Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you:
I’m Sean Patrick Quinn, a graphic designer, doodler, crafter and lover of the outdoors.
Your current job:
I work full-time at Dc Design House as a senior graphic designer.
In which city are you located?
At the far north-eastern tip of North America in beautiful St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador.
A word to define what kind of worker you are:
Flexible.
What tools are essential to your life (app, software, etc..)
The Adobe products, Sketch, Invision, Spotify, Slack, Notes, Function Point and my trusty sketch book, pencil, and eraser.
What does your office space look like?
We are currently located on the 8th floor of an office building on the St. John’s harbour front, while our new office is being renovated. I share my space with two other super talented graphic designers, our two wonderful copywriters, the production manager and our creative director.
Sounds like a clown car situation but we all have tons of space and work tightly together on all things so the energy in the room is always amazing (but headphones are key).
What kind of music do you listen when you are working?
This was a tough one for me since I listen to a huge variety of music. One day it’s the soundtrack from The Witcher 3 another it’s NOFX, Kid Cudi, Old Man Markley or Weezer.
With that said, I mostly listen to punk music or anything fast and crusty.
Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work?
I use a powerful system called Function Point for our project management. As for keeping on top of the little things, I mostly use Notes and Slack reminders.
What tips would you give to improve productivity?
For me I need to work in a space that feels like I’m sitting a home. That means my toys and other nerdy items are in close proximity.
I also use a Google Chrome extension that when a new tab is opened, it pulls work from Behance and Dribbble. Taking 5 minutes to get lost in some cool work is all I need to clear my head when I’m stalling and need a creative pick me up.
You’re better than your colleagues to:
Cooking some tasty sliders, and sweet potato fries 😉
What is the best advice anyone has given you?
Page before the stage.
What is your best tip for saving time?
Step back and plan. You can get so caught up in bringing an idea to life digitally, but having a good plan on paper can save you so much grief down the road when you hit a digital wall.
Also always having a plan B and C doesn’t hurt.
What is your routine start and end of the day?
Steal some body heat from my wonderful girlfriend with morning cuddles, head out to get my coffee and cheese croissant. Up the elevator into our office, log-in to Function Point, beat down my alerts, leave some comments here and there then straight into my work for the day.
At the end of day, it’s all about the time tracking; leaving comments on my tasks and where things are in the production cycle. Chat with the by’s about whatever and ride the elevator back down to freedom :p
Aside from your computer and your phone, what gadget can you not you go without?
Electric kettle! Needs my tea or I’m useless.
Behance: behance.net/sqcreative
Instagram: instagram.com/esque.design/
Twitter: twitter.com/sqcreative