Christine Wilde gets ”wilde” with web, 3D and motion design

Christine Wilde is a web designer from Fareham, Hampshire in England in the United Kingdom. While at University she studied Graphic Image Making at the Southampton Solent University and a National Diploma in Art and Design from the Fareham Tertiary College. Christine first started to design websites while she attended university and has been professionally designing websites for over 2 years now. Her dream is to eventually work for Pixar studios which have fueled her passion for 3D modeling and motion design but this has not stopped her from designing some amazing web design work for various projects that involve her passion of both these subjects.

1. I see that you’ve done a lot of 3D, motion design and print work but I am interested to know how you got into web design?

My course at university was all about 3D modeling and motion graphics, but whilst at university I worked for a family friend in his website design studio. This gave me a lot of work experience and pulled me into website design. After I graduated from university I fell into another website design job but this time it was full time. My dream was to work for Pixar animation studios and work on the next big film. The one thing I like most about website design is the fact that people from all over the world can see your work without moving from their desk. A website has to be the only worldwide promotional tool. I just like the fact that no 2 websites are the same, the internet can be an art gallery for website designers.

2. When did you first start building websites and how long have you been doing it on a professional level?

I built my first websites when I was working part time at university. I’ve been creating websites professionally now for just over 2 years.

3. How has your education from Fareham Tertiary College and Southampton Solent University helped you to become a better web design professional?

I studied art and design at college so this refined my drawing and creative skills. I touched on website design very briefly back then but nothing that could really help. Also at university we did a couple of small projects on website design but it was more of the functionality side of website design such as navigation and adding images, etc. I created my first personal online portfolio back in university with the help of a friend, I created a full flash animated website, and I didn’t know anything about search engine optimization back then. Everything I know about website design has been pretty much self taught with a bit of guidance from employers, friends and Google.

4. Christine, in your own words, what do you think are the base skills that a web designer needs to be successful in today’s job market for web design positions?

I think the main skills a website designer needs is creativity, imagination, ambition and passion. With so many web designers out there today you need to keep ahead of the pack and stand out, otherwise you’ll get lost in the big ether that is the World Wide Web.

Main computer skills would be Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, but with website designers doing a bit of everything nowadays you will need to know basic CSS & HTML to update websites, slice your designs up and creating template pages.

5. You seem to have a good base in print and illustration how has your experience in print and illustration in general helped you in web design projects?

Print and Illustration skills do help a lot when working with clients, because it gives you the opportunity to offer more. This is so your client only has to come to one place for all their design needs, such as business cards, flyers, headed paper, etc. Clients like to be able to have one designer that does everything so it’s less hassle for them. Otherwise they would have to have different designers for different jobs.