Selma-Rachel Swire is the Chief Executive Officer at Cue Studio (based in Brooklyn, New York), listed on 50Pros as a top 50 firm in Branding and User Experience.
In this Q&A, Selma-Rachel shares her in-depth perspective, unique background, robust experiences, and insightful tips.
I've been working as a commercial artist since the age of 14 when I was an illustrator for the Sun Sentinel in Florida. Since then, I've always been designing logos or making creative work with other people in some capacity.
I studied at the Rhode Island School of Design where I majored in Graphic Design. When I graduated, the first job I landed happened to be as a Visual Designer alongside my Creative Director/Principal UX. This was back in 2010, so the ubiquity of smartphones was only just beginning. I worked at a number of agencies, as well as in-house. I learned a LOT about the industry and about the different ways creative services teams operated, for better and for worse.
In 2015 I started working at a boutique digital agency, which is where I truly began to hone my UX Leadership skills. Cue Studio is founded on similar traditions of this boutique agency, with strong skill sets in design leadership, research, experience design, and visual design.
Cue was founded because there was a gap in the market for outstanding user experience design fused with elegant and beautiful visual design that resonated with the company's brand and propelled it forward. Often a design agency might be better at UX than visual design and branding, or they might make websites that look really cool but don't function as well as they could.
At Cue, we know how to take traditional brand guidelines and adapt them to the needs of your digital product. We always start from a user-first perspective, empathizing with the target audience to make their lives easier. We take the time to consider our client's particular audience needs and preferences in order to create work that is easy-to-use and completely original.
I love spending time outdoors. Getting off my computer and off my phone is extremely important. I think our brains are still evolving to manage the complexity of the world today and the changes that technology has made in our lives. It's very important for me to reconnect with nature when I'm not at work.
"Do what you love, and don't give up." It's not the most uncommon piece of advice, but for me, it rings true every day.
I can't imagine a job I'd love more than collaborating with clients to solve their business problems using creativity. On top of that, Cue is an awesome place for designers and clients to collaborate. It is not easy to run a boutique design studio, that's for sure, but I know our service is top-notch and I'm confident that we have a lot of greatness to share with the world.
I love getting into nature -- gardening, hiking, the beach, anything outside. Also, my kids and I really enjoy doing art together. It's really inspiring to see the lack of inhibition, openness, and joy that kids bring to art.
When we first started, we primarily got business by word-of-mouth. We're grateful to our network of clients who boast about our work!
We still primarily get business via word-of-mouth, but we are starting to look at outbound marketing techniques to widen our potential audience.
All members of the team at Cue Studio are constantly pushing themselves and each other to learn new skills. We are continually adapting to new technological changes as more clients embrace Web3 technology. We study design and industry trends from a macro and micro perspective, and we meet every day where we discuss industry news and learnings.
In addition, each designer at Cue Studio also has monthly and quarterly goals to track growth and progress within their given skillsets. This helps ensure that everyone is growing their skill sets, becoming a more "T-shaped designer," and contributing to overall organizational advancement.
Lastly, we reward trying new things! We have a very open and friendly culture where we are encouraged to bring new ideas and perspectives to the table in order to help the team. Creating an atmosphere of trust amongst the team, and even with clients, enables great ideas to come forward.
We are constantly reading articles, researching trends, attending conferences, and meeting with other industry practitioners. In order to maintain our position as a leading UX and UI Design Firm, we at Cue Studio must ensure that our methods are up-to-date and our creative work is top-notch.
People who are thinking from a user-first perspective will have a competitive edge. Technology is constantly advancing, new tools and methods are always being created. Everyone wants to be a part of the "next hot thing." But if we are thinking first about our customer and our end user, empathizing with them to ensure their needs are met, then we can be confident we will be creating better digital products and experiences...no matter where the future of tech may take us. That empathy and human-first perspective is one that we champion at Cue Studio.
When a company is interested in collaborating with Cue, we really want to hear where you are at as a business to understand how we can best help support your needs. Whether your product is not meeting the expectations of your audience, or if it could be easier to use, we listen to our clients needs and craft a plan that fits their now, next and future.
Our outstanding track record with clients comes down to our obsession over detail, up-communication, transparency in process, and follow-through with results.
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