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Fabio Sergio: The InfoDesign profile
By Peter J. Bogaards (July 25, 2004)
Regularly, InfoDesign profiles a thought leader in the design industry, focusing on people who are identified with or show strong sensibilities to the design of information and experiences. This time, Fabio Sergio is our 'victim'.
Architect turned interaction designer, Fabio Sergio has always been fascinated with areas at the intersection of design, technology and (social) connectivity. He currently works at 3 Italy, focusing on the User Experience of 3G handsets and of online mobile services. Previously he has been a User Experience Director at XYZ Reply, a Sr. Information Architect at Razorfish Milano and an Interaction Designer in the Global Consumer Design Center of Whirlpool Europe. His online home is called Freegorifero, a word which mixes English ('free') and Italian ('frigorifero' = fridge) that has been proven difficult to spell and even pronounce by speakers of both languages alike. Talk about URL usability: doctor, heal thyself.
Most Valuable URI
Even if I had to list three, I'd still be naming one only: Google.
Best PDF/PPT To Download
Nathan Shedroff's Information Interaction Design: a Unified Field Theory of Design 
Best Read Book(s)
Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities;
Erri de Luca's Tre Cavalli;
Raymond Carver's Cathedral;
Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing.
To be honest, anything by any of these authors makes my heart beat a bit faster, possibly because I am as fascinated by the ability to bend a language around its own rules as much as I am by creative narrative-making.
Person's Work To Follow
Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby, Naoto Fukasawa, Ross Lovegrove, Stefano Marzano (CEO and chief creative director of Philips Design), Mark Newson, and Marco Susani.
Favorite World Company
Nokia, Apple, and Sony.
Best Non-profit Organisation
Your Role Model
Perfection is not of this world. Many roles. Many models.
Book(s) You Always Return To
Stewart Brand's 'How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built' and Donald Norman's 'The Design of Everyday Things'.
Best Recent Quote
"Lord, help me to change what I can change, to accept what I cannot change, and to be able to tell the difference."
Company Ever To Work For
Ever: Nokia and/or IDEO
Person Ever To Work With
Achille Castiglioni and Bruno Munari (if they were still alive).
Person To Meet
Jesus Christ.
Favorite Place on the Web
First Site(s) on Monday Morning
Slowly wandering over at Adam's, Ashley's, Anne's, Dan's, Matt's and Molly's to see what they've been up to, while waiting for caffeine to kick-in.
Killer Usability Argument
Test your assumptions, or I'll unleash Jakob on you. And then you'll have to pay him too.
Lesson(s) Learned From .Com Burst
Gathering great people with great ideas under one roof does not necessarily create an economically sustainable company.
Most Promising Technology
The written word.
Best Software Application
Currently, I'd be tempted to say blogging tools at-large and XML-based feed readers.
Your Advice For A Talented UX Designer
Observe, observe, observe.
Most Important Social Change
After 6000+ years of clubbing each other to death for the most absurd reasons I am a bit skeptical about true 'social change'. That said, I think the whole concept of peer-to-peer, wherever and however applied, promises to stir things quite a bit also in the near future.
Best Place on Earth
Wherever Valeria, my wife, happens to be. Mountain peaks definitely broaden my smile too.