Design Diaries with Steven Lenoir da Silva

It’s never been easier to build and never harder to choose what’s worth building. For Steven, Staff Product Designer at Preply, that tension sits at the core of his work.

In this edition of Design Diaries, we sat down with him to talk about his path into product design, the importance of restraint, and how to create things that actually matter.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you ended up at Preply.

My background is in graphic design. I studied in France first, then moved to the Netherlands to continue in art and design. Back then, my work focused on branding, editorial, and typography. I even worked on magazine layouts and type design.

At the same time, I was building websites on the side, and I really enjoyed that part. Over time, that pulled me more and more into digital. I started combining brand and digital work, then gradually moved into UI, UX, and product design.

Eventually, I joined a startup as a founding designer, where I was working on everything — from the brand to the product. It was a small team, so I had a lot of ownership. That startup was later acquired by Preply, and that’s how I ended up here :)

What’s the one question you always ask yourself before starting a design?

The main question is:

“How useful is this going to be for the person using it?”

I try to put myself in the shoes of the user, whether it’s a tutor or a learner, and really understand if what I’m designing actually helps them.

But even before that, there’s another important question:

“Should this exist at all?”

One of the hardest things to do when designing products is to edit yourself and make the right choices. Are you adding value or bringing noise? It becomes especially important now that we are all empowered by AI, and the barrier to execution is lower. It's easy to produce more; it's harder to choose less.

What’s something unique about working on the design team at Preply?

For me, it’s the level of talent in the team.

We have a very high hiring bar, and every new designer brings something strong and unique. It creates this mix of admiration and motivation. You see great work around you all the time, and it pushes you to improve.

It sometimes feels a bit like being in a design school again, where everyone is doing great work and learning from each other.

You mentioned “raising the bar”. What does that actually mean in practice?

Right now, for us, it mainly means raising the level of craft.

That includes:

• interaction design
• visual design
• creativity

We’re looking for designers who can explore many ideas and execute them at a very high level. Not just solve problems, but create strong, well-crafted solutions.

What’s something you’ve learned recently that made you more efficient or confident in your craft?

One big change recently has been using AI to automate parts of my work. I’ve been able to delegate or speed up some tasks using tools and agents, which allows me to run multiple things in parallel.

The main benefit is that it reduces noise, helping clarify my thinking. By automating things and creating agents for specific tasks, those tasks then are out of mind, and so I have much more brain power to really think about our user experience. It’s a win-win. It allows me to work faster and maintain a high level of productivity, while freeing up more time for creativity. (It’s wild!)

Tell us about a project you’re particularly proud of

One of the projects I’m most proud of is Lesson Insights.

We worked on it for over a year, with a lot of freedom to explore and iterate. It felt almost like working in a lab: we tested multiple versions and continuously improved it.

The goal was to give learners and tutors meaningful insights after each lesson. We started simple, with text-based feedback, and gradually added:

• progress data
• vocabulary tracking
• grammar insights

It became one of our first big AI-driven features. This was the first project where we started thinking and executing on “how should AI look and feel at Preply.” I’ve collaborated with the Brand team on this, and we put together an AI style guide for the company that now powers other features.

It’s especially rewarding because both tutors and students find Lesson Insights genuinely useful.

Name two non-designers who influence how you think or work.

A lot of my inspiration comes from the video game industry.

One influence is a game creator from Nintendo, **Satoru Takizawa**. In one of his latest games, his central idea — “art that makes it easy to lie” — describes a style that balances playability with perceived reality. It lets you bend the rules of the physical world in service of feel and function. What stays with me is how this philosophy was applied concretely in the game. When chopped down, trees don’t fall into timber, they snap into bundled firewood, ready to be carried; when cooking, ingredients dance their way into a perfect finished dish, no dressing needed. Each of these is a visual shorthand — a designed lie — that communicates meaning instantly and keeps the player in flow. I find myself drawing on this thinking regularly when designing interfaces. I ask myself, how do I use visual and behavioral shortcuts to make abstract concepts immediately legible, without reducing the weight or meaning of the experience underneath?

The other person who has influenced how I approach my work in recent years is **Ebi Atawodi**, Senior Director of Product Management at Google, whose thinking has been super influential in how I approach designing product vision.

She draws a distinction between vision and mission. The mission explains why you’re doing something, while the vision paints a picture of what you’ll see when you arrive. It’s something I’ve brought into my own work. When rallying a team around a direction, abstract purpose rarely moves people, but a clear picture of a different future, specific enough to be felt, does. It’s something we say amongst designers at Preply: Seeing is believing.

What’s your “happy place” to recharge creatively?

Honestly, it’s anything that takes me away from design.

Playing games is a big one. Reading fiction too, especially short stories. But more than the activity itself, it’s about disconnecting completely.

I’ve noticed that my best ideas don’t come when I’m actively trying to solve something. They show up when I’m doing something else: walking, playing, reading — anytime my brain finally has space.

Where do your best ideas usually come from?

From unexpected places.

There’s a David Lynch idea I really like. He compares beautiful, big ideas to fish swimming deep underwater. You have to be very quiet and wait for them to come along.

That’s exactly how it feels.

My best ideas don’t come when I’m deep in Figma or trying to push through a problem. They show up when I’ve stepped away — walking outside, playing a game, or doing something completely unrelated to work. It’s almost like your brain keeps working in the background, and then suddenly something clicks.

Feeling inspired by Steven’s journey at Preply? We’re looking for thoughtful makers and bold problem-solvers. If you’ve got a sharp eye, a growth mindset, and a “Can-Do” spirit, you’ll fit right in. 👉🏽 *Check out our open roles — your next career chapter might start here!*