Life of Design: Matt Snow

Colin Campbell

Oct 30, 2017

6

min read

1. How did you begin working in the wonderful world of design?

I never meant to be a designer.

I was a year into my degree in fine art when my sculpture professor suggested I visit a student-run organization called ASAP Media Services that “did computer stuff.” This was 1993, and the closest I’d been to a computer was the word processor in the library. I started off by illustrating the campus newspaper covers in traditional media, scanning them into Photoshop, and plopping them into QuarkXPress for publishing.

I started spending more time at ASAP than I did in the art studio. Back then everything was new, and there weren’t many specialists, so we had to learn everything in order to complete the projects we promised we could do. Video shooting and editing, audio, programming, graphic design, 3D modeling and animation, 2D drawing and animation, QTVR, CD+ Authoring, HTML, etc.

My first job out of college was working as a web designer. I hand-coded and designed about 120 websites in a little over a year. Lots of brochure-ware, but it taught me a lot about design and work ethic.

2. What is the purpose of design?

That’s like asking “what is art?” So many answers, and all correct in some fashion.

I think that design is the act of creating something with an intent, so that would mean the purpose of design is to realize an intent. This answer assumes very few constraints for the definition of design. People can design their lives or living rooms.

Either that, or design is the process that tries to create the optimal conditions to sell something, such as an idea, belief, or product.

3. How would you describe the intent (mission) behind Zynga’s design? What core problem are you trying to solve? What experience are you trying to create?

Zynga’s mission has always been to connect the world through games.

We believe that it’s more fun to play games with your friends. Social is very important to us, and we try to base most of our games around social gameplay.

We try to design “meaningful social.” An example of non-meaningful social would be something like getting an in-game notification that your friend is online. Meaningful social would be getting an OS notification that your friend is online and has challenged you to a 1:1 game.

Zynga is always searching for ways to create empathy between players. The more ways you can meaningfully interact with people in a game, the more likely you’ll play that game.

Think about how many times you’ve played games because your friends are playing games. It’s a very powerful motivator. Creating systems that allow for new friendship creation in a game, such as chat, sharing, helping, trading, and competition, means that you can create friends that have at least one thing in common with you. You both play the game and both care about each other playing the game.

We’ve heard so many stories of people meeting in our games and getting married, people who have played games with loved ones in their final days, and people who’s loneliness was absolved by the friends they made in our games.

These stories motivate us on a daily basis.

4. What’s one thing you believe about design that most others don’t?

That I’m not very good at it.

5. What key problems are often overlooked by design?

Business value. Design is still often looked at as the “differentiator” or “added value” in a business, but should be regarded as equal with engineering or product. If a business truly values design, then you’ll see design roles on par with other disciplines, such as VP of Design. These businesses will also prioritize design requests on the same level as engineering and business.

UX research. Process rarely allows for enough up-front time before people want to see something pretty. A successful process will usually require a pound of prevention before people want to see the ounce of cure, but it rarely happens.

Sustainability. There should always be a social, economic, and ecological mindfulness in design.

I’m not suggesting that sustainability is a requirement, but I am saying that it should be considered.

True value. Much of design is throw-away trendy self-indulgent crap. What true value is it offering to society? Do we really need an app for that? How will it further our evolution and define our culture?

6. What is the most difficult thing about design?

For me, there are a few that stand out, and certainly not limited to the design discipline.

Always feeling like you’re lagging compared to peers, even though they are feeling the same thing. It’s a constant game of try-but-never-catch-up in design, and it can be overwhelming.

The question of “What am I doing with my life and am I truly making a difference” happens often in design. Good designers have developed their empathy muscle, and sometimes have a harder time grinding out designs in order to sell crap ideas or products.

7. When is design “done”?

Design is done when the creator says it’s done. End of story.

8. What does the future of design look like to you?

I think we’ll continue to see lots of trends, as always. There will always be another skeuomorphic trend or flat trend. My guess: neon and big graphic shapes will be back soon.

I’m hoping we see design becoming more and more recognized as having value for businesses, governments, non-profits, education, etc. Having an equal seat at the table, or even driving business, will mean that sectors are finally recognizing the value of empathetic, socially conscious design.

Tools will continue to evolve and make it easier to show design’s value. Emergent tools are focused on function and form, and blur the line between developer and designer. It used to be that a designer who could develop was a “unicorn,” but now it’s much easier for many designers to develop at the same time they design.

I hope that designers fight the urge to dribble away their time by copying each other’s styles. So many websites lack personality today. They all look the same: too much white space, giant parallax images, and vapid content.

We need more personalities, less templates.