We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative TOMI WORLD ("TW").

TOMI is a smart interactive urban solution that delivers all information that matters in the right place at the right time. Available 24/7 in cities worldwide. TOMI delivers to the cities what they need to become modernized and to stay in contact with its inhabitants. TOMI believes that is an element of integration of all other elements of the city, connecting all interests through the best technology transformed into a simple and easy to use and friendly product for all. Always in constant research and development TOMI is a friend of the city.

TOMI WORLD Designs

We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by TOMI WORLD.

Designer Interview of TOMI WORLD:

DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?

TW : My graduation background is communication design and early after i went studying computer engineering. In my teenager path the goal was to be an architect but things get blurry in my head and i finally went to graphic and communication design fields.

DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

TW : Our design department have a big role in the global strategy of the company and it's vital in every decision made related to the vision and future of the business.

DI: What is "design" for you?

TW : Design is about improving experiences.

DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?

TW : Or very little things minimal improvements or large experiences that impact tens of thousand lives. The special thing is to get exited about the challenge.

DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?

TW : I think TOMI concept is the biggest achievement for now and the most challenging one also.

DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?

TW : The first thing i start to design was corporate branding.

DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

TW : My favorite pieces of technology are the paper/pen.

DI: When do you feel the most creative?

TW : In two particular situations when i'm under pressure and when i have no pressure at all.

DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

TW : The user experience and the future ready capability.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?

TW : I feel overwhelmed and happy to get the opportunity to make the difference and improve something or for helping to create something new and bringing it into the world.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?

TW : I feel very anxious and calm same time. And i start looking aggressively to every point of feedback i can get from people that design will impact.

DI: What makes a design successful?

TW : The happiness, wellness and awareness it can bring to the places and people that use it.

DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?

TW : The size of personal, social or business impact it have. And the timeless capability.

DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?

TW : To improve life quality in every aspects, from the moment we born up to the moment we stop breathing. Every interface we use to get things easier or simply more reliable i think design is about to be better and live better by getting things more and more desirable but also sustainable and future ready.

DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?

TW : The future of design is to became a major discipline in every fields. Maybe the big trend is to become even more usual the shift of design from art fields to engineering fields.

DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?

TW : Our work have been exposed in a variety of venues for instance two main events in the European technology scene. We've been exposed at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2017 and at Websummit Lisbon 2016. We strongly believe we will be in the next editions also.

DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?

TW : The inspiration fuel is really a big amount of things so the the main sources are a lot always and i think are never too much: Art, Cinema, Joy Division, Trips, Friedrich Nietzsche, Shorts, books and all the table conversations and awesome people we heard and listen in the process.

DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?

TW : Our design style is sleek, timeless, universal and minimal. The design must have the ultimate goal of became invisible and ubiquitous.

DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?

TW : We work at Viseu a Portuguese City, i think all the things we live and were we live affects what we do, but also everything we hear and listen from other places. So i think it's not that thing that affects us most. In nowadays things are really not mostly connected to the roots but to the inspirational places we have instead.

DI: How do you work with companies?

TW : With the same focus in improving the business in a long therm role.

DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?

TW : Give strong deadlines and briefings and between the briefing and the deadline give them just free will. I think the secret it's the recipe between free will and the fine tuning of the briefings you give to design teams. The good designers talk about his designs with big enthusiasm and structural thinking even if the process was chaotic the final scene is totally the opposite of that.

DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?

TW : My design process main stages are: research, chaos, sketching resume, build, test, build, test, deploy.

DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?

TW : Lights, Pen, Moleskine, Music player, clock.

DI: Can you describe a day in your life?

TW : Eat, sleep, wake, capuchinho, think, draw, sketch, work, laptop, music, desktop, read, eat, rave, repeat.

DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?

TW : Never forget to design your process. Every people have a process you have to find yours. Wen you found yours you will have a house were you can live a became whatever you want.

DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?

TW : You have always to explain what you do, because you are always changing what you are doing. One of the missions of being a design is to talk about design and about it's impact in every day life.

DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?

TW : Don't see it as art. Sometimes subjectivity can be a concept killer. Find a purpose for every detail.

DI: What skills are most important for a designer?

TW : Listening, Thinking, Drawing, Criticising, Ambition.

DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?

TW : Music, cinema, networking, festivals, grandfathers, grandmothers, world trips, motorcycles, etc.

DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?

TW : Management tools, whiteboards, team work tasks, scheduled small tasks in oder to get a day by day finished tasks that ultimately became larger ones in the long run.

DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

TW : It all depends of the challenge it runs for. Different kind of objects results in different amounts of time to designing it.

DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?

TW : What you think about this?

DI: What was your most important job experience?

TW : Chief Design Officer at TOMI WORLD.

DI: Who are some of your clients?

TW : Vodafone, Rock in Rio.

DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?

TW : What i love most to design are the one's that impact a more wider range of people. I think the big mission of design is to work for humanity.

DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?

TW : We would love to impact even more people in the long run.

DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

TW : We can work in the two environments, depending on the size and challenge related to the project we size also the ideal team for address it.

DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

TW : We are always on the edge of groundbreaking changes on all our range of products. In order to get the most from what we have we have to try always to destroy them, for ensuring the viability of them.

DI: How can people contact you?

TW : brunolamelas@tomiworld.com

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

TW : Good design is good for everyone.