About — Hansel Soans
Hansel
About

I started with sound. Somehow, I ended up designing screens.

Portrait of me

From sound to screens.

The industries kept changing along the way. The thing I kept coming back to didn’t.

SoundToolsSystemsInterfaces
  1. 01 · Sound

    I started out around music. I was a sound engineer and an avid music fan, producing music and working with analog gear before moving deeper into digital tools. Even then, I was curious about how tools worked and how people used them.

  2. 02 · Build · 2018

    In 2018, I started an e-commerce website. It didn’t work out, but it taught me that building something is very different from having an idea. Decisions have consequences, the customer matters, and the product has to work as a business. It’s what pushed me toward UX.

  3. 03 · UX

    So I went deeper into UX. I kept learning and practising, and eventually got my first opportunity in the field. That’s where my career as a designer really began.

  4. 04 · Product design

    From there, the work grew into product design: fintech, insurance, banking, fitness, events, 0→1 products and complex operational workflows. Every time, I found myself doing the same thing: taking something complicated and making it easier to understand and use.

I like working where things aren’t completely figured out yet.

0 → 1

I enjoy working when there isn’t a blueprint yet.

Complex → clear

I like taking products with too many moving parts and figuring out how to make them easier to understand.

Idea → reality

I like seeing ideas actually become products, from early thinking and prototypes through to something people can use.

Currently working with Figma Claude ChatGPT Prototyping Design systems AI-assisted workflows

When I’m not designing…

A game controller
Gaming

I’m an avid gamer, mostly FPS. It’s also the one hobby where I can’t stop noticing the UI.

FPS
Music notes
Music

Still a big part of my life. It’s where all of this started.

A squash racket and ball
Squash
A football
Football
A pickleball paddle and ball
Pickleballoccasionally

Still designing. Still learning. Still making things.

See the work