What’s the design scene like in Salt Lake City? We spoke with Zac Nielsen, the host of the upcoming Dribbble Meetup, which will include some awesome speakers, plus the usual food, swag, chances to connect with your local design scene. Zac is also hosting an epic Creative Campout in Hunstville, Utah this August. Check out those details for sure!
We’re extra excited for this Dribbble Meetups because two of our own—Hallie Rose Taylor, who was born and raised in SLC, and our newest teammate, Dribbble Senior Product Designer Rogie King—will also be in attendance, so come say hello!
Read more about Salt Lake City’s amazing design scene below.
Tell us what you love about SLC.
I love Salt Lake City because it has such a caring and compassionate culture. People are so nice in this city, and it reflects in our businesses in a way that I don’t feel as much in other cities. It’s also not as huge as, say, San Francisco, which gives it a much more approachable vibe with insanely close mountain wilderness getaways. Being able to drive fifteen minutes and be in an entirely different environment, from the city to deep in a canyon is so awesome. It’s had to rival that.
Tell us where you work, in relation to the rest of SLC.
For the last few years I was working in the heart of Salt Lake City at a beautiful coworking and shared office space called Church & State, where the meetup next week will be. I ran my web design agency called Shelby Company from there. They have great amenities and incredible pricing. It will forever be one of my favorite spots in Salt Lake.
Now I enjoy traveling to different coffee shops and or restaurants around the outer Salt Lake City area to do most of my business work as a full-time freelance interface designer. I find the most inspiration for my design work when I’m exploring and enjoying places, so I try to travel around in order to experience different areas and people. It’s hard to focus on design in a coffee shop or public area. Because of that, I found the best place for me to design is in a private room with great lighting and a welcoming, minimalist vibe free of distraction.
Tell us about the SLC’s design scene.
We have a great design scene and it’s growing every year. There’s so much talent here. But I feel we are still overlooked often as a design hub, even with some of our local agencies getting huge clientele. I think we’re just on the verge of being noticed for what we’re really made of, and becoming all we can be. We all strive for a better design community, and it’s showing. I can’t wait to see where the entire scene moves to over the next few years.
Choose three shots from SLC Dribbblers you admire, and tell us what you like about each one.
Quick logo for a bud by Scott Jones, above left.
Scott is one of the coolest designers in Salt Lake City. He is an excellent identity designer and a super rad person to know. If you’re a serious designer in Salt Lake City, you probably already know him. In this shot he designed the logo for my Utah Creative Campout we are hosting this August. The event will be full of great design talks and workshops and he absolutely crushed this design.
Delete animation poof! by Rogie King, above center.
Rogie moves to Salt Lake City pretty recently and he is constantly pushing out insanely high-quality work. He inspires me to be more creative in my design work. I love this shot because it just bleeds his personality.
Assista iOs App by Alina Rapp, above right.
Alina is a very talented designer and she recently designed this shot as part of an Adobe XD Playoff. I especially love the dark UI, as I feel it is in line with personal design style. She really did a great job on this one, and as a fellow XD user I’m so glad to see other locals getting involved in opportunities like that!
Big thanks to Zac for hosting this event!
Can’t make it on July 11th? Keep up on meetups in your area or start your own? Details at Dribbble Meetups.
Find more Meetups stories on our blog Courtside. Have a suggestion? Contact stories@dribbble.com.
