Tobias van Schneider
Tobias van Schneider is an award-winning german designer, raised in Austria and currently living in New York City. He is building new products as Art Director & Lead Product Designer with Spotify USA. While being self-taught, Tobias is focused on Branding and Interactive Design, keeping a multi-disciplinary approach to all of his projects.
He had the privilege of working with companies such as Red Bull, BMW, Google, Wacom, Sony, Fantasy Interactive, Stinkdigital, Toyota, Ralph Lauren, Bwin while his work has been awarded by Adobe, Cannes Young Lions Austria, The Webbys, Awwwards & the FWA.
His work has been featured and written about in highly acclaimed press such as .net Magazine, Computer Arts, FastCompany, Wired, Inc Magazine, FirstRound Capital, BusinessInsider & many others."
10 questions for Tobias van Schneider:
What did you do before becoming a designer?
Before becoming a designer I worked as a software engineer and computer scientist. It was the first job I did after dropping out of high school at the age of 15. So my background has always been more technical which I still enjoy until today.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
Inspiration is a hard thing to talk about, I actually wrote a few pieces about it on my blog. To keep things short: Whenever looking for inspiration I try to just start working or doing something without forcing inspiration - You will get inspired naturally in the process of making something. Inspiration needs action.
Which are your favorite studios, designers or agencies?
Incredible hard question as it's always changing. I usually turn to other individuals outside the industry to get inspired. But to keep the digital context, my all time favorite agencies have always been Fantasy Interactive & Stinkdigital (where I worked myself). Then of course my friends at Hello Monday and North Kingdom. There are so many good ones out there, but my memories always go back to digital projects done by those few agencies.
Is your city a good place for designers?
Well, New York is certainly one of the best places for designers for pretty much any field you can imagine. From advertising, fashion, graphic design, product design or interaction design. New York is a great city, but I believe you can be anywhere and your location shouldn't really make a difference.
Which technologies are you excited about in 2015?
Its an interesting time. We've been a little stuck lately, with the rise of new web technologies and just played catching up with everything we already did during our golden age of flash websites. I'm most excited right now of VR (Virtual Reality) and everything related to mobile or wearables. I do believe Augmented Reality will also have it's come back as the technology and our access to better gadgets evolves.
Do you listen to music while you work? Describe your playlist.
Of course I do! (I work at Spotify, ha) - A better way to describe my playlist is to listen to all of them, and you can do that here.
What are you cultural influences? (Music, books, films, ideologies, etc.)
I've always been good to not be too influenced by any ideologies other than what my mother taught me, which is being myself and having my own mind and values. Ever changing and always evolving.
Have you got an academic background or are you self taught?
Unfortunately, or let's say luckily I have absolutely no academic background and have been self-taught since dropping out of high school.
What do you do in your free time?
I'm in love with experimenting on many different side projects. I love creating things, digital or physical. Most of my free time is consumed doing just that.Otherwise, I'm an old skateboarder.
Where do you see the industry in 5 years?
It's a loaded question and the answer can be so many things. I do see a shift from the traditional agency/studio business to more product focused environments. This is definitely nothing new but I see a big change in how agencies will act in the future, how they work and what they provide in order to stay relevant and attract great talent.
Most agencies or studios nowadays are lacking vision of what or who they want to be while jumping from one brief to another. It's exciting overall, I can't wait for the next 5 years.
Are you working on any personal projects?
I always work on personal projects and I guess I can't even make a difference anymore since everything becomes a personal project if you love doing what you do.Lot's of my attention goes to Semplice & Authentic Weather right now, two of my many side projects.
If you could give one piece of advice to newbie designers, what would it be?
Allow yourself to be stupid, enjoy the process and every time you think about giving up, you continue. Always remember, there is no right or wrong - If it works it's right until it's not working anymore.
