Featured Web Designer Interview with Soh Tanaka

Soh Tanaka is a web designer and front end web developer who’s based in Los Angeles, California.  He first started designing websites in 2005 but he first got interested in 2004 while he was in college after picking up a copy of Photoshop.

When Soh is designing for a client these days his approach is to understand the scope of the project with respect to the person, product or company he is designing for.  He is very critical of his own work and he always strives for better on projects he takes on.

Here is what Soh Tanaka had to say when I caught up with him about his web design background, where his experience has taken him and where he plans to go moving forward.

Luc asks: I see that you started designing websites back in 2005 according to your site and i wanted to ask what were you doing before in terms of design and what got you hooked on designing for the web?

Soh says: I got my first copy of Photoshop in 2004 after taking my first HTML class in college. I was going to school for CIS (Computer Information Systems) and this was one of the only classes that really grabbed my attention. After learning the basics of HTML, I quickly became obsessed and started exploring the world of web design. Before this, I had no prior experience with design or art in general.

Luc asks: When you first start in on a web design project what do you use to inspire your creativity?

Soh says: For every project, I research the background of the company/product/person and try to understand its audience. Sometimes I bounce around the various web galleries out there, but my main goal is to visualize the environment and experience of the users and the goal of the website. To explore the theme and feel of the site, I check out various magazine layouts/design, photography, and other related sources of media to gain inspiration.

Luc asks: How many projects have you worked on since you first started designing websites?

Soh says: I lost count, but I don’t claim a lot of them. I am my own worst critic, and tend to dislike my creations after time goes by.

Luc asks: What are your favorite web technologies to work with currently and why are they your favorites?

Soh says: I would say CSS & jQuery for front-end development. I don’t really have a reason why I love them, but they are my bread and butter when developing interfaces.

Luc asks: I really loved checking out your portfolio.  It’s very professional and pretty slick!  I’ve noticed that your design style on projects is pretty broad.  How do you manage to turn out work that looks unique and different on every project?

Soh says: I actually feel like my designs look too similar. My goal this year is to break out of the box and experiment. I tend to have the typical CSS designer feel, which has a very “boxy” feel to it. I love clean and simple design, but there are times when I feel I lack proper design foundations like typography that I can definitely improve on. There are some inspirational designers out there (Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain, Yaron Schoen, Rob Morris, Martin Balhar to name a few) that make me want to challenge myself further so I can be a better designer. I hope to grow as much as I can and go beyond my usual comfort level. Gotta get back into training mode!