Digital Up Magazine PROFILE Tobias van Schneider is a lead designer at Spotify NYC. He considers himself self-taught, since he dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and began working as a computer store apprentice. His knowledge and experience grew over time, and he began learning about front-end developing. Soon after, Tobias found himself more interested in web design, which he pursued. He eventually started his own business, collaborating with many well-known brands such as Red Bull, BMW, Google, Wacom, Stinkdigital, Fantasy Interactive, Sony, Ralph Lauren, Bwin, and Toyota, to name a few. Today, Tobias lives and works in New York City as the lead designer at Spotify. He reveals that his life and work often overlap, with no clear distinction between working hours and the remainder of the day. The work constantly plays over in his head; he lives for the work he does, and vice versa. Tobias avoids falling into a rut by doing as many different projects as he can. In his opinion, the trick is to always reinvent yourself and your work, since it is the only way to never get bored with what you are doing. He considers himself not a designer, but a maker. In order to achieve something, you have to make it. Make it using your hands, your brain, or just make it happen, but make it! Besides being a designer, Tobias started giving lectures as well, or as he calls them – motivational speeches. He often talks about how to succeed in this business. The first and most important thing Tobias always mentions is: »Don’t overthink. [ 28 ] DigitalUP