John Thai – Interactive Designer

When he was young, John Thai used to draw portraits in Microsoft Paint, today he is an award-winning interactive designer for one of Canada’s top advertising agencies – TAXI. Simply put, John creates “the design of the reaction to a user’s actions”.

Being strong in visual art and having experimented with technology early on, John traces his career in digital design and production back to a multimedia course he once took. “It was there that I fell in love with the flexibility of multimedia applications” he says. This flexibility he puts to use each day at work.

John works on everything, from creating websites and applications to branding and print design. John spends a lot of time collaborating and working on new ideas with writers, art directors, and others involved with the project. However, for someone who works almost exclusively in a digital environment, John enjoys making things by hand.

On his own time, he likes making crafts with paper and cardboard, baking “elaborate cakes” and working in the yard. Often, John says, he lets the handmade “inform [his] digital work”. This process is evident in projects like TAXI Asteroids” – a video game based on Asteroids – which is made completely out of paper cut-outs.

What motivates John to be the best in the fast-changing digital world? Actually a little bit of everything – working with a dedicated team, sharing great ideas, tight timelines and even good meals keep him going. Sometimes John likes to change things up. “Almost every year” he says, “I tend to find a comfort zone that I have trouble getting out of.” The cure is “to reinvigorate” himself.

This could be in the form of travel, a new hobby, or sometimes a job switch. Ideally he wants to take a year off in between jobs, a Sagmeister-like sabbatical. John says that growing as a designer should be an organic process. Things like school and internships are good, but it is more important to “have fun in your own time, bettering your craft”. Coming out of a rut is “one of the hardest hurdles to overcome.” However it is only after doing so that “your work will escalate to the next level”.

If you are interested in learning more about John and his work check out his website www.thaipografik.com, you can also follow him through his blog and Twitter. John is open to any direct questions you might have for him, please post them in the comments or send them to him via email.