Team Spotlight: Alex Belden-Prezio, Web Designer

We're thrilled to introduce you to the faces behind Parallel. Our Team Member Spotlight series will provide a glimpse into the work behind the people who drive our organization forward, showcasing their unique talents, passions, and contributions.

Today we are spotlighting Alex BP, Graphic/Web Designer for Parallel.

What is your background?

I’ve been studying interaction design (the study of design for human interaction) for 6 years now. This consists of areas relating to graphics, motion, and UI/UX design as well as a little bit of 3D. I started studying in Oakville at Sheridan College, where I was accepted into their honours program for a Bachelor of Interaction Design. Throughout the 4 year process, we were able to have hands-on projects such as 3D printing, web design, circuitry, user testing/research, programming, and much more. The course was designed really well and allowed students to touch on all aspects of interaction design and as they progressed, they could focus on a certain niche. I chose to focus primarily on UI/UX in relation to web design as I quite enjoyed creating layouts and front-end development.

In the third year of my program, we had the opportunity to participate in an internship for the summer months. I accepted a position at a startup known as Surf which handled data analytics and giveaways where I acted as a graphic designer for their marketing department. I worked there for three years, growing into a creative director role and got my hands on all ad campaigns, email flows, social content, and my biggest role - the website. I had the opportunity to work across departments with the CS, Sales and Dev teams and had a ton of fun executing the collaborative projects.

I feel as though I’m still quite early in my career and now that I am working as a graphic/web designer for Parallel, I’m super eager to hone in on my skills and leverage their expert team of designers to push me further down my career path.

What is the coolest gaming-related work you’ve done before Parallel?

Throughout my education and work path, I’ve been helping on the side to develop a product in the gaming space with my close friend. We’ve managed to incorporate ourselves and have a full patent pending.

The idea behind the product is to provide gamers with a non-slip, breathable solution that can combat slippage and blistering due to elongated play on a controller. We’ve worked alongside Georgian College to test and develop the design and have just manufactured our first batch which we are using to further test and hopefully iterate on. Throughout this process, we’ve been able to go to various e-sports tournaments and events as well as meet with some major players in the game. The whole experience has been an amazing learning opportunity and a great passion project on the side of my primary career.

What is an example of something you’ve designed for Parallel?

Before I started at Parallel, I had the opportunity to freelance for them while they were getting ready to announce their league. I worked alongside some of the staff to create the landing page for the program. This was my first time getting my hands on their brand and seeing the artwork they produced which really sold me on the company.

I’ve since worked on a few other landing pages for Parallel and it’s been really fun working alongside other designers and continuing to improve as a graphic/web designer.

What is something you are looking forward to in terms of Parallel?

As mentioned before, the Parallel team is stocked full of veterans in the design industry. As I’m sure comes through with the Parallel brand, the artwork this team can produce is next level and gets me so excited.

What I’m looking forward to most is leveraging the skill level of the team to improve my skills as a designer. I’m actively trying to take on bigger and bigger projects with the comfort of knowing that people can help me solve complex problems related primarily to web layout and front-end development.

Another thing I am super interested in and impressed with is the lore behind the game. The backstory of the 5 factions is something that I think people (including myself) can get behind and I hope the team continues to push this narrative.

Finally, I have heard talks of a third-person shooter and as someone who comes from a gaming background primarily related to shooter games like Call of Duty, Halo, and Fortnite, I am so excited to try out this version of the game myself.

If you had to pick one Parallel to join, which would it be?

If I had to pick one Parallel to join myself, I think it would be the Earthen. I love the natural-looking design they have and their ability to harness the world to make complex structures and weapons looks so cool to me. Also, I’ve always been a big fan of the idea of the defenders of the earth rather than the conquerors of it like the other factions.

However, a favourite faction of mine is also the Shroud. I love their mysterious/horror aspect background of being converted into some sort of hive-mind clan. The creepy aspect of the unknown great one which has harnessed them as an army is super cool to me and if I had to choose one, I would say this is the narrative I am most interested in seeing progress. As hinted at, this is obviously not a faction I would like to join though as I find the idea of having my mind harnessed to be a servant of the dark universe a little bit unsettling.

What are your social handles? (Twitter, Instagram, etc.)

I rarely use socials but can be found on Instagram at @alex_prezio. This is more of a personal account though so not much of my design can be found here - portfolio is in the works!