Aalborg, Denmark ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ
unmute
#003

Casandra Sandu

Product Designer

Hello, I'm Casandra! I love to grow by learning something new every single day. Besides UX Design, I'm passionate about mindfulness, sustainability, and personal development.
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Where are you based as a UX/UI designer?

I'm based in Aalborg, a city in the North of Denmark.

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What led you into UX/UI design?

I was probably 11 or 12 years old when I got into creating fan art for these social networking websites on which you could adopt virtual pets and create small landing pages for them using basic HTML/CSS (shoutout to whoever remembers Neopets or Subeta ๐Ÿ˜… ). I believe that was the moment I discovered my passion for digital drawing and coding. I used to design buttons, graphics, and animations in GIMP and trade them for points within the games.

Another โ€œside-hustleโ€ for 12-year-old me was making landing page templates. I was self-taught at the time, and I definitely feel old remembering those times. ๐Ÿ™ˆ

Years later, after graduating high school, I moved abroad to study Graphic Design. By slowly transitioning towards Web Design and UX, I discovered that there was so much more behind a product besides the way it looked. I then became passionate about investigating what people think, what they believe in, and how they behave.

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Why are you a UX/UI designer?

If I have to use only one sentence, I am a UX designer to improve people's life by making complicated products easy to use and because I love problem-solving!

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What does a typical day look like for you?

A typical day for me starts with a morning run and making a detailed plan of my day. I listen to an audiobook or some good music while getting ready and go to the office.

Iโ€™ve been fortunate enough to have physical access to my workplace most of the time, which has immensely helped me stay on track and be productive. I spend most of my day in meetings to ensure across-team communication and working on creative tasks. I always try to keep a good balance between the two!

After getting home, I spend a couple of hours working on my Masterโ€™s thesis. Trying to juggle between a full-time job and finishing my degree is challenging, but I still get some free time, even if itโ€™s not much. I like to chill with a good book on a bench in the park, go for a walk in nature, binge TV shows, work out or do yoga. And yes, most of the days, I eat my lunch while being in a Zoom call!

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What is your current desk setup?

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And your Workstation setup across devices?

Across my iPhone/ iPad and MacBook

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What work are you most proud of?

I don't usually share my work online, but I am proud to be a part of redesigning the product portfolio at Trackunit. It is still a work in progress, and we have a long way to go, but I am so excited to be a part of the journey. You can see some of my older work on Dribbble.

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Which Product recently blew your socks off?

Without a doubt, that would be FigJam, the new collaborative whiteboard tool introduced by Figma during Config2021. I have only tried it for a few minutes before getting incredibly excited to start using it within my daily workflows, combined with existing design files.

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What challenges do you face as a UX/UI Designer?

One of the biggest struggles (but also one of the most important things to overcome) is the communication between engineering teams and UX designers. I believe in creating a bridge between these teams where the communication flow begins at the very early stages of problem definition and discovery. As it is not easy, I am always working on improving that.

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What tunes do you listen to whilst designing?

Lately, I have been blasting the 'Songs to Sing in the Shower' playlist on Spotify. I listen to it either when I am working, going out for a run, or actually taking a shower. ๐Ÿšฟ

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Three suggestions for budding designers?

  1. Don't be afraid to get inspiration from your favorite designers. Recreate their designs and learn from the ways they do things.
  2. Connect with, discuss, share and learn from other designers (Memorisely is definitely a good place for that).
  3. Adopt a growth mindset. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn and get better.

Thanks for reading my story!

Aalborg, Denmark ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ

Casandra Sandu

Product Designer

Fancy a coffee?

I'd love to grab a coffee and chat about
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