and various built-in graphic tools. Color management through ColorSync, Exposé and integrated PDF support are simply wonderful. When I have to create something at college, where all the computers are Windows machines, I feel lost and take a large amount of time to get simple things done.

- Which apps do you use most to create your works?

I create my artwork 100% on Adobe Photoshop CS3. I used to do some icons in Illustrator, but then I moved all of my work to Photoshop. Very rarely I will mock an icon up on Luxology Modo, a 3D software.

- Do you have a “favourite” icon among the ones you’ve designed?

I believe TinyPlanet Software’s “Knapsack” is one I am very proud of. It took me a lot of time to get it done, there are lots of little lighting details on the backpack’s fabric and I had to create a technique to make those. I have used that technique once again on an upcoming icon, which should be out soon ;)

- Can you please describe us your workstation?

Well I have a big architect drawing board as a table, because I needed a lot of space on a rigid material. On top of it I have my 20” iMac, which is my main machine, some watercolor material next to it, my external HDDs, a lamp on the left side so I can draw at night, lots and lots of pencils and papers, my dear tablet which I can’t work without, and a pile of moleskines for sketching and writing.

My printer, scanner and a large amount of design and art books are on a table next to this big one.

- Can you tell something about your future releases?

Lately, mainly due to this last year of college, I’ve only had time to work on professional projects, nothing personal unfortunately. I plan to, once I have some free time, finish “Molten”, which is a system icons replacement set for Mac. I have started work on it, as you can see on my website, but time has been short and it hasn’t evolved much. On the professional side I am working slowly on a new portfolio website and there’s plenty of new work to showcase by the end of the year.

- Thanks for chatting with us! Have a great Festival :)

Thank you!

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Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.

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