Vicenza, July 28th, 2022

Active Theory is a creative digital production studio based in California. It specializes in building digital experiences that people love. The agency has a background on UX and technical solutions that utilize the latest in web technologies. Over the years, it has built award winning websites and apps that work across multiple devices.

Luigi De Rosa is the Lead Interactive Developer at Active Theory, working from Italy. In an interview with TIA, he described his role and day-to-day activities at the agency and explained the elements that make Active Theory stand out. He also went through his development process and gave some recent examples of his work.

To kick things off, tell us what you love most about Vicenza.

I’m originally from South Italy, and after a few years of living abroad I moved back to Italy, currently in the north east part (not too far from Venice). I found home in a little countryside spot in the province of Vicenza. Quality of life is great here, people are friendly and pace of life is relatively calm and easy-going.

How did you find yourself working as Lead Interactive Developer?

I did not follow a formal study path, I’m a self-learner and I started very young with coding. I started my professional career as a web developer doing both frontend and backend stuff. With time I quickly realized that I really dig frontend and leaned myself towards more creative coding + javascript. Later on, towards the real-time graphics area and WebGL.

Can you tell us about your role and what you’re focusing on?

My typical day consists of roughly: 30% calls/huddles with the team or client, 50% deep-focus coding (mainly javascript + webgl + shaders), usually with high volume music and 20% code-review / documentation / writing tasks / reading stuff.

A few of the tasks I’m in charge of are:

-Design and develop interactions with designers
-Estimating and leading sprint planning on projects
-Setting up project architecture and make sure we’re using the best technical solutions and approach
-Helping other developers with technical problems
-Evolving our technology stack
-Ensuring the project goes smoothly and that what we’re shipping met our quality standards and client expectations.

What makes Active Theory stand out?

Undoubtedly the overall quality and consistency of the end results. We’re always aiming to do what’s best for the end user, giving him the best possible experience in terms of visuals, performance, graphical quality and not least…fun!

Do you handle all development work in-house?

We invest a lot of time and resources in building our own tech stack. We are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a browser and in most cases that requires very specific technical approaches that require tailor handed solutions. Over the years and thanks to the contributions of many talented people working in the company we have some powerful tools and pipelines that allows the team to be very efficient, to iterate fast and ship fast.

What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

Delegate and trust people, and it’s ok not to know stuff.

In your opinion, what’s the most exciting part of working in interactive at the moment?

Nowadays browsers are getting more reliable and consistent. It’s getting easier to ship web experiences and WebGL2 support is widely available. There are still quirks and improvements, but there is definitely something magical about shipping a complex and rich experience that everyone can browse just by visiting a link, from a mobile device, desktop and VR headset.

Of all the recent projects Active Theory has produced, which one are you most proud of?

Tough question, I’m generally very demanding and tend to always see the glass half empty, everything can always be improved, and I like to think that my best project yet has to come (maybe it’s the next one?).

Just to name one: Iconic Mints for the WSJ Dow Jones. It’s a web-based desktop, mobile and WebVR experience that reimagines the concept of an art gallery.

What is your take on remote work? Have you faced any challenges working with a team in a different country?

Working remotely comes with its own challenges. But for me the positive aspects exceed by far the downsides. More time for yourself, more self-managing your own time and more productivity. Of course, that means that it is harder to create a company culture, but we try to organize face-to-face meetups and other activities. Our “Amsterdam” team at Active Theory is spread across Europe (Holland, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Germany and Finland).

If you could change or improve anything about the industry, what would it be?

Less SEO guru, less marketing and “analytics” metrics and more fun.

What’s the next skill you plan on learning?

I really would like to dig myself more into Houdini and VFX stuff. Bridge more the gap between offline and real-time rendering.

Can you name a fun-fact people would be surprised to learn about you?

I own a small vegetable garden.

Is there a question you wish people would ask you more often?

Is it fine to put pineapple on pizza?

No, it’s not.

Thanks Luigi!

• Learn more about Active Theory at https://activetheory.net/home
• Follow Active Theory on social media:

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• Follow Luigi on social media:

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