Alumni Bio – Vincent Merle
BFA Communication Design ’19 and BA Economics ’19 (New York)
During his time at Parsons, Vincent was keen on exploring subjects that went beyond his core curriculum, he notably became quite interested in interaction design and web design. His first steps in the professional world were, however, very much in line with his Parsons major; he first went for the more traditional graphic design route.
His career started in creative agencies, mostly working on advertising and branding projects, across a variety of mediums. Over time, his interest for Digital Experience Design grew. He really was fascinated by the idea of capturing audiences’ attention – just like in traditional communication design projects – but then holding that attention through an interactive product, through micro-interactions and interfaces; to him this really presented a new challenge within the practice of design. He found it exhilarating and definitely wanted to specialize in that.
While in New York, he worked freelance UI/UX jobs, notably as the Lead Product Designer for a German social media app. Upon return to his native France, Vincent then fully moved to a Product Designer role (also known as UX/UI Designer). Vincent joined a promising tech startup as their first and sole Product Designer where he was lucky enough to build the product and its design foundation from the ground up (lots of interfaces and flows, but also a design system). This job was the one that really powered his Product Design career. Today, he works as a Product Designer at Trainline, Europe’s leading coach and rail travel app, helping millions of customers choose rail and coach.
What Vincent loves about his job is having to think about all the details that will make a difference in how people use a product, and ultimately the impact that has on users’ everyday lives. What Parsons has brought Vincent in his practice is priceless; the extremely solid artistic and design foundations, as well as the constant will of pushing the boundaries of the discipline to always offer the best experience to an audience, critical to his everyday work, even being in tech! Additionally, not many people working in tech come from Art and Design schools. Parsons has definitely given Vincent awareness and sensitivity on core principles, visual trends, composition and hierarchy awareness, typography, color, etc.
Vincent’s advice to future graduates is to really bring what Parsons is teaching you into your professional lives; not only skill-wise but, attitude-wise as well. Don’t be afraid to go beyond your comfort zone, try mediums/practices that you are not familiar with. Design is needed everywhere, and evolving quickly everywhere; as a Parsons future grad, you have an invaluable advantage to be able to meet those needs!
See more of Vincent’s work here and below.
