Camille Van Vyve
19 May 2021
Meet John from easyvest
John Makowski, 35, two children. Home : Genappe. Title : Head of Product Design.
When joining easyvest, you had another proposal on the table. What tipped the scales?
There are two things that are important to me in choosing a mission: the people and the vision of the product. Here, the two offers were equal on a human level, but I was more attracted by the prospects offered by easyvest regarding the product. It's about building something that doesn't exist yet - at least for the pension part - rather than improving an existing product. This is what I find particularly exciting.
What is the role of a product designer?
It materializes the management’s vision into a product. It makes the idea of this product understandable, and then usable, for the end customer. This involves familiarizing yourself with all facets of the business: technological, legal, commercial.
What's your favorite tool?
Figma. It's a brilliant, super powerful tool, perfect for collaborating and "co-creating" an application project. After the analysis phase of the user problem, we design the product step by step in Figma. First in the form of maps that allow you to view the user's journey. Then in the form of prototypes that always include more visual elements. After validating the user's understanding through filmed interviews, we support the technical team during the development phase, ensuring that all aspects of design, navigation and interactions designed in Figma are correctly transposed into production.
Who has the final say: the user or the product designer?
It depends on the definition we give to the word "build". Taking users' ideas too much into consideration during the testing phase can become a trap, even if great ideas sometimes emerge from these discussions. In doing so, many companies end up designing products with too many features, often not very innovative, because as a user, we usually suggest ideas that we already know. Who would have wanted a phone without a keypad back then? Steve Jobs had an idea, he validated it functionally with his users. And it was a hit. In my opinion, it is therefore more the product designer and his team who build the product.
What's the app you couldn’t live without?
I am addicted to Duolingo, a language learning app. I use it every day for about 30 minutes to learn Italian, which I always wanted to master. I love the gamification approach that is used in this app and it inspires me a lot for a personal project that aims to decrease the screen time of children.
Someone who has particularly inspired you during your career?
Without hesitation Bart Haedens, who came after me to Keytrade Bank as Head of UX - for “user experience”. He was able to evangelize the company on the subject in a way that inspired me a lot and conveyed to me the value of the "why". By working with him for two years, my work took on another dimension. I am more structured and my methodologies have evolved, which helps me to better share my ideas. I also take a step back: I know that it is my work that is judged - halfway between the technical and the artistic - not me.
Note: This article was written when Easyvest was authorized and regulated by the FSMA as an agent in banking and investment services.