Interview with Simona Lo

Hello, please, a short biography about you.
Born in Massachusetts, grew up in a town called Longmeadow. Went to school at Carnegie Mellon University and got BFA in Communication Arts and a minor in business. I love sushi, Italian food and free thought.

What is design for you? Why did you decide to be an artist?
I’ve been drawing since I was one year old and I think I’ve probably always used visuals as communication. I think that even now, my “art” or whatever you want to call it stems from me attempting to visually capture an abstract thought or emotion.

Where are you currently located and where do you work? Maybe you can open some secrets and tell us what are you working on?
I am currently in, and have been living in sunny Los Angeles for the last five or so years. Right now I am contracting onsite on the Acura website redesign, my focus being an “experience” section for one of their vehicles. It’s the largest project I have ever been involved with and includes everything from photo/video shoots to good ole fashioned design and illustration. The experience so far has been remarkable.

What is your opinion about flash?
Flash is amazing. I feel it has enhanced the online user experience with how visually engaging it can be and also with its potential for innovative ways to configure navigation. It seems to become more and more sophisticated every year. To me, it can only get more impressive from here.

What is your favorite music?
I have a lot of music I love, and it ranges from Beethoven to DJ Shadow. I think, to me, good music is good music, regardless of era or instrumentation.

Do belive that dreams sometimes can be real?
I think dreams are a good way into our subconscious. They are without limits, often without logic and that sort of spontaneity is excellent for creativity. Can they be real? I’d like to think anything is possible. I did once have a vivid dream of a strange place that I later ended up visiting.

What is your favorite things you like to do?
I think I am getting old now because more and more I just love spending time with my man, great dinners with good friends, some drinks out at a nice lounge, having dinner parties. I was also able to purchase a baby grand piano and have it in my apartment. Playing music and writing some on occasion has been a hobby of mine since I was six.

Your goals for the future?
One day perhaps I would like to be a full on artist who also scores for movie soundtracks, but… I’m not so sure that will happen. Mainly I would like to be able to continue my good fortune of meeting and working with the best designers/artists/musicians in the world and finding my way successfully through a fickle online world.


What is your opinion about design-community sites like Digital Abstracts?
I think its great that we have such a strong community and they’re great for inspiration or just random surfing to cut up what could otherwise be, a monotonous day.

If you would find a jin, what are the three wishes you would ask?
01. for more time in the day but less hours in the work week
02. a dinosaur
03. a ride in the black lion of Voltron!

How did you start your career as a web designer?
Well, back when computers with 256 megs of RAM were considered super fast, I came upon the reasoning that working with a file at 72 dpi was a lot faster than a file at 300 dpi, so I took advantage of having gone to a school with a strong computer program and decided to go into interactive design.

How do you rest when you are out from the front of PC?
I love single malt scotches or a good whiskey to assist in the unwinding process. My guilty pleasure is watching NFL football-sort of appreciate the strategy involved. And I also watch a ridiculous amount of Discovery, National Geographic and History channels.

How many hours, daily, do you work?
Oh it can range from 6 to 14 hours!

Oh, what's your favorite font?
At the moment, it’s DIN. Its extremely legible and elegant, a san serif font with some character (no pun intended).

PC or MAC, why?
I work on a PC these days, though I used to be on a Mac. I am capable of working in both (and have) but I think the main reason I had made the switch was the cost. With the help of friends, I built my own PC at home for an amazing price. I feel both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses and in the end, I tried to balance out my PC by having 2 23” Apple Cinema Displays.

Well, that's enough, last comments please?
A favorite quote of mine from Mr. Henry David Thoreau:
“I went to the woods because I wanted to live life deliberately. To front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what It had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”