Philipp Sackl-O’Neill, BA

Was it always your plan to study Information Design at FH JOANNEUM?

No. After finishing high school (AHS) and completing my civil service, I initially wanted to do something related to typography and graphic design. I was also very interested in web design—I had already been designing websites for local companies and earning money from it when I was 12 years old. That was really the turning point even before my studies. I then started looking for a suitable degree program, and Information Design immediately appealed to me.

Where did you do your internship?

I asked Konrad Baumann if he had an idea for my summer internship. He had good contacts with the department at BMW that deals with operating manuals. I thought it sounded only moderately exciting, but I liked the idea of seeing BMW from the inside. Once I was there, I made use of the internal phone directory and set up coffee meetings with people from other departments—among them someone from “Advanced Design.” That’s where I ultimately completed my mandatory internship and wrote my Bachelor’s thesis.

What happened after your Bachelor’s thesis?

The question came up whether I would stay at BMW. The problem was the economic crisis at the time—no one could promise me a permanent position. Fortunately, I ran into my colleague Thomas again in the BMW cafeteria. I knew him from his semester abroad in Graz, and he had the idea that we could become self-employed. We went for it without thinking too much about it.

And which company did you found together?

We founded a small design studio called envis precisely. Choosing a name that no German-speaking person can pronounce turned out to be a huge mistake later on. Luckily, we were able to win BMW as our first client. Back then, we designed everything from in-car interfaces to mobile apps. It was a very exciting time. We wrote our business plan in the lobby of a youth hostel near the main train station.

Shortly after, Markus—another FH graduate—joined us as a third co-founder. Slowly but steadily, the studio grew. During that time, we also developed the PUSH UX Conference, which still exists today. We thought it would be cool to have our own conference as a marketing platform. Over time, however, life as agency directors became frustrating. About 70% of my time went into client acquisition and administrative tasks instead of actual design work. In 2013, we eventually closed the studio.

What did you do after that?

I was very selective with my applications. In the end, only Google and Mozilla were left as options. Because I only wanted to apply to those two companies, I put a lot of effort into each application. For Mozilla, I built a small website—readyformozilla.com. It worked really well. A few weeks later, I started working for Mozilla remotely from Munich.

What was it like to work for Mozilla?

I found my time at Mozilla extremely exciting. Working across different time zones and getting a glimpse into the world of Silicon Valley was fantastic. I worked on several major redesigns of the Firefox browser, as well as on improving the search function. The browser is very complex, and there was a lot of learning by doing. It was great to have the freedom to work from anywhere. I traveled a lot and spent extended periods in places like Vancouver and San Francisco.

How long did you stay at Mozilla?

During my five years at Mozilla, I gradually moved more and more into management. First, I led a small team, then a larger one, and eventually I became Head of Design for all Firefox products. After a while, I started to feel a sense of saturation, and at the same time there were organizational changes within the company. Through contacts, I then moved to Freeletics, a fitness app startup in Munich, where the position of Director of UX was open. Over the next two years, I led and expanded the UX team at Freeletics. In August 2021, however, I decided to leave and become self-employed. I wanted to give myself time to work on personal projects and to get to know different industries better.

That’s very brave, especially considering your career path!

Yes, I’m a bit unusual in that regard. Whenever I specialize too much, I get the feeling that something is missing. During my studies, some colleagues complained that everything was too broad and didn’t go deep enough. But I always found that especially valuable—on the one hand because I got to explore many different things, and on the other hand because I realized that everything ultimately comes back to the same principles. You always need an aesthetic sensibility, technical understanding, and the ability to work well with people or design for people—whether it’s interface design, exhibition design, or graphic design.

What advice would you give to people who are just finishing their studies now?

What always helps is curiosity and trying to understand the bigger picture. The principles of user-centered design can be applied to many areas of working life—for example, even to application and recruitment processes.