Spicy Web Designer Interview with Luke Pieczynski

Luke Pieczynski is a web designer from Richmond, Virginia in the United States. He keeps updating his design skills in a variety of ways including most recently attending the Adobe MAX conference in San Francisco for Adobe Creative Suite 4.0. Luke originally started designing websites after he graduated from college in 2002 and learned a great deal of web design by teaching himself. He studied at Graphic Design at MercyHurst College from 1999 to 2003 and since then he has worked with a wide variety of companies in various web design professional roles.

1. How did you get started in web design?

I got my start in web design after I graduated college. I had gone to school for print design and photography and when I graduated I could not find a print job anywhere in the area. The only opportunity available was a part-time web design position. I had some very basic HTML knowledge, but I was able to teach myself more advanced HTML and soon taught myself ActionScript and CSS.

2. When did you start designing websites?

My very first website was back in 1998 as a school project. It was mainly image maps and animated GIFs. But I don’t really count that as design because I had no idea what design was. Web design for me really started in 2002.

3. What are the biggest challenges that you face in web design currently?

I have two big challenges:
1. IE6. What a pain.
2. Clients who think web design is a joke. I have worked with clients who thought my skills and time weren’t worth much. They would say, “I’d design my website myself, but I just don’t have the time. Can you get this done for less than $200?” Really?

4. Do you code any of the web sites that you design currently? If so, what language(s) do you code in?

I do all the HTML, CSS, and ActionScript myself. I have some ASP, PHP, and JS knowledge. There is a lot I don’t know that I’d love to learn someday.

5. Did you study design at school or are you self-taught?  If you went to school, how has your education helped you become a better web design professional?  What other skills has it helped you to gain and what else has it taught you about design in general?

As mentioned before, I graduated with a degree in Graphic Design. The principles of design are the same for print and web, but I think the interactivity of the web really drives me. I am constantly online looking at other websites to see what new technology is being used and how. I am always amazed at how people stretch the boundaries.

My education has really helped me to continue learning. Technology is changing so fast and my college professors always pushed me to keep up with it. If you stay stagnant for more than a month you’ve already lost ground on the competition. So it’s important to continue educating yourself.

6. Since you first started how has the web design industry changed? Has it changed for the better? If so, how? If not, please explain?

The industry has changed dramatically. I think the biggest platform change came with mobile devices. And technology has changed a lot too. I remember doing timeline animation in Flash 5. Now we’re to the point of creating applications. I think the web has become a much better place, too, with all of the online help you can get. It used to be that you had to pay for help/advice. Now you can find anything and everything about code, design, applications, etc. just by doing a quick Google search.

7. What are your favorite tools to use when designing a web project? Why are they your favorite tools?

I love all of the Adobe software. I attended Adobe MAX 2008 in San Francisco and was blown away. Photoshop is my number 1 tool. But I’d have to say that I could work all day, every day in Flash. If SEO wasn’t such an issue, as well as mobile devices, I would create all my sites in Flash. There is just so much you can do with it. But since we don’t live in my dream world, I use Dreamweaver for my coding. I don’t rely on the WYSIWYG part of it. I just use it as a code editor and FTP organizer.