It’s the season 4 finale and we’re celebrating at 150 bpm, when Vitaly Friedman joins us to talk about his lifelong journey through techno music. It all began in Belarus when, as a child, he discovered The Prodigy on cassette, continuing into his teens, that were spent obsessively exploring every possible musical avenue. Vitaly explains his preference for minimal, melodic, and "honest" techno over mainstream EDM, emphasizing his deep appreciation for the craft, passion, and commitment artists put into their work. He discusses how music serves different functions in his life, whether providing flow and calmness while working, or creating vivid, cinematic experiences at live concerts, and reveals his practice of continuously discovering new artists to avoid getting stuck.

Guest Bio

Vitaly Friedman (he/him) loves beautiful content and does not give up easily. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he studied computer science and mathematics in Germany. While writing algebra proofs and preparing for software engineering at nights in the kitchen, at the same time he discovered passion for typography, interface design and writing. After working as a freelance designer and developer for 6 years, he co-founded Smashing Magazine back in 2006, a leading online magazine for designers and developers. His curiosity drove him from interface design to front-end to performance optimization to accessibility and back to user experience over all the years. Vitaly is the author, co-author and editor of Smashing Books (https://www.smashingmagazine.com/books), and a curator of Smashing Conferences (https://www.smashingconf.com). He is the UX lead with the European Parliament and Smashing Magazine and front-end/UX consultant in Europe and abroad, working with large and small companies and organizations like Haufe-Lexware, Axel-Springer and others. He also runs Measure UX (https://measure-ux.com) and Smart Interface Design Patterns (https://smart-interface-design-patterns.com), friendly video courses on UX and design patterns, along with a live UX training for passionate UX and product designers.

Links

Vitaly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vitalyfriedman

Amelie Lens at EXIT 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80jdSJxZUAE

Amelie Lens — Live In the tunnel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1-Xc7EfT44

Worakls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXJawwVI03E

Paul Kalkbrenner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YPbpWeIx2Q

Extrawelt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryc3YudCYXU

Prodigy — Out of Space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4eav7dFvc8

Credits

Cover design by Raquel Breternitz.