Infinite Games – Building Halide, Spectre and Lux with Sebastiaan de With

“People often think that if you chase your passion and you don't succeed, that you have wasted your time. You may have failed, but you never waste your time. You learn the mistakes that make you the person you are, and you will produce better outcomes eventually.” – Sebastiaan de With

Sebastiaan de With (@sdw) is Co-Founder of Lux, the design studio behind the award-winning photography apps Halide and Spectre. He started his design career at age sixteen creating icons for HP, before taking on design at Apple. He was Chief Creative Officer at doubleTwist before creating Halide, an award-winning photography app that has been named the Apple's App of the Year of 2019 and iMore's App of the Year 2020. Along with his co-founders, Sebastiaan has created one of the most successful indie app development businesses in the camera space. 

Chapters in this interview:

• 00:00:11 – Sebastiaan’s early introduction to design working with HP, Apple, and doubleTwist
• 00:07:32 – Apple as a workplace of incredible learning, punishingly hard work, and in-depth design processes
• 00:15:46 – Bridging the gap between visual design and product design
• 00:18:00 – The making and success of Sebastiaan’s first camera app, Halide
• 00:27:38 – How passion relates to success
• 00:29:44 – Growing from one camera app to a photography company
• 00:31:43 – Physicality and attention to detail in digital design
• 00:42:37 – Advice for those interested in creating and selling an app
• 00:46:17 – Whether we should follow our passions in business, and how to nurture those passions
• 00:52:48 – Sebastiaan’s favorite failures
• 00:58:40 – The definition of success 

For more, explore the transcript of this episode.

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Links from the Episode

• Connect with Sebastiaan de With: Twitter | Instagram| Lux
• Photoshop
• HP
• Apple
• MobileMe (now iCloud)
• Steve Jobs
• Square
• webOS
• doubleTwist
• Halide app
• Spectre app
• Sony
• Mozilla
• Find My Friends
• iTunes
• Chernobyl (drama)
• Ben Sandofsky
• WWDC
• Leica M
• Nylas
• MacRumors
• The Verge
• NY Times
• Uncrate
• Highsnobiety
• Ace Hotel Palm Springs
• Rebecca Slack
• iOS 6
• Knob Feel on YouTube
• Haptic feedback
• Silver halide
• Nikon
• Canon
• Folgers
• Starbucks
• TASCHEN books
• Travis Kalanick
• Skeuomorphism
• GIzmodo article on Find Your Friends design
• Hermes wallet
• PT Cruiser
• Edwin Land
• Polaroid
• Android
• Poparazzi

Key Takeaway

We were truly inspired by Sebastiaan’s thoughts on following your passion:

We will see the landscape littered with the burnt out husks of people that love their passions, but burn so bright that they burnt out. And it is so, so valuable to give yourself time, to take a break, to reflect and to realize, "these are my passions—how can I healthily pursue them?"

A lot of people try to chase the metrics and think you have control over it. You can get lost in those things and give yourself the illusion of control. But when it comes down to it—design and engineering—a lot of it can be made great by just trusting your intuition and going after passion.

A lot of people try to chase the metrics and think you have control over it. You can get lost in those things and give yourself the illusion of control. But when it comes down to it—design and engineering—a lot of it can be made great by just trusting your intuition and going after passion.