Max Gemmell

the goal of filming a scene at night. After sitting silently watching everyone's scene the following class, the instructor announced we had all failed the assignment. He took a still frame from each scene and asked, "if you hadn't filmed this yourself, what time of day would you say it is?" It was the only time in my life when I've experienced 20-some people have the same realization at the same time. The instructor had us recreate one of our classmate's lighting setup in the classroom, then one by one, he turned off lights until there was a single light left - and the scene looked perfect. He said, "the key to lighting is creating shadows." It's something that is completely counterintuitive, but stripping things down to the bare essentials, adding "negative fill", creates a more pleasing image that, when done right, goes completely unnoticed by the untrained eye.

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Over the years I've learned that motorsport is really just a game of compromise. When it comes to road racing, historically there has always been a battle between optimizing for speed through the turns or speed on the straights, leading to iconic David vs Goliath battles like those between Mustangs and Mini Coopers, which see constant back-and-forth passing. These compromises can be strategic given the track, series rulebook, or weather conditions, but at the pinnacle of motorsports, Formula 1, the one concept that is universally agreed upon is to, "add lightness" - a highly disputed quote attributed to a half dozen racing pioneers. Simplifying a suspension system to shave five grams off a 800 kilogram F1 car may seem tedious, but if that five grams translates to one tenth of a second per lap in a series where the top 12 cars are only separated by five tenths, that's a pretty significant improvement . 

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This idea of improving by simplifying is something that stays in the front of my mind in just about everything I do, but especially so when it comes to UX/UI and product design. I believe it not only leads to a better, more user-centric product, but also increases the efficiency of the entire design process. Finding the sweet spot where utilitarian and elegant design can work together is what drives my passion for product design.