The Bolder idea is quite simple. It was last spring when Andrea Montini was contacted by the Envato’s team. They were wondering if he'd be interested to work at one kit of graphic templates for mobile apps, to be sold through the new category of Themeforest dedicated to the tool of Bohemian Coding, or Sketch. This looked as a simple yet extremely exciting proposal, so Andrea started to work at that project immediately. While using his free time to manage it, he gave himself a very clear objective: total creativity and fun. He was thinking “OK, I have no customers’ briefs to listen, I can do what I want”. And this is exactly what happened, after some months of hard working. Due to some delay, the project went live after the summer, however the result has been really satisfactory both for him and for Envato’s team.

Despite the fact that no brief has been provided for this project, I wanted to be sure that the product, intended for sale, was properly designed in order to appear interesting and, even more important, useful for the potential buyers. Therefore I decided to focus my attention on the creation of 60-70 screens ready to use, divided into 4 main categories (i.e. the most commonly used). As far as the visual style and the graphics are concerned, I have since the beginning thought to explore the possibilities offered by the full design, full of meanings, color and intensity. Hence the name Bolder: an intense and vibrating style, enhanced through depth effects and overlapping (increased by using diffused shadows and gradients). The colors themselves have been chosen following the market trends: while the blue is somehow a standard color, when coupled to the white (adopted for the principal background of the screens) it produces a pleasant and modern result. On the other hand, I could not forget that the product should have been very easy to modify and user friendly, consequently the risk was to create confusion with a too rich “palette” of colors.
-Andrea Montini

During the years at the University, I have followed a course on the History of Architecture. Studying those ancient examples, and particularly the masterpieces of the classic Greece, I literally felt in love with the extreme care paid by the architects of the 5th century to their projects. The beauty of those buildings is absolutely based upon the application of principles like proportion, symmetry and golden ratio.
-Andrea Montini

Nowadays, designers are very familiar with those concepts, of course. Le Corbusier, a French architect of the XIX century, wrote a famous treatise, “De Architectura”, which contains his own definition of the concept of beauty, so clearly expressed by classic Greek architectures. He said that the beauty is something that stimulates or strikes the right not of the soul, belonging to all human beings, and when it happens an immediate sensation of pleasure, wellness and satisfaction is felt. This is only possible when each single detail can be controlled, and nothing is left to chance. This is also what I believe, this is my scope: I refuse to consider my work as the ability to sit in front of the computer screen counting the clicks and moving forms within a certain software, I’m rather committed to create that feeling of harmony inside the persons who will use what I have designed.
-Andrea Montini

I normally use three important elements in my works, and one of those is a consequence of the first two. I can’t give up two things: diffused shadows and color gradations. I believe that these elements not only create a sense of harmony and pleasure is created, but also can be extremely functional. When wisely used, shadows and gradations originate the third element, namely depth. Furthermore, they produce very interesting final results, not just in terms of beauty – which can be confirmed only by the practical use of a certain product. Shadows, gradations, light effects and depth all contribute to the function itself: the mixture of those elements can lead to success or create the flop of a digital interface. My source of inspiration? The natural world. I like travelling, and I have discovered that this helps me a lot to deliver new and creative ideas. On top of that, a daily dose of Dribble, Behance, DailyUI, etc.
-Andrea Montini

Be enthusiastic. Maybe I’m not the right person to give advice, since my pathway was not a linear one and I have discovered only later on what I would have liked to do. It was perhaps the passion that has brought me where I’m now, despite the troubles and uncertainties. Should you feel that design, art and creativity are something that could replace oxygen (in a figurative sense, be careful!), then you should follow that way. From time to time, you can steel ideas, but be smart: modify and play with others’ ideas, it is absolutely normal . And learn to learn, there is no limit from that standpoint.
-Andrea Montini

I think that too often people try to be innovative from the point of view of the user interface, and this is wrong. To use one color or the other, a particular gradation or a visual effect never see before is not an innovation. To design a good UI is just a matter of function, coordination with the rest of the project and design process: this is where innovation can and must be done. Basically, when I start an UI project, I know already which elements I’m going to use, where I will place them and how many different elements can be combined in one single page/screen. Two things are important when designing an UI, apart from the pure style (which is related to everyone’s personal taste): function and dynamic states (did you consider all of them: over, active, pressed, etc…, correct?!). The developers do care a lot about them, therefore make them happy, as much as possible…
-Andrea Montini

Andrea Montini

Andrea Montini is a Digital Designer, living and working in Milan, Italy. He plans, design and prototype mobile products for iOS and Android platform. Andrea thinks that this job is his life and he's and more convinced that this is what fits perfectly his expectations. See more of his works on Behance or his website.