Spicy Web Designer Interview With Dave McNally

5 Sep

In a town called Wirral outside of Liverpool, England there is a web designer by the name of Dave McNally whose been designing some interesting websites for the past few years. I contacted him to ask him what makes him tick when it comes to web design and he had this to say…

1.) Where did you start your Web Design career? Some web designers start designing websites in some pretty interesting ways… is that your experience?

I’m afraid there’s nothing exciting about the start of my design career. It basically started out as a hobby and I did because I enjoyed it. After a while, a few people started asking for sites of their own and I realized I could possibly make a career out of my hobby. I couldn’t think of anything better!

2.) Do you usually work with design agencies for web design work or how to you usually find your clients?

I haven’t done any agency work yet. I’m not against it; I just haven’t looked for agency work. Most of my clients come from word of mouth recommendations; the marketing side of things is something I need to work on.

3.) Your website says that you live “near Liverpool” do you find that you work with a lot of local clients?

I actually live in a place called Wirral but it’s that small that it’s just usually easier to tell people I’m near to Liverpool as most people know where that is. So far, I haven’t seen my location alter the clients I work for and they’ve been from varied locations as most have made contact online.

4.) Would you say that you have a favorite part of a web design project? If so, what is your favorite part?

My favorite part would have to be seeing the project finished a live. There’s nothing like seeing something you’ve created from scratch, up on the big screen so to speak. It makes all of the bug hunting worth while!

5.) How long have you been building and designing websites?

I’ve been designing for about four years now but have only been developing for the past year. I got to the point where I was fed up of seeing my finished comps inside of Photoshop and knowing they were just static, I needed to do something about it and so starting learning about the coding process.

6.) What is the most challenging web design project that you’ve ever faced?

I find my personal projects the most challenging as I’m never pleased with anything I create for myself, things never look finished. I am currently in the process of redesigning my personal site and would say this has been the most challenging thing yet.

7.) Are there any web technologies that you are interested in learning? Which ones are they and why are you interested in learning them?

I have just started learning JavaScript from scratch. I was interested in learning it as it seemed to be the next logical step in front-end learning and simply picking up one of the library’s out there didn’t make much sense. I don’t just want to use little bits of code here and there without truly understanding them so learning from scratch was the only option for me.

8.) How did your website become “Snook approved”?

Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Snook about that one!

9.) How do you usually price your web design work (I am asking because people reading may be interested in hiring you)?

I charge on a project basis as each client is different and I prefer giving them clear prices up front rather than an hourly rate.