My journey as a
self-made designer
My passion for design started at a very young age, way before I put a hand on a computer mouse.
I was obsessed with graphic design, spending countless hours creating various newspapers, fictional advertisements, and role-playing character sheets. My tools were pencils, rulers, papers, stencils, x-acto knives and the school photocopier.
Then the school bought Macintosh SEs, and all my time was spent learning computer graphics, doing everything I loved, but now with MacPaint. From there grew my passion for computers and everything digital.
Unable to find a job after I graduated in civil engineer, I was lost and didn’t know what I really want to do for a living. A friend of mine invited me to work for a computer magazine his team was publishing, but as a salesman. I went, but end up participating at everything except for what I was hired! This is where I created my first digital product, a CRM done with FileMaker for the sales team to manage their contacts, followups, and contracts.
In 1994, when I discovered the Internet through the lens of the Mosaic browser, I immediately knew what I wanted to do with my life: design Websites. It was at the right intersection of art and science. I taught myself Photoshop and HTML while creating and publishing a popular Star Wars fan site. A year later, that same site, landed me a job in an interactive agency as a web designer and developer.
In 1994, I taught myself Photoshop and HTML while creating and publishing a popular Star Wars fan site.
From there, I moved from one company to another, changing roles, until the dotcom bubble burst in 2000. Without a job, I decide to co-found an interactive studio with my friend Jean-Michel Ghoussoub, Uranium Design (now U92). It was probably the worst moment to start a digital business, but we were both naive and full of ambition. We won our first contract with Club Med against a giant competitor and hired our first employee.
End of 2003, marks my debut in creative agency and my specialization as user experience designer. Sid Lee is certainly where I learned the most in my career, working on gigantic-scale sites such as Aeroplan, Best Buy, Cirque du Soleil, Vins de France, Red Bull and MGM Grand, for which we won countless awards including a prestigious Cannes Lions.
2003, marks my debut in creative agency and my specialization as user experience designer.
I moved to CloudRaker at the end of 2006 as director of user experience, overseeing a small team. There I create concepts and interactive strategies for brands like Air Canada, Asics, Bell Canada, eBay, Heineken, Lise Watier, Le Massif, Molson, Volvo and Yves Rocher.
Come 2007, the iPhone is launched in the United States. I'm doing everything to buy one on eBay and find a way to unlock it so it works in Canada. The following year, the App Store is unveiled, and I understand that the future will be mobile. I install whatever apps I can and start exploring mobile app design in my spare time.
In 2007 the iPhone is launched, and I understand the future is mobile.
In 2010, I decided to become independent and founded my consulting business, Wyze.ly. In the beginning, I worked with marketing agencies, like Cosette, LG2, Sid Lee and small studios like Deux Huit Huit, but gradually focused my practice toward product design for mobile and web applications in various industries.