Esperanto Thailand - Tintin Supawich

Tintin
Supawich

Passionate Digital Designer who loves to play with colors. Loves to stay at home chilling every weekend.

LocationBANGKOK, Thailand

DateFEBRUARY 22, 2018

Introduction
The meetup

I met Tintin in Bangkok in his office’s lobby along with my friend Vincent Tandardini who was working with him at the time. We sat down and talked for a few hours before heading to the restaurant for dinner.

Listen preview

Design is not that popular in Thailand so I had no idea about my future if I was to learn about the design.

Chapter 01
About the designer

Hey Tintin, thanks for having me ! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hey I'm Tintin, I'm from Thailand. I’m 27. I graduated from art school and then I was a bit bored about it so I decided to switch to graphic design. I love to stay home, I’m not a person who loves to go out so much. I do freelance from home mostly but sometimes you can catch me watching YouTube or playing game with friends. I’m From Chiang Rai, North of Thailand. It’s a pretty cool city surrounded by mountains. I’m gonna say I’m a bit shy, I don’t talk much with people who I don’t feel close with. I rather be listening than talking to be honest.

Ebay Redesign Concept

When did you decide to be a designer?

Design was not really popular in Thailand at that time so I didn't know that designer could be a job I could do for a living. Art was my favorite topic back in High school and I decided to keep digging that way.

I see a lot of hand brushed and handwritten types in your design. How would you describe your work?

It's a hard question. I love to play with bright colors, gradients and shadows. A lot of the time I can’t use my own style for client's work that's why I put it on dribble as a kind of fun experimentations.
When it comes to client work, I have a lot of constraints and the visual guidelines are already in place so that's why it's hard to put my own style in top of all of that.

Pulse Mate

What is your favorite part in your job?

I really love learning new things and here at Line, I get to learn a lot about customer journeys and customer behaviors. I'm working with a team of around 10 people and I can learn from all of them.
Each of us has ownership in a part of the product we are making so I don't have to argue with anyone to have my decision come across.

What does a typical day look like at Line ?

I will try to answer in a way where I'm not gonna be fired. Everyday is busy and different. I usually come at the office at 9:30 am and have a breakfast with the team. I work until lunch time. We usually eat inside the office where we have a food gathering but sometimes we do get outside. I then get back to work. Sometimes I have meeting with stakeholders and business people to help refine the projects during the afternoon.

Aestro / Glad Traveler

Maybe you don't have the right to say it but: can you tell us what you are working on at the moment?

Sure. I'm currently working on a product to help businesses promote their product into the Line Chat but I can’t really share it. I can share an eBay redesign I’m currently working on because the current website is quite complex to me so I worked on it to make it more clear and more user friendly.

Where do you find your inspiration?

It depends actually. Mostly my inspiration comes from Dribble and Pinterest. Sometimes when I'm looking for a particular style, I dig the work of someone that is mastering this particular style.

Chalar

When you get stuck creatively, what do you do to get unstuck?

Go to bed, sleep and rest. I would like to say something smarter and clever but I’d rather not lie. Is that a bad answer?

It's not! What do you do to learn new things and keep growing ?

I find references and I practice a lot! It could be from tutorials or asking someone that knows how to do this thing already. I try to spend a lot of time learning new things because it’s really important for me.

Khao Sok National Park, Thailand - © Robin Noguier

Chapter 02
The design industry in Thailand

How will you describe the Design Industry in Thailand?

Tricky question. I would say it's a little bit more popular than 10 years ago but we don't have a lot of big companies that lead the design culture in our country. We are trying to build that culture at Line but it's a lot of work and it takes time.
A big problem is that Thai people don’t think Design is hard to do (but most of them don’t have any design skills) so they pay designers really low wages.
The big companies in this country which pay well for designer will hire foreign designers to work for them because most of the Thai designers are under qualified in Design and also in english. There is still rooms for a lot of talented young Thai designers!

Tintin in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand

What is your advice for someone who wants to be a designer in Thailand?

I know the market in Thailand is really small and lot of designers don’t get well paid here. but believe me: there is money and opportunities here in Thailand. I just want to tell them to never stop learning new things and believe in your passion and have faith. It’s really important not to have a big ego and just be humble. I also want to tell them to listen to all the feedbacks, consider them and improve themselves
Last thing, practice English!!! You will get paid a lot more if you can communicate in English. Now go ahead. Keep working hard. Follow your heart. If you want to be a designer, I think it's better to learn by yourself as you can learn everything online. If you want to go to a school, make sure the classes are good.