Personal Profile
Whereabouts are you from?
Hi my name is Giannis and I’m from Greece, I’m married and I have 3 sons.
What is your technical background and education?
My profession and education have nothing in common with watchfaces and computers in general but I have been a tech geek and PC enthusiast for as long as I can remember.
What inspires you to design watch faces?
Everyday objects, pictures and videos I stumble upon on the internet. Also, the challenge to create better watchfaces every time and to improve my design skills.
What are some of your hobbies?
My main hobby is creating watchfaces, which is very time consuming (it can take up to 2 weeks to finish a single design). I also enjoy playing games on my PC and most of all spending time with my family.
Giannis Kostidis
Your Brand
When did you create your brand?
I created my first watchface on April 2017 for personal use and I called it “Simple Digital”. My wife had the idea to upload it to the store and share it with others, and that’s how GS watchfaces came to be. This specific watchface, although simple, has now been downloaded over 70k times.
How many watch faces do you have in your collection right now?
I currently have 64 watchfaces.
Do you have a particular theme you like to create your designs around? If so, what is it?
I mostly like digital watchfaces with a retro style theme but I’m experimenting with other designs as well.
What are your top most popular and/or most download watch faces in your collection?
My most popular are GS Weather watchfaces (all versions) although they consume more battery than regular ones and had some quirks at the beginning, they have been very well received. Another one that is doing very well is GS Digital 11.
What designs are you working on next and when can we expect to see them?
I currently have one watchface waiting for validation with the name GS Hybrid 3 which should be out on Saturday and I work on an updated version of the original GS Digital watchface to have a more modern look, which should be out sometime in the next 2 weeks
Identify all the items you create for the Samsung Galaxy/Gear series: Watch Faces – Apps – Themes
I currently create only watchfaces but I’m thinking about creating themes in the future as well.
Watch Face Community
Please talk a little about the watch face community and what makes it interesting/special for you?
I love to interact with the community on social media and I get a lot of satisfaction when I see people that like my designs! I also like to get feedback from them and even new ideas! I’m always happy to speak with someone about a watchface I created even if they have something negative to say about it. I’m listening and learning from the community and it’s pushing me to become even better in my designs.
Why should designers consider developing watch faces?
Samsung has a great and relatively easy tool to create watchfaces called Galaxy watch designer (GWD) that doesn’t need any coding skills. Also, don’t expect to get rich but it can be a very good side income.
What are the common pitfalls you see when designers first start out and how should they avoid them?
Don’t create watchfaces just to increase the quantity of what’s available, quality is what matters so take your time and focus on the details. It took me some time but I think that my watchfaces quality has increased and that is reflected in the sales.
If you could a new developer one piece of advice, what would it be?
Create good FREE watchfaces so that you start to get known. Present your watchface nicely on the store, don’t upload only the icons produced by GWD.
Which developers create watch face designs you really like and that inspire you?
I like a lot watchfaces in the store and few of the developers I really like are Jeweler, MD and Silvio Kopf.