Last week we kicked off a new series here on the Layar blog profiling members of the Layar team. This week’s victim interviewee is Olivier Slabbers, the Lead Designer here at Layar. Basically, Olivier is in charge of making sure everything involving Layar exudes a positive and pleasing aesthetic.

Olivier is a local-grown boy (relatively speaking): born in Amsterdam, raised 25 miles to the north-east in Lelystad and a current resident of Haarlem, just to the west of Amsterdam. “Olivier” is actually his middle name, his first being Albert, which is in honor of his great grandfather. His parents live part-time in France and his older brother who is married and living in Philadelphia. Oliver and his wife Sanne (a fellow Layar employee you will read about on the blog soon) have a daughter who just turned one this week.

Here’s my Q&A with Olivier!

Describe a typical day at Layar for you.

Olivier: My typical day starts somewhere around 9:30 with a big cup of coffee from the espresso bar downstairs. I’m somewhat chaotic and distracted quickly so the first thing I do is check what I have planned to do for the day. What keeps me busy most of the day is breaking my head over new features, navigation in Layar and trying to make it look more aesthetically pleasing.

What’s your favorite part of working for Layar? What has surprised you?

Olivier: Before starting at Layar I worked at an advertising agency where I worked on campaigns. At Layar I learned there is much more room for improvement when there is no pressure from a client and you know that you really are building something to last. Something that I immediately noticed is that everybody at Layar knows so well what they are doing. It’s just great to find so much knowledge and expertise in one place.

What are your interests outside of Layar and technology?

Olivier: I used to be a very fanatic competitive cyclist and ice speed skater, but since my daughter was born a year ago I haven’t ridden a millimeter. Last summer I did take kite surfing lessons and it turned out to be something I really like doing. I also used to be a heavy metal fan with a matching ‘do during my high school days.

What is something people may not know about you?

Olivier: I developed design skills while running the bicycle store where I started working as a mechanic.

If you would like to work alongside Olivier and the design team, Layar is currently looking to fill a Senior Interaction Designer position!