Yaraku-Jin <VOL.17>

Yaraku Designer

Andrea Lanza

Where are you from?

I’m from Borgio Verezzi, a small town near Genoa, Italy. And I’ve lived in Tokyo for two years.

Borgio Verezzi

What do you do at Yaraku?

I am a UI/UX designer, mostly working on UI. But since I’m the only designer in Yaraku, sometimes I create flyers, banners, presentation designs, and other graphics needed by different teams.

The Reason Behind Why He Became a Designer: Just Because It’s Cool!

Did you study design anywhere?

I have a master degree in industrial design and a certification in UX/UI design.

What got you interested in design in the first place?

The only reason I studied design is because I thought it was cool. I wanted to sound cool if someone asked me “what are you studying?”

Cool! How do you overcome times when you can’t come up with any ideas?

I do a lot of research into what other designers are doing in the same situation, and why they are doing it. Some people think design is a creative job and that’s true. But especially web design, UI/UX designs are not very creative jobs. There’s a lot of rules to follow and if you have a problem, probably someone has already solved it somewhere. So research is really important.

Do you like creative work or following rules?

In the past, I was more drawn to purely creative work – like graphic design, which feels very free, even though it still has its own set of rules. But as I moved into UI design, I began to really appreciate the value of rules and structure. In UI, if you don’t follow them, the design simply doesn’t work or look right.

Now I see rules as the base. Once they’re in place, you can still be creative and make something that feels cool and polished. For users, looks matter a lot – if two products work the same, people usually pick the one that looks better. That’s why I’ve been focusing on learning more about design systems and principles.

Italy to Australia, Japan, and Finally Yaraku

What brought you to Japan?

Well, I met my ex-girlfriend, who is Japanese, while I was in Australia. I moved to Japan with her, and I joined a boot camp to study UI/UX design. Since it was an Italian boot camp, after completing it I started working for a company in Italy. After that, I went back and forth between Japan and Italy for a while, and eventually I settled down in Kiyosumi Shirakawa.

How did you reach Yaraku?

When I came to Japan, I still had my Italian job, but I wanted to find a job in Japan, so I started looking on LinkedIn. Then I found Yaraku’s job post and applied for a designer position, and had interviews with Suguru, the CEO; Jonas, the CTO; and Yurii, the manager of the app team. And it was just really fun. I didn’t know if I passed the interview, but I remember in the interview with Jonas and Yurii, we laughed almost the whole time. Jonas sometimes said, ‘Okay, we have to talk about work now.’ A bit of interviewing, and then laughing again. I was lucky.

A Shift in His Attitude as a Designer, Sparked by Yaraku

How has Yaraku been for you so far? Do you like it?

I like it. Before Yaraku, I worked at a digital agency, where we had a lot of different clients and different kinds of projects. But in Yaraku, our main product is Yaraku Translate, so I was worried that it could be a bit boring. But it turned out it wasn’t, because the company has a really fast environment. We have to create a lot of mockups, a lot of features all the time and validate them. So it’s definitely not boring, and I think I’m more active than I was at my previous job.

Since joining Yaraku, have you noticed any changes in the way you think or approach things?

I think there have been positive changes. I think I’m changing from an agency designer, who will have just one project and do what you have to do, to more like an in-house designer who puts all the philosophy and all the things together and tries to design for everything in the company. So I have a broad vision of the company now. That’s also what I’m trying to do. It’s not too easy for me, but I think I’m getting better and more proactive in talking with different teams. Also, from now on, I’m excited because we are going to have user interviews where the user will use the app and we will watch what they are doing. So I think we can have some really good insights.

Working at Yaraku – Honest and Open Teamwork

What do you think is the charm of our company and the tool?

For the company, I think the people are great. There’s no one behaving like they’re superior that says, “You have to do like this, I don’t care what you say.” We always have discussions, and it is easy to talk with everyone. And the work environment is also good.

I think Yaraku Translate is a great tool. It has all the features I need, and even though I’m not a translator, I can still find the right ones. I think everyone should use it.

What kind of people would you like to work with?

Well, I would like to work with someone who is proactive, not afraid to make mistakes, wants to learn things, and whom I can get along with. I think skills can be learned later.

In Yaraku, I think I have met really good professionals, so I’m really happy. Recently I’m working with a member from the Customer Success team. He’s really calm, never gets upset, and knows a lot about Yaraku. And even if he’s really polite and calm, he has his own opinion and is not afraid to say it. And I think that’s the most important part for me because I’m alone as a designer and I can’t do everything. But talking and gathering ideas are important in design, so it’s good that someone doesn’t hold back their feedback. Some Japanese people are afraid to ask or afraid to say “no, I don’t like this design” because they think they will hurt my feelings, but it’s just work, so it’s OK. So I really like his attitude.