Meet the Magnopians: George Nerkowski
Geoge Nerkowski is a Senior Designer at Magnopus and has worked on numerous projects including Dubai Expo 2020, Nissan World of Electric Vehicles AR Experience and Weavr. Initially studying Graphic Design at University, he landed his first job at VR Studio REWIND at the age of 21 and has been designing immersive experiences ever since. His main focus is to create user-centered experiences that are not only functional but also fun, beautiful and engaging.
What do you do at Magnopus?
I'm a Senior Designer, and my role varies based on the project stage. At the start of a project, the design team works closely with clients to dissect their brief and make it tangible for the rest of the team.
We advocate for users throughout the process, making sure that every element of an experience has the end user in mind and is designed for them. Throughout a project, we work closely with the art and engineering departments defining interactions, mechanics, and features through prototyping and documentation.
During the delivery phase, we’ll assist with development wherever we can. We’ll ensure that the design intent is met at every step of the experience. If necessary, we’ll tweak the design to accommodate any changes. These can often arise due to technical limitations, user testing, or client feedback.
What made you decide to pursue a career in this field?
Gaming was a huge part of it for me. I loved playing games and when I started looking at careers I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go into 3D modelling, animation, or graphic design. I made a lot of games using Flash when I was a kid, and I thought you know what? I’m kind of good at the design part of this. So I went to university, studied graphic design, and then won a competition that REWIND was running and ended up being offered a job. It all just fell into place really.
What piece of advice would you give to someone who wanted to start out in your line of work?
Experiment and get hands-on with everything. At school, you will be taught the basics, but it’s up to you to get stuck into things like Photoshop and learn how to code. You’ll make mistakes, and things will look rubbish, but it all helps make you better in the long run. There are so many free courses out there, just get learning.
As long as you are passionate about design, it will never really feel like work. Also, YouTube is your friend - if you don’t know how to do something, chances are someone has solved your problem in a video on YouTube.
What is one app, or software, you couldn’t do your job without?
If you took Figma away from me, I’d probably cry. It’s replaced Illustrator for 90% of the things I need and it’s just fantastic for UI design, mockups and web design. It’s as good as Illustrator but without the frustration and complexity…and with less crashing.
What’s your favourite thing to do when you’re not working?
A few friends and I bought a go-kart and race semi-professionally. Every weekend we’re down at the track trying to get our lap times down and learning how to fix a kart because none of us know anything about mechanics! It’s really exhilarating and feels amazing when you beat a previous lap time.
What are you reading/listening to right now?
I’m not one for reading, but I am using Duolingo to learn French at the moment. I’m on a 800 day streak which I’m pretty proud of! I love to go skiing in France and I’ve always wanted to be able to communicate with locals, now I feel like I’m getting to the point where I can understand a conversation.
If you could have any other job in the world, what would it be?
I think I’d make a good instructor or coach. I’d love to teach people how to ski, living in the mountains and being able to ski every day sounds like a brilliant lifestyle. Or maybe teach indoor skydiving! I went indoor skydiving once and the trainers there were just the epitome of cool - they were backflipping all over the place and doing epic tricks, I was slightly jealous.
