For this second interview from WORKS GOOD! MAGAZINE , we fire our questions to Alvaro Arregui Falcon, who previously worked at the overseas digital product studio ustwo . Recently he established the company Nuevo.Studio in Tokyo, focusing on Digital Product Design. He gave us a great insight about the reality of the creative industry overseas.

Question 1：
When you start a new project, what process do you follow?

OK, so before starting the project, you need to understand why the client needs you and then find out what it is that they need. It is very important to have an open and transparent conversation with the client to really get deep down to the problem (or problems) they want to solve.

In the discovery phase, we run workshops with the client to conceptualize and validate ideas quickly (you can use the Design Sprints format for that). After that you’ll see which idea has legs, and you’ll go for it and plan it out — it can take x amount of months or weeks or days even, really it depends on how big the idea is and how long is the scope for its realization.

Question 2：
What kind of strategy do you use in making contracts with your clients?

From my experience working in different companies as well as running my own studios, I have learnt to always invoice 50% prior to starting any project. The reason for this is because unexpected things sometimes occur, and since you can’t foresee what’s going to happen in the future, I want to make sure my studio will be safeguarded.
At my previous workplaces, they usually invoiced clients on a month-to-month basis. But I’ll continue my way for now, as it works well for me.

Question 3：
How much do you talk to your client before start a project?

From my experience working with a diverse range of international clients, it really depends. Clear communication is especially important in the earlier stage of a project — when you’re trying to figure out the unknown, it is vital to work alongside the client, either at their office or in their studio, or even someplace else! It is particularly important to understand the company, the ways of working, the pain points, and the opportunities for growth.
Collaboration and communication need to flow constantly. It’s not like you can go away and create all the work in isolation, because that can delay progress. Ideally, you should work together with the client constantly.
From the client side, you should invite (at least) the project owner — who knows and lives the project — to work alongside your team. This is ideal. If that is not possible, you need to forge a constant connection with the client, enabling transparent communication and updates regarding the project. It is crucial to keep conversation flowing so you both know what works and what doesn’t in the project, as well as being able to make decisions on the go.
The closer you can get to the client, the better. Understanding between all parties involved in the project will ultimately lead to better work.

Question 4：
How often do you share the progress to your client? 

Giving regular updates is very important. At the very beginning, you will probably be working with the client constantly in the discovery phase. After that, and depending which idea you’re going for, there might be no need for having the client constantly working with you, so you need to facilitate transparency and show constant progress updates.

There are tons of tools you can use to help at that point. We use tools like ‘Basecamp’, to enable conversation and show progress by presenting ideas or results with clients. ‘Jira’ is a great tool when designing and developing something where you need to identify and prioritize tasks — the client can see the progress and speed as well as which things are done or still need to be done. But for me, what works the best is having constant conversation using any tool to hand — I even use SNSs with my clients.

While dealing with humans, professionally or personally, it is all down to openness and transparency to reach a mutual understanding. If you don’t understand me and I don’t understand you, how can we communicate, right?
Of course you won’t be able to change things overnight, it takes time to educate clients about your ways of working. At first they may be skeptical or maybe they are actually interested in trying, and they will instantly realise how powerful clear communication can be.

Question 5：
On average, how many hours do you work per day?

Eight hours and eight hours only for projects. Of course, there might be days when I have to work a little bit longer because of XYZ, so if I worked ten hours today, maybe tomorrow I will work six, or maybe on Friday I will take the afternoon free. I’m always trying to keep a perfect balance on the number of hours.

As for overtime? It is ultimately a problem of both time and project management. Overtime is due to taking client requests without scheduling correctly. When you correctly project manage your schedule, you will never overwork.

When projecting a scope for the project, we need to understand clearly what and when things need to be done so then you can allocate the right number of people and time accordingly.

Question 6：
How do you maximize concentration?

Phones and emails are the biggest interrupters, so while working I’d put my phone away, avoiding the temptation of the SNSs, I’d check my e-mails a few times a day at specific times such as first thing in the morning, right after lunch, mid afternoon… I would never answer an email right away, there is never such an emergency to do so. Also I would never answer an email after working hours, that is time to concentrate in yourself, the friends and the family.

Question 7：
Do you have anything you use to foster smooth communication with your team members?

You can foster communication in many different ways — I like taking it very naturally and I love getting to know my colleagues both professionally and personally, being able to talk about life and work, having team breakfasts, going for lunch or drinks after work… anything that connects me with the people I work with. Over time, I want to consider my colleague — and even in some instances, my clients — as friends.

From my experience, the best way to work is to have the team and client working alongside each other, but when that is not possible, you still need to allow communication. I’ve been in projects where we put a huge TV next to us running ‘Google Hangouts’, so we were constantly looking at the client’s office — it was like a window where both parties were able to communicate any time they needed.

Question 8：
What are you most careful about concerning your work?

Good question! I think most important is fulfilling the needs of the project. As a creative, you always want to create the most amazing, beautiful, ground-breaking and cutting-edge work, but first and foremost, is to deliver what makes sense for what we trying to do.

Question 9：
How many projects do you have at once?

One at a time. This is the only way you can deliver good work, the only way you can really concentrate, the only way that you can really understand the client and project needs, and deliver quality work. So regardless if it is in a team or one person only, focusing on one thing at a time is my take. The biggest problem when working on multiple projects at the same time is that the amount of focus that you can put to each project is reduced.

Question 10：
Finally, please tell us what you personally think is most important to do a “good job”?

I think you need to be happy with what you do. If you are not happy with what you do, it will never be a good job. You have to believe in the project you are working on, its values and the values of the company you are helping to deliver it with, knowing it is the right product for the end user. Only when you believe in what you are doing, you will naturally deliver a good job.

Latest works of Alvaro (Nuevo. Studio)

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<Vins Del Tros. Rebrand>

<タイニー東京>

<Black app>

This article was published at the time of release in February 2017.

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