why does our design team love working at canonical

Tell me about a very cool project you were involved in at Canonical

Snappy – our newest product. I’ve been working on snapweb – a beautiful and functional interface for snap management, the store which allows users to browse and download applications that are developed by engineers.

Describe your creative process

Collaborate with UX designers and do group brainstorm sketching

Receiveahigh-fidelitywireframe to work from

Research into the feature for visual inspiration

Developvisualconceptsthatreflecttheobjectives of the new feature

Would you say that you enjoy working with the engineers?

We have a good working relationship, work closely when building a new feature fromflatvisualdesign,tobuildthenQA.

Design Heroes

David Carson – The Godfather of Grunge. His style is unique and was renowned for a rule breaking attitude to design, when startingoutmyworkwasinfluencedthrough his style of combining various mediums of design.

Jonathan Ive – Designer of user interface designamongstmanyAppleproducts.Motivated me to move into the digital/technology side of design.

Describe what interests you have in common with your colleagues

Great team morale

Agileworkingmethods

Good working relationship inside theofficeandsociallyoutside

If you could re-design anything in the world what would it be and why?

Sky Sports football app – challenge to update the user interface and align it with their sub-brands, but also create a positive user experiences for an application that appears on multiple sized screens and is viewed by many users.

“ I enjoy working across the three Cloud products MAAS, Landscape and Snappy. I also enjoy the versatility of the work across the products. Keeps it challenging.”

Karl Waghorn-MoyceVisual Designer, London


The coolest project I have been involved inlatelyiscreatingadashboardforMAAS. The design of a dashboard involves a lot of interesting components of design work. Initially, the requirements involve gathering and prioritisation, then, information visualisation, interaction design and graphic design explorations. It was like an exploration playground.


When a project starts, the team organises a few sketching sessions to brainstorm and gettheideasflowing.Following,weagreeon exploring a few directions and meet again for the next iteration. We follow this process until we are happy with the the solution, which is then mocked up and prototyped.


It is as much a pleasure working with them as with fellow designers. They are a source of knowledge; they know all the aspects of the feature you are designing being the ones making it. They are great to brainstorm with; they know the system behaviour, the errors and edge cases so they can help you validate yourideasandfind“holes”inyourdesigns.They can give you a reality check; is your idea feasible to implement given the technology, time and resources? Last but not least, they are great fun to work with.

Design Heroes

My design heroes are those people who love what they do and put serious thought into it and try to change the world for the better. People who are open to new ideas and keep an open mind, who respect the diversity of other people and take them into account in their creative process.

Maria VrachniUX Designer, London


We all enjoy our work, striving for the best solution for our products and our users. We share knowledge, ideas and create a fun environment of collaboration.


AsaUXdesigneryouseetheworldaroundyoudifferentlythanotherpeople,andwant tofixallofthethings,frominterfacestoindustrial products and processes. There are a lot of things that I observe around me that I would like to re-design in a more human friendly way and make peoples’ lives easier.

“ Putting myself in the user’s shoes and solving their problems is incredibly rewarding. Also, being the creator of something that didn’t previously exist is exhilarating.”


I’ve been involved in re-designing Juju. Visualizing software and how it connects to each other provides big design challenges. How it’s shown, the interactions between connected said software, changing their relationship, altering that relationship. It’s complex and ever changing, but that’s what makes it exciting.


Collaborative is the key. Sketching, design andflowsareallworkedoutandtalkedabout together as a team. The goal is to create the best experience for the user possibleandthemosteffectiveway to achieve that is as a team.


I throughly enjoy working with engineers. They are the backbone to all of the products that we produce here. Coming from a technical background myself, makes the process of collaborating easier and they are very open to new perspectives.’

Design Heroes

Malou Verlomme and the Monotype team. To take on the Johnston font which has such historical roots and work with it to bring it into the digital age while still maintaining its personality I think is an incredible feat and they did a fantastic job with it.

Joseph WilliamsVisual Designer, London


The drive to create something great. Everything has a great work ethic and they are also great to hang out with outside oftheoffice.


Audibleappandwebservice.Iuseitalot and I’m always thinking about how I would improve it and reduce friction when navigating around it. It would be a fun project to work on.

“ There is always something to do. Be that my own work or a new process to get involved with or explore. Canonical really supports self starters and if you have an idea or something you want to try, they will support you.”


Theredesignofthenotificationssystemif one of my favourites projects because oureverydaylifeisfilledwithinformationcompeting for our attention and this project helped to simplify our users’ end-to-endnotificationexperience.


I wouldn’t call it creative but rather systematic. I explore every angle of a problem and break every idea down untilIfindasolidsolution.Itdepends on the type of project, but usually, I start with scoping and research involving stakeholders from day one. I do lots of iterations and testing of ideas until Irefineasolutionthatthenintegrateswithin our implementation process.


I think we get along really well. We talk and discuss project details on a daily basis, not only when they are already implementing the proposed solution but involving them from the very beginning so we have a shared understanding of the design choices and issues, which creates trust and a better collaboration.

Design Heroes

There are so many great people out there. I’ve been inspired many times by Stefan Sagmeister, a graphic designer and typographerfromNY.Also,Ifollowthe work of outstanding people such as Dan Mall,BradFrost,ErikaHall,JonLaxand Leah Buley.

Patricia DavillaLead UX Designer, London


I guess curiosity and passion.


Maybe human interactions because they are complex and unpredictable and I’m curious if I could design a system for this.

“ I love every bit of designing for Canonical, the projects are very Interesting, I enjoy working with such smart people, travelling for sprints and learning every day.”


UbuntuSoftwareCenterwasthefirstapp store shipped with a PC operating system. It was fascinating to be involved in a huge range of details – from app categorization, to search algorithms, to credit card handling, to the maths of review ratings.


Designing anything starts with understanding the problem. Who will use this thing, when, and why? Will they be excited, or tired, or distracted?

Sometimes understanding the problem makes the solution obvious. Other times I need to sketch multiple possibilities and compare them.


I enjoy working with engineers because Ithinklikeaprogrammer.Ienjoyfindingthe balance of enough detail for engineers tounderstand.Andforsomepeople,thinking of edge cases is a chore, but for me it’s fun.

Design Heroes

EdwardTufteandBillAtkinson.

Matthew ThomasInteraction Designer, London


We’re all willing to try new ideas and rework old designs. Developing anoperating system is like performing a show: every version has to be good, but there’s almost always a chance to do even better next time.


Atleastonceintheirlife,everydesignershould design a chair.

“ Being in a small team means working on a wide variety of projects. On any given day I might be working on the design of apps, System Settings, toolkit controls, or presentations.”


I’ve just done a design refresh for a very ubiquitous app in software development, the terminal. It was interesting because terminal clients are used by so many, but not many of them have had input from designers in the past. It was great to get encouraging feedback from our community. You can read more about it here: design.canonical.com/


Typically it involves really digging into how the product being designed currently works (if it’s an existing product), how people use it, what they like and don’t like about it – and then re-imagining that product, imagining what the best possible experience would be like – drawing inspiration from

oftheirdayisspentfightingwithbadlydesigned and engineered legacy hospital software. I think well designed and engineered open source software would be really helpful there.


I have a background in both front-end development and design, that can be very helpful when designing interfaces and working with engineers. I would encourage all designers to learn at least basic front-end development – it is very useful.

Design Heroes

I really liked Zaha Hadid although I’ve heard she was hard to work with. I draw inspirationmostlyfromfieldsoutsideof UI design – photographers, musicians and scientists.

NJouni HelminenVisual Designer, London

pure design practices and other best-in-class products and patterns (sometimes in the same category, but not always). You need to trust your intuition to establish the right path, but getting feedback from users and peers throughout the process is also very useful.


Asdesigners,weallstriveforthesamethings – beauty, simplicity and usability in our work, and we all draw pleasure from when we get things right.’


I would re-design software medical practitioners use daily. My brother and his wife are doctors – a large portion

“It’s a great mix of design and cutting edge technology”


Indicators, Scopes redesign, System Greeter, System Launcher


UXreviewsandbriefing,research, design, reviews, testing.


We have weekly catch ups or when needed. We do have the occasional Sprint.

Design Heroes

I really like Dave McKean.

AlexMilazzoLead Visual Designer, London


The drive and passion to deliver a world class system.


In general I like products and devices when they are highly functional and maintain a graceful sense of beauty.

“ By far convergence is the most awesome feature I ever worked on.”


The coolest project in my opinion was ‘telephony’ – dialer, messaging and contacts. It’s a very big project and it was really interesting to be working on something that is so familiar to people.


Wefindanissueorprojectandthendoresearch, like what other patterns are alreadyoutthere.Followingthat,Imockup the visual design based on the wire frames. Then, we do a visual review after whichIwillfinalisethedesignandhand it over to the developer when it’s all approved.


Yes. I work with them really well. It’s good when you try and understand what they’re doing and speak the same language.

Design Heroes

I like Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Hische I also like the work of the company Invision.

Rae ShambrookVisual Designer, London


We all care a lot about what we’re doing. We are super-into our work and we really engage in what we’re doing and everyone wants to make the best product possible.


Anythingthatisaboutaccessingmediacontent,likeNetflixorevenFacebooknews feed. I’m really interested in how we accessandfindcontentandalwayscuriousabout how it could be smarter.

“�I�love�the�fact�that�I�get�to�work�on�so�many�different�things,�ranging from full on apps to the keyboard. I have even blogged about design! And again, it’s the people I work with and what I’ve learnt from them.”


I can’t reveal what exactly it is yet unfortunately but it involves the creation of a whole new page. It’s the feeling of starting something from the beginning that’s great. I have never worked on anything like this before in my life and neither has the design team and we are all enjoying the team work and the creativityofthisproject.Also,thefactthat something like this hasn’t been done before and that’s very challenging.


It varies – it depends on the project. I do research and any problems I might have, the solution is always very human- centered. It’s always based on what people need. We then do analysis in groups all


Yes. I work with them very well. We are a very close team. They are amazing, incredibly talented, quick and very reliable. Our collaboration is very close even though they’re all based very far away.

Design Heroes

I like the design work of ‘Ideo’ which is a social innovation consultancy. I love theircreativeprocess.Also,Ihadafewfantastic tutors.

ElviraFiguerasUX Designer, London

together or split in smaller groups in order to try and solve any problems. Usually, we all contribute with ideas.’


Weareallverydifferentandthatisvery inspiring since we work together. That actually helps us as everyone gives differentpointsofview.


Ithinkitwoulddefinitelybesomethingfrom a social perspective. Something that wouldbenefitthecommunity.Ireally enjoy community-friendly design and user well-being so it would have to be something social.

“ I like the fact that there is never just one way of doing things. It’s�up�to�you�to�find�a�way�to�solve�the�problem�and�that�the creative process is open.”


It‘smostdefinitelyconvergence.It’sgroundbreakingstuffanddesigningisalso very challenging. The responsive operating system is also a lot of fun.


Basically, we see what we currently have andwhatwe’veimplementedfirst.Wedo competitor analysis and see what other people have done. Then, we pinpoint where we can do something innovative and then start the process of going through the journey – drawing out a journey of how this particular piece of functionality should behave.Afterthat,wecreatethewireframes and then we show it to other designers and also test outside of the design team. We get feedback and re-design until the best solutions are found.


Yes. I work very well with them. In my team we sync a minimum of twice a week. Usually, a lot more often, even though they’re scattered all over the world.

Design Heroes

JonathanIvehelpedtorevolutionizeAppleand Jacob Nielsen really helped to bring usability and UX to the forefront of our industry.

FemmaAshrafLead UX Designer, London


I would say that we’re all geeky in our own ways, we are from varied backgrounds but working for Ubuntu is great. It’s also great to geek out with everybody and that’s the norm.


I have a very recent example actually. I would re-design the ‘Wagamama’ vegeterian dumpling take-out box. The dumplings are very small and the container for the dip is very small too. They’ve placed them in a large plastic bowl with a plastic lid and it’s not environmentally friendly andoverkillforfivedumplings.

“ Being a designer is very creative. I like solving problems and the fact�that�UX�covers�parts�of�lots�of�different�areas�–�psychology,�engineering, creative and the visual side.”


I’m so new so it’s too early to say!


Lots of thinking behind it. The way I trytodoitisfirststepresearch,findoutmore about the project, see competitors, inspiration websites. Second step would besketchingthedifferentideasIhaveinmind on paper and then you can see which ones are worth it and after that the next stepwouldbetorefinetheideasIhaveonpaper on the computer. Most of the times you need to repeat this until you get the best result.


I’m very new to the company, so I haven’t had the chance. I’m sure I’ll work with them as well as I work with my own team but I haven’t worked with them yet.

Design Heroes

Sagmeister. Very organic and experiemental design work.

Joana SaVisual Designer, London


Team work – everyone likes to share knowledge and help each other.


Re-designing the air conditioning in the underground. Improve it and do everyone a favour.

“ Designing means challenging yourself to do better, always learning and needing to improve your skills. I like challenging myself.”


I love working on database-less websites and our new CSS framework, Vanilla.

Describe your developing process

I am part of the web team and for the last year we are doing pretty much pure Scrum now, before that Kanban.

How well do you work with the design team when sharing common patterns?

Patterns make our work better and easier; it is my life’s ambition to make them as amazing as possible.

Peter MahnkeHead of Web Development , London


LoveofUbuntu.Adesiretolearnandgrow.Awillingnesstochangeandadapt.

If you could develop any web page which one would it be and why?

AnypagethathelpspeopleuseUbuntubetter is a great page.

“�I�came�here�for�a�three-month�maternity�cover,�five�years�ago. I love the people and the products.”


The design team is working on our open source CSS framework, Vanilla Framework.Itisreallygreatfocusingourenergy into a project that we can share with the community.


I primarily work with Python an Django and our process follows an agile workflow.Wearealwayspushingtoimproveourworkflowandtools,adding more and more automated tests, moving towards continuous integration. Our team consists of designers, user experience, and developers which gives us a great environment and great feedback.


The design team are great to work with. They are very open and collaborative. We work closely together, making sure we share a common vision for our products. They are a great source of inspiration and feedback.

Will MoggridgeWeb Developer, London


My colleagues are all very passionate about technology. We share a passion for Ubuntu, originating from a time before we joined Canonical. We care about our work and pushing our work to be the best it can be, and even like playing foosball!


Idon’tthinkIamabletopickaspecificsite. I really enjoy building sites for communities.Asitethatbringspeopletogether and helps the community grow.

“ I love the opportunity to give back to Canonical and its community. I have the opportunity to work on devops, backend and frontend and enjoy the ability to create tools to make my life easier.”


With the growing number of sites the web team maintains, coupled with our role as a support team for web projects in the company and community, we took the leap of developing a new CSS framework – Vanilla. Vanilla has a broad scope and has involved a lot of work butwe’realreadyseeingbenefitsofastandardised set of tools for building sites. Vanilla is also an Open Source project so we can take pride in our work helping others and we can, likewise, benefitfromcommunityinput.


Sitting within the design team, the Canonical web team developers work very closely with design and UX;


Idon’tthinkIamabletopickaspecificsite. I really enjoy building sites for communities.Asitethatbringspeopletogether and helps the community grow.


I already mentioned Vanilla, our CSS framework, this tool helps us to share patterns more readily. Given how we have such a wealth of design directions – with desktop, phones, cloud apps, websites, etc. – the design team really need to keep close to share and collaborate.

Karl WilliamsWeb Developer, London

we collaborate and communicate both ways rather then simply implementing finisheddesignswithoutanyinput.WerunourteamonAgileprinciplessoourprocessisveryfluidandfocusesoncommunicationtoworkmoreeffectively.No two pieces of work are the same and we need to keep adapting to that.


Many of my co-workers have a lot of experience with, and love for, Ubuntu as long-term users. In the greater design team, we all have a clear understanding of the importance of the Ubuntu brand and the unique problem of keeping design consistency across a broad range of community and internal projects.

“ There’s always something new at such a fast-moving company so I get to be involved in a variety of projects. I feel that we’re treated like experts and our opinions are considered.”