Vera Scarce originally trained in art criticism and worked at the world-famous State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg as part of their Youth Educational Centre, where she lectured and worked on ground-breaking contemporary art exhibitions. After being enlisted to work on design projects for the museum, she discovered a new passion in digital design, graphics, UI and UX.
With her immense and deep knowledge of composition, form, and criticism with her exceptional skills as a UX/UI designer and Webflow developer, she is perfectly positioned to help clients bring outstanding website designs to life, by combining her talents and perspectives with their vision and brand identity.
My higher educational background was in the arts and humanities. In my time at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Science at St Petersburg State University, I studied art of the 20th century.
As a girl growing up in Russia, I wasn’t really encouraged to learn computer skills, but I think my art background gave me a great technical foundation and eye for design. Understanding how 20th century art evolved and being able to analyse it, especially the abstract work, you grasp that every designer has their rules, composition, and balance, so that transition to making my own designs went quite smoothly.
I was employed at the Hermitage Museum and as the only person who could open and use photoshop I became involved in designing for them – this included web and graphic design as well designs for things like booklets, flyers and printed assets. This was alongside the work I was doing in their educational department.
I had to do a lot of research and learn by myself, but I discovered I really liked the practical side of design, creating something people could interact with and held a purpose – this is what encouraged me to shift from more theoretical work to design work.
I took a very hands-on approach: I did a lot of studying by myself and also enrolled in a classroom-based introduction to design course as well as an online design course, and then completed a comprehensive course on design and earned a Masters in Graphic Design. I also completed a UI/UX Design course with Google and I’m in enrolled in coding bootcamp.
This is what I love about the design profession, you never stop learning! Particularly with web design, how people interact with web pages is always changing and evolving, which is why I always have to stay on top of recent trends and data that informs UI/UX.
Alongside working for Digital360, I also volunteer as a design mentor for people who are interested in working in design and/or switching careers. As well as this, I work with the charitable foundation Future Free who are providing humanitarian aid for Ukrainian citizens. Part of what I really enjoy about mentorship is the communication involved, guiding people through their options, and explaining how something works and the decisions they could make.
So much of this seeps into the work I do with clients. Clients will understandably say they want this or that with their website or as part of the digital strategy, but because I’m able to get to know them, their business, and their competitors, I understand what they want to achieve and how to achieve it. We can then work together to make purposeful, data driven decisions about their website designs.
If you don’t work in web design, you might think you need to fit a lot on to a page, but what is important is designing the page in a way that resonates with your audience, so I’m able to ask them ‘Why do you think you need this? Why don’t we try this option instead?’ and the process feels very organic. Alongside this, I really like being connected to a professional community of designers with the ongoing training I’m doing. I feel like this community and my clients are always pushing me to elevate the work I create.
My work hasn’t just been focused on web designs. For one of our clients this year, Pinnacle FC, I worked with them to help create their brand identity and website. They came to us with a logo idea, I gave them a questionnaire to help me ascertain what they would like, and from there developed their whole visual identity, including their logo, typography, colour palette, offline flyers and photo style. They can now use this across all their digital platforms.
When I was working on their website I really wanted to try and experiment with layouts and ho something slightly different than what we had been doing. The website was complemented with authentic photography and well-written copy, and they were involved throughout the process and were very inspired by the work we were doing.
I also recently developed Digital360’s new website with Webflow. Being positioned as both a designer and developer really gives you a 360 view of the entire process getting a website from a concept and wireframes to the finished product. As both developer and designer, I’m able to identify and understand the necessity behind every decision, every button, every reason for why a page is laid out in a particular way.
With my experiences in art, design, mentoring and web development, I’m in a confident position to give clients the total Digital360 experience they need for their brand to truly thrive online.
People judge your website in a matter of seconds, so it’s necessary you get and hold their attention immediately. A visually outstanding website is important, but I make sure the design I do is always informed by website analytics and data and ensure I understand the figures I’m looking at.
With this data, I know how users will best interact with your website, how to get them to complete an action and navigate your website. Ultimately, you need them to reach a goal when they land on your website and knowing how they can reach that goal with UI/UX is how you can ensure your website stands out.
At Digital360, we have a horizontal structure to our team, so we’re very collaborative and I can reach out to anyone for help, and they can reach out to me. I’m working very closely with our Film Maker and Photographer Joel Wood and John Ferguson. From our research, we discovered that our clients are very interested in incorporating professional video and photography into their web designs.
We’re currently finding new ways to combine our strengths so that together we can deliver a wonderful website with original video and smooth functionality. We have a lot of freedom to make suggestions both to one another and our clients and try something new in our work. We’re in a prime position to create truly unique web designs for clients and give them the attention and dedication they need.”
At Digital360, we don’t work as atomised individuals. We depend upon a collaborative and holistic approach to everything we do to create the premium finished article for our clients. Right now, we’re working with clients to help them tell a new story.
If you want to find out more about how Digital360 can create a premium website for your business with Vera’s stellar web designs, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
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