Animation by Katrīna Sadovņikova

The selection jury chair of the National Design Award of Latvia 2024 in the digital solutions category is UX and service designer Mārcis Miķelsons-Germs, who heads the UX design department at digital design, consulting, and development company Cube. Mārcis spends his day planning and managing the development of digital products and experiences. It’s a job that requires constant communication, so in the Nice Touch section, he shares a useful tip for better-quality video calls.

Nice Touch Editorial February 9, 2024

«Since I have to spend a lot of my day on calls, I use Apple’s Continuity camera, which lets me use the iPhone’s camera for video calls. As you know, laptop cameras aren’t the finest and don’t work very well in low light. Another nice disciplinary side effect of this is that you can’t use your phone in the meantime. To get the phone camera in the right position, I had to borrow a couple of Legos from my son and build a holder. This is a zero-waste and DIY option; you can buy sleeker mounts online for this purpose. Anyhow, I’m much better-looking, brighter, and in better resolution on video calls now.»

Mārcis Miķelsons–Germs is one of the founders of Cube, one of the leading companies in digital design, consultancy, and development in Latvia.