Timeouts are lightning-quick interviews, five questions to help you get to know the players holding court at Dribbble. Thanks to Balraj for being this week’s interviewee.
Who are you? Let us know where you hail from and what you do.
Hey! My name is Balraj Chana and I’m a product designer and developer from London, UK. I have been freelancing for over a year and a half now and I specialise in UI/UX design for mobile and web. I also dabble in web development when needed.
Typically my client base hails from the Bay Area so I help startup founders bring their vision to life from mere sketches on a napkin to the app store.
What are you working on?
Currently I’m taking a break from client work to focus on my own personal projects whilst also travelling. To grow as a designer I need new experiences, which help me learn about different cultures and gain inspiration.
In terms of projects, as I’ve been in the design industry for a while I’ve seen problems that haven’t been solved yet so I’m attempting to solve them myself. One of these projects is called Hixle. It will be a tool specifically aimed at designers and developers looking to improve their productivity. More details to be unveiled in the near future :)
Choose a favorite shot of yours. Why is it a favorite?
Whoa, this one is tricky! If I had to choose one, I guess I would have to say that the TinyLove project is my favourite. This was actually my first app design for a wonderful client and it received high ratings from the app store on iOS and Android.
To me, it’s not just about the way it was designed but the concept behind it. The app allowed anyone to report incidents locally to help bring a community together. To be a part of that is why I became a designer in the first place. Even if the app only helps one person, it can create a ripple effect and that is why I want to help change the world through design.
Tell us about your setup. What tools did you use to create the shot (e.g. hardware, software, pens, paper, blowtorch)?
My typical setup consists of a maxed-out Macbook Pro 15” Retina placed on a GhostStand with a Thunderbolt Display. I also have a wireless keyboard when I am stationary and a Logitech Performance MX mouse for pin-point pixel precision.
For software, I transition between various Adobe products including Photoshop for UI/web design, Illustrator for branding, After Effects for animations and LightRoom for photography. I also use 3ds Max for 3D rendering and Sublime Text for coding. For sketching concepts, a pencil and a Dot Grid notebook typically suffice.
Choose a favorite player. Tell us why you dig them.
Whoa, this one is even trickier! There are so many awesome shots on Dribbble so I’ll nail it down to the shot that has affected me in some way or another. I’m usually attracted to designs which stand out as being different so this shot (Some Analytics) by Cosmin Capitanu does it for me. It has the perfect balance of futurism along with a strong color palette, well ahead of its time.
Find Balraj at Dribbble, on Twitter, and at CircularChaos.
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