Flaticon Contributor Vitaliy Gorbachev Talks About Inspiration And Most Important Things In His Life
Tell us a little bit about yourself? Where are you from and do you have any hobbies?
My name is Vitaly, I was born and raised in Kazakhstan and currently, I live in a big city in the south capital of the country – Almaty. I would say what I like the most is to make people around me happy. It might sound a bit vague, but I dedicate a lot of time “contributing to happiness”, hence helping people as much as I can to make their life easier and better. Sometimes, all you need is a person who you can talk to and I am that person. When I have spare time I try to travel and shoot some videos about it and my work, and at the weekend I’m working on developing my application and some more products. This is my hobby – to help people and constantly evolve and try new things.
What made you originally want to become a designer?
When I was about 16 years old I had two hobbies: music and photography. First one developed into something serious, I’ve had two recording studios with professional equipment and this hobby went along with the design until 2016. Yet photography was my passion. It all began with processing, then a collage, typography, web design, illustrations, applications and iconography. This path began in 2008 and continues to this day. I work with the iconography for just 9 months now and I’m not going to stop. Honestly, I do not know what made me become a designer, I just liked it then and I still like it, after all these years.
Tell us a bit about your journey as a designer.
In 2008 I started taking pictures, but not professionally of course, only for myself. A little bit later, I began to take it more seriously, so I started with professional retouching and creating digital photos and shortly after with social media design. One day some company asked me to create a website for them, and yet I did not know how to do it at that time, I was managed to quickly learn it and took the job. Few years after that, I got a job in a company in Australia, where we developed 12 templates for Themeforest – it was 2016. Working in a team helped me quickly improve my skills and I was really into web design at that time. By 2017 I chose a larger goal, to get into the best design studio in Kazakhstan. They hired me and I got to work with many international brands, which was great. At some point, I’ve got my interest in iconography and I quit the company, so I started to make my product and got a job in Flaticon where I am now. I really appreciate the response from people and from the world.
How would you describe your style? Where do you find inspiration and ideas for new designs?
I would not say that I have a certain visual style if you look at my icons portfolio. I’m not looking for that. I like to play with forms and to look for something new. But I have certain filters of what the work should look like, of course. If these filters can be called style, then I can easily answer visual simplicity, ease, and most importantly the need for a product. As for inspiration, I believe it can be found everywhere. I find it on my way to the office, spending time with good people while dreaming or eventually when I’m scrolling the Dribbble. But if we talk about visual inspiration, I used to look at different industries: typography, digital, motion, calligraphy – it’s all inspiring. From these industries, you can also take ideas for new projects.
Ideas are all around you, if you see that something is missing, you need to do it. For example, I see that it’s very difficult to find a huge collection of icons for mobile interfaces in the style of the material design, which means I will just do it, I will help the others designers and I myself will need it. It’s simple.
What pieces of work are you most proud of and why?
I am proud of certain stages in the work on icons. My first work was a transport set. Why exactly this one? It was the first time I realized that people lack the variety of visualization in one style, so I created the collection keeping that in mind. Now I’m proud of every work in the style of the material design because I have a purpose to create the largest collection of icons for mobile interfaces. Just imagine, there are more than 200 unique topics that affect almost everything you can think of. This is a colossal job, I spend 5 hours a day on one topic and it’s very cool to do, so I am enjoying it.
What made you want to become a contributor to Flaticon? What are the benefits of uploading your work?
Well, that’s easy. Flaticon is the most claimed microstock of icons in the world. My words can be easily checked by the number of visits to the resource. These guys can only lag behind the big drains that deal with all the graphics (photo, video, vector, etc.), but in the market of icons, they are exactly the first with a large margin! The advantages of working are obvious when you start working. First, a flexible contract system, you can work by yourself, you can work on exclusivity. Secondly, the manager has a lightning speed of response. Thirdly, an automated system for checking icons. Fourth is the guidelines for designers. None of the icon microstock has these four advantages, which is why I only work with this icon microstock.
What advice do you have for designers who want to become on contributors on Flaticon?
Look for new ideas to implement your product. Let’s not create what is internet full with. If you really like Flaticon, let’s help it become better and better. The more quality products there are, the more successful will be you and company that is using your icons.
What tips would you give to budding designers?
No matter what you do, it’s important how you do it. If you are not working at your max, why are you doing this? You can become a successful designer for a year, or you can become a nobody in your whole life. The designer is the creator. If you want to create, then do it with a great desire and responsibility.
