Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
Originally from Atlanta, Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington founded the social media app, Yik Yak. Following their college graduation, their parents allowed them one year to live at home in order to develop the application. Three years later, campuses all over the Midwest, East and South are actively utilizing the application to “Yak” humorous posts and voice their opinions anonymously.
Droll and Buffington were invited to the Spring National College Media Convention in New York City to speak about their process, and to inspire and teach students. District was able to speak to them personally.
What was your design process like?
Droll: “I think it comes from the core idea of making everything super simple, not only in the functionality of that but also in the design of it. I think simple design can often times be the most beautiful, if you look at Apple or anyone else like that, the best companies often have the simplest designs.”
Buffington: “And a huge props to Joe [Albanese, who attended SCAD], he is super easy to work with. He does a great job at designing with function but also adds that personality throughout the icons we have. Just everything really.”
How did you find Joe Albanese, or how did he find you?
Droll: “He applied to be our lead designer at the end of last spring semester, spring of 2014. He was graduating and he applied and we looked at his stuff and we were like, ‘Wow, this this kid is pretty damn good.’ So we brought him in and said, ‘Hey, can you do some mock ups of what Yik Yak could look like, if you were to do a face-lift on it?’ And he came in and it was absolutely incredible. The stuff that he did in those mock-ups is pretty much what is in the app today. There is a lot of stuff still design-wise that we haven’t unleashed yet, or given a new face-lift to: like Peak, which is a good example of that.”
What is your future plan for the app/what aspirations do you have for it?
Buffington: Aiming to focus “on that core user experience of building it up: photos, links, videos, highlighting our Peak functionality that we have, making the reply experience better. I’d say along those lines but nothing in left field.”
Droll: “And not adding anything crazy, but adding what people want and need in order to have an improved experience.”
Do you have anything you wish you had done differently?
Droll: “Not too much, I think in some of the misused cases we wish we had had the foresight to know how every single fringe case could happen and build against that. Hindsight is totally 20/20 so we try not to focus on the past, but more the future in order to prevent those sorts of things and what we can do in the future to make sure that we reach our goals; and iterate on product in a way that we want to and might not have been able to do in the past.”
Do you have any advice for creative students or young artists?
Buffington: “If you can work at a startup, I would do that. It is very tempting to take a job at a big, awesome company, but I think some of the experience and fun you’ll have at a startup might far surpass that. It might not be as high paying, it might not be as secure but I think you’ll learn and have more fun. It’s risky and it’s not the obvious choice, but I’ve heard from people who took jobs at those big companies and within a few months they emailed us and said ‘You’re right, I’m not having as much fun as I thought I would.’ There is a lot of responsibility you can have. There is a big difference between ‘Hey Joe, can you redesign our whole app?’ Or ‘Hey Joe, can you work on this button for the next two months?'”
Droll: “The thing about startups is that there is never a dull moment and there is always something new. And for someone who wants to be creative — who thrives on that sort of environment — there are limitless opportunities. In terms of everyday, there is a new thing that you need to tackle and a new way to tackle it… Joe is our lead designer, he graduated last year. At Google, or someplace like that, he would be working on one button for six months or something like that. And yeah it may be high paying, and yeah it may be super stable; but for responsibility and things you need to do, startups are the way to go.”
