Article: About 11 & me
Eleven LinkedIn
Tiffany Palermo
Tiff LinkedIn
+61 0481 780 855
Email
Q: Where do you live?
Tiffany Palermo: Collingwood, Melbourne. I have a studio space above a live music venue in
Collingwood, and a house in Brunswick. Physical location does not matter these days.
Q: What brought you into web design?
Tiffany Palermo: I was a 29 year old none practising Graphic designer with two boys under the age
of 5. I was lucky enough to be born when the WWW was not around, and even luckier to be able to make my
first website back in 1998 — Everything was centered, everything was moving (gifs), eerything was in
tables and everything was un-styled. I later went on to teach myself Multimedia from 1999 — 2001. After
my first taster, the internet became my place to shine. In 2002 I joined Dare Advertising...
Cont.
then Adacel, designing flight simulators for the US Airforce, and Telstra for 10 years - this is where I
became an expert in Accessible design. After Telstra I had a two year break from Tech and worked with my
husband at our live music venue, the Bendigo Hotel. I got bored so I took a UI Designer contract role
with RMIT, Xperior was next, then Donate Life re-designing the organ match software, after Organ Match I
worked on the Drive website redesign, VU.edu.au was next. After VU, Alinta came knocking and I spent the
next three years working on their Digital Transformation project, after Alinta I moved to compare and
connect, and then on to Consulting; I tyre kicked a few - not my finest moment - my irreverent
personality isn't a great match for consulting... so I left and now I'm my own boss.
Q: Who are/were your idols at this time?
Tiffany Palermo: During the late 90’s Flash was where all the innovation was. There was a lot of
nice things being made as people discovered the medium, but one website that stood out for me was ‘Eye4u.com’ by Eye4u Active media
agency. That thing was art --not accessible. Ralf Maier,the creator of EYE4U worked in
television. For over six years, he developed, produced, and created numerous television programs in
Germany.
Q: What does your typical day look like?
Tiffany Palermo: I make my own schedule around my project obligations, so the schedule is
constantly changing. For example, this month I have a lot of local based work, I work hours to more or
less accommodate my clients timezones, making sure I am available during sane hours for both parties.
Upskilling daily is always part of my routine... specifically any innovations in Accessibility.
Q: What kind of music are you listening to during work?
Tiffany Palermo: At the moment on heavy rotation is Pitch Festival 2023, Dom Dolla and Solomun.
Q: What tools are you using when designing/developing?
Tiffany Palermo: Depends really on the brief. But, in general, I like to start on a whiteboard.
After that, the more of a concept I have, the more high fidelity tools come into use, like Figma,
Sketch, Illustrator, Photoshop. Moving right along and with the clients approval I will design in
browser - checking Accessibility, Visual Studio Code, Webflow, Wix - I use several programs/languages to
create my final designs. I’m puzzled by UX UI designers that don't code.
Q: What does your work-process look like?
Tiffany Palermo: I strongly believe that good design is only possible when I understand the
people and the context of my work. As such, I use a "human-centred" design process which begins with
empathy for the people I am designing for. This process involves collecting a wide variety of ideas,
creating prototypes to share with those I am designing for, gathering feedback on these prototypes,
testing Accessibility and building a chosen solution based on feedback and Accessibility standards
before launching it. I strive to work in an open and collaborative manner with my clients and believe
that in-depth knowledge exchange and discussion leads to valuable insights and mutual respect.
Q: Your best piece of work?
Tiffany Palermo: During the design process I love my designs and then I go live and they bore me.
Just as long as I am constantly learning and evolving I'm happy.
Q: Your worst piece of work?
Tiffany Palermo: https://elevenaus.com.au- I'm never
happy... I am my own worst critic.