We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rodolpho Henrique. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rodolpho below.
Rodolpho, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Confidence is mostly developed after trial and error. As a designer, I’m constantly failing and learning almost every day. The work I do is built with explorations, tentatives, and experimentations that most of the time, will never see the light of day. I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with some of the biggest and most prestigious brands in the world and also early-stage startups during the first days. It doesn’t matter the size of the company or the type of the project, I’m constantly testing and trying new ways to solve different problems that sometimes work, and sometimes don’t. I have a long list of failures that helped me to shape the professional I am. I believe this is where my confidence and self-esteem comes from.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a digital designer who focuses on designing and shipping digital experiences for a variety of industries and markets around the world. Over the past 11+ years, I’ve been focusing all my energy on solving complex problems through design, combining user experience and visual design throughout the process, designing new products from scratch, or optimizing existing ones so they perform better from both a user and business perspective.
Currently, as a Design Director at McKinsey & Company, my work is right at the intersection between technology and design. At McKinsey, I have the opportunity to work and serve worldwide clients solving the most complex problems with the best individuals.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Some pieces of advice I often give to folks early in their design journey:
1. Be patient.
It’s natural to hurry especially when you’re starting in this career and compare yourself with other people who have been around for decades. Your work will not be like theirs because you don’t have the experience they have, yet. Knowledge and senior ship are built with years (and also hours of hard work). Don’t fool yourself by trying to achieve a level of excellence you see from someone you admire in just 1 month. This is not gonna happen.
2. Surround yourself with people better than you.
Simple and direct. If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room. Great people are the gold mine where you will get your knowledge from. Listen to them more than you talk. The most important and valuable things of my life I’ve learned from people who are not designers.
3. Stay hungry.
The journey is huge. Don’t ever lose the kindness and innocence to learn something new every day. The joy of doing this is so gratifying that sometimes the best inspiration and ideas come from things that are not directly related to your field of work. I’m constantly learning something new from different mediums such as photography or architecture – they help me to see the world as a digital designer with a better lens.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and tired with the level of information, notifications, and news in the world we live. I always like to turn off my brain and go for a walk, read a book, or brew a coffee manually. Remember these small rituals help you to clear your mind and refresh your thoughts to produce better.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.rodolphohenrique.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodhzz
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodolpho-henrique/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rodhzz
