Timeouts are lightning-quick interviews. Five questions to help you get to know the players holding court at Dribbble. Many thanks to Jory for being today’s interviewee.
Who are you? Let us know where you hail from and what you do.
My name is Jory Raphael, and I’m a designer living and working in the beautiful state of Vermont. I have a lovely wife who is smarter than I’ll ever be and two kids who are following in her footsteps.
I run a small studio called Sensible World and design pretty much anything and everything, though I’m particulary fond of icons and logos. I’m also the guy responsible for all of the podcast artwork for 5by5 Broadcasting and the creator of Symbolicons, a lovely set of vector icons.
What are you working on?
A lot! But the project I’m working on right now that makes me the proudest is Notabli, a startup I’ve co-founded with fellow Dribbbler and all-around nice guy Jackson Latka. I’m ridiculously excited about it. If you have young kids, you will be too. It’s a stylish and easy way for parents to chronicle and share moments in their kids’ lives. You can grab it on the App Store.
Choose a favorite shot of yours. Why is it a favorite?
I’m really enjoying how the latest icon set I’m creating is turning out. My goal is to make them work well at small sizes and be super friendly. I have a special place in my heart for the projects that I’ve taken on outside of traditional client work. I think side projects are incredibly important to have, especially for creatives. I’m self-taught as a designer, and even more so as an icon designer. Each set I create is a learning experience, so it’s fun to try new styles and techniques without the pressure of a deadline.
Tell us about your setup. What tools did you use to create the shot(s)? (e.g. hardware, software, pens, paper, blowtorch, etc.)
I recently relocated the HQ of Sensible World to Three West Collective, a co-working space in Burlington. It’s a great space and I’m surrounded by awesome designers and developers – which is a wonderful way to keep pushing yourself as a creative professional. I imagine my setup is fairly typical. 13” MacBook Air hooked to a cinema display. Mouse. Keyboard. Chair. Desk. William Shakespeare action figure. I have a similar setup at my home office (sans the William Shakespeare action figure). I live pretty much every day in Illustrator and Photoshop.
Choose a favorite shot from another Player. Why do you dig it?
This is a tough one, as there are so many awesome shots to choose from on Dribbble, but one of my favorites would have to be the Vulture Badges by Matt Stevens. Matt is insanely talented and this project looked like a ton of fun. It’s the type of work I wish I could do, but doubt I’d have the skill to pull it off nearly as well as Matt did. Simple, iconic and well-executed.
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