Dec 15, 2016
This month, we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Abduzeedo. This is very special to us, Fabio Sasso created the blog as a side-project after he lost everything from a robbery back in 2006. It was in his way for him to backup files but also bookmark things he liked and inspired him. Since then his work has been used, shared and featured many times but beyond all, his goal was to inspired us to create and make more. That’s the philosophy and minset of Abduzeedo that will always lives on. Part of the celebration, we would love to share a sit-down we had with Fabio about his life, 10 years of inspiration and more. Hope you will enjoy it!
I never imagined or planned to get to 10 years. I started the blog after my studio got robbed and I lost everything. After that day I tried to focus on the present more than ever, life is too unpredictable and we can get frustrated if something happens that weren't in our plans. That happened to me, it sucks, but I learned a lot. Sometimes things are much worse in our heads and imagination than in reality. - Fabio Sasso
Tell us about yourself? What do you do for living now?
I am a designer from Brazil currently living in Oakland, California. I moved to the US in 2011 when I got an offer from Google. After almost 6 years a lot of things have happened, I got maried, became a father. I still work for Google, I have a lot of fun and love Google's mission and their products. It' really makes a difference in terms of motivation.
How do you feel about reaching this milestone of 10 years of Abdz?
Abduzeedo started as a side project, a way for me to backup files but also bookmark things I liked and inspired me. That was in 2006, iPhone was a rumour, Tablets a sci-fi idea. Things were very different. The Web 2.0 was at reaching its peak of fame, everything was moving towards the web with web apps. Of course everything changed with the introduction of the iPhone, and especially one year after that, when native apps were announced.
I never imagined or planned to get to 10 years. I started the blog after my studio got robbed and I lost everything. After that day I tried to focus on the present more than ever, life is too unpredictable and we can get frustrated if something happens that weren't in our plans. That happened to me, it sucks, but I learned a lot. Sometimes things are much worse in our heads and imagination than in reality.
What was the biggest Abdz moment so far that you remember?
There were so many fun moments. I used to do a lot of talks around 2008-2010 about the blog. At a particular moment around 2008 I was the person with most Twitter followers in Brazil I believe. I believe, however the biggest moments were always meeting new people. People from all over that I still talk and became friends. Like you Francois :)
Do you remember what was your feeling when you posted the first article back in December 21, 2006?
Yes, it was summer in Brazil. I was recovering from the awful loss of my laptop and all backups. I was just posting things to fill the blog and try to create a routine. I posted about designing a web 2.0 blog. It was a project I did for my brother. It's crazy just to go back and see that, it's a lesson of humility because you can see how much you have learned. I hope in 10 years to look back at my work and have the same sensation that I kept learning.
What is your ideology behind your work? What's driven you all the time?
There's no ideology, the only thing that drives me to do things like blogging or being a designer is curiosity and desire to learn more about things. I am an introvert, very shy and insecure. I always think I am wrong and that sort of helps me to try more I think. It's not a good thing but it definitely helps a lot. It keep my feet on the ground.
Do you get creative satisfaction on your work? How much time do you give yourself for personal work and blogging? Do you have a system?
I love what I do and my job. I love working on product and trying to solve not only the problems we are trying to solve for our users but also how to improve our process. How can we reduce churn and frustrations from all sides, UX and engineers.
In terms of blogging, I use Abduzeedo now more as a bookmark/curation tool. There are so many design blogs now doing tutorials and other things that we used to do in the past. I believe the best thing right now due to the overload of information is try to be more like a filter. Try to help featuring new designers and help the community.
Who were your creative heroes at the start of your career and how has it changed over the years?
That's a great question. I think my heroes are still the same, the difference though, is that I added many more. I admire more people rather than just designers. For example, engineers, PMs, entrepernours.
What is the one thing you learned at the beginning of your career, that you still go by today?
In terms of career, for me, it is always think about not only the design, put the production process. I graduated in Industrial Design and in school our projects were always focus not only on the final design, but how to optimize the manufaturing process. Materials, bugdgeting, supliers, those were things we had to consider. Today when I design I still keep that in mind, it just changes the roles. Now we have to think about engineering work, legacy code, platforms, localization and a bunch of other things.
How does Social Media affect your work these days?
Not as much as in the past. I was an avid Social Media user but either I am getting too old and got a bit tired of it or it is definitely slowing down. I also believe that social media became really about showing off, rather than sharing useful things or knowledge.
Where do you see Abduzeedo evolving in the next few years?
I have no idea. I believe it will get smaller because blogs are becoming things of the past. I love the idea of keeping something that I can change the design, learn a bit more about coding and also sharing things. With that in mind I think Abduzeedo will be around.
On the last note, what is the common mistake that most designers always make these days?
I think I am not the one to judge because I make a bunch of mistakes too. If I could point something, it would be that designers, for some reason, became a bit selfish. They tend to focus only on the design part and forget a bit about the rest. I'd say focus more on understanding how things are build and how people really use products, than following trends.
Some Moments
I believe it will get smaller because blogs are becoming things of the past. I love the idea of keeping something that I can change the design, learn a bit more about coding and also sharing things. With that in mind I think Abduzeedo will be around. - Fabio Sasso
