Lunar Le

Bio:

People think I’m insane when I say I’m in love with Print Design. Still, I have faith! But until the day that print makes its huge comeback, I’ve decided to bide my time with Web and Interface Design. My very first website was created on Geocities when I was in 7th grade. I used to tweak and alter codes from Xanga layouts and create my own. So no, I’ve never thought of ever becoming a Web Designer until now.

I was born in Vietnam, raised in NYC, and left my heart in Florence, Italy. I love all forms of creativity and have dabbled in various practices. I have a background in Marketing, PR, and Design, which explains my crazy mixture of roles as part of the Watchlr team. It’s an adventure everyday and quite an exciting time as I begin my career.

• Title: Designer, Marketer, & All-Around-Awesome at Watchlr
• Age: 21
• Location: SoHo
• Contact: @lunar_le, about.me

How did you get involved with the team at Watchlr? What’s your current favorite video on Watchlr right now?

I was never one of those kids that grew up knowing exactly what I wanted to do so I was always exploring my options. I started with a marketing internship with the SyFy channel (back when it was still SciFi), but I didn't want to get a marketing degree. So I chose "Business Communications with a specialization in Graphics" (yes, that is the full name of my major) which is a hybrid of marketing and graphic design.

Studying photography and design in Italy swayed me more towards design and art. So after that and several other internships in graphic design, PR, and marketing, I concluded that the corporate world wasn't for me and determined it shall be the multitasking small agency or startup life.

I started a marketing internship in January with kikin, before Watchlr was born out of kikin. It became clear to us from our user data that people love how easy it was to watch videos from our plug-in and so came Watchlr. They needed a designer and I volunteered to help out until they hired one. They liked what I was doing and stopped looking, and here I am.

My favorite video right now on Watchlr (to fulfill the internet's obsession with cats) is "A box and Maru 8." It's so cute my heart actually hurts. Besides that, it's this awesome animation on Vimeo called "Cubism." I get to watch all these awesome videos and pretend I'm working. It's the best.

While fairly similar, Print Design and Web/Interface Design each have their own unique challenges. What would you say are the biggest differences in working in these two fields? Did you have to face any particular challenges switching to Web/Interface Design?

The one huge difference is the amount of control you have over how the end product is received. In Print Design, you know exactly what color will be printed, how much of the piece will be seen at once, how the paper feels, even down to exactly how much space is in between each letters. With Web Design all of that is almost impossible to control because of all the different screen types and browsers out there.
 
The most challenge part of switching to Web/Interface Design is working out an elaborate grid system and learning how to use it. You’re also designing how users will interact with your website and trying to control where they’ll click next, so it’s a lot of testing, throwing things out, and re-testing. I think that process was something I really had to get use to.

As a Graphic Designer, you have a keen eye for fonts, as evidenced by several of your tweets. Which are your favorites to work with and why? Which can you absolutely not stand?

It wouldn't be fair to pick a favorite type that I like to work with. There's just so many great types out there that it's hard to settle down! It also really depends on the project. Typography hunting is a huge component in any design job so I really try not to use the same ones. I do however have a preference towards sans-serif and slab-serif; I just love how even and symmetrical they are.

As for types that I can't stand, I could go on for days! But besides the obvious of Comic Sans and Papyrus, I would say Optima. As one of my favorite professors used to scream, "Optima doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up! It can't decide if it's a serif or sans-serif!"It has all these slight curves that a sans-serif type shouldn't have while never being truly serif either.

Like many Americans, you seem pretty elated that the NFL lockout has finally come to an end. What team do you root for and why?

As many New Yorkers, I also have a love-hate relationship with the Giants. I find myself rooting for them all the time and just hoping! Then at the end of the game I curse them out and vow to never cheer for them again, but will still keep hoping for change. It's a very unhealthy relationship. I think it's mostly the Manning brothers that drive me crazy. They're so inconsistent, but when they're on, they're ON! I also like watching Michael Vick play. That man has so much talent it shouldn't even be legal.

Don't tell anyone though, I mostly watch Football just so I could scream violently and it's perfectly acceptable.