Spicy Web Designer Interview with Dave Ellis

Dave Ellis is a web designer from the UK. He runs a blog where he muses about his experiences as a web designer and his portfolio where he showcases some of the design work that he’s done for companies like Def Jam, Umbro England and Voodoo Events just to name a few. He’s been building websites for about the past 10 years since he made the jump from print to web design and he hasn’t looked back yet.

1. How did you first start designing websites?

About 10 years ago, just as I was about to finish my design course I got approached by a digital company to be their new junior web designer. It was quite flattering and fairly daunting as I’d only ever been on a website once in my life at that point. I took the job (primarily because the money was good), and it’s fair to say it took me a while to adapt from being a print designer to a web designer – but I don’t regret moving into web design one bit.

2. How much of your business comes from search engine traffic and how have you optimized your site to generate more leads for your web design freelancing business?

Around 50% of my work comes from search engine traffic. I spent quite a while last year tweaking and optimizing my old site to get a better position on Google and its one of the best things I ever did, I get some interesting projects, some not so interesting – but it’s really important to be out there and to maximize possibilities.

It’s also worth doing just for the knowledge – the amount I learned while optimizing my site has helped me out with loads of client sites.

3. How did you come up with the idea behind your “NoVolume” portfolio and blog?

NoVolume (the folio) is a fairly transparent site, and it’s intended to be that way. I wanted to show my work off with no clutter, I think it’s important that the work speaks for itself. The blog is a relatively new part of the site and I haven’t really promoted it yet. The blog is everything the folio isn’t. It’s a little bit messy, experimental, it’ a place where I can get things off my chest, test new ideas, spread a bit of knowledge – hopefully someone is out there listening! I want the blog and portfolio to grow and develop together, I have loads of ideas that I want to implement, but at the moment very little time

4. Do you think having a blog as a web designer gives potential clients a chance to get to know you better?

Possibly, but in reality I would doubt that clients are even looking at the blog. At the moment I think the audience is primarily other web designers. That may change as the blog evolves and I refine the content but at this stage it’s very much an experiment.

5. Outside of being a freelance web designer do you work full time currently or is “NoVolume” your main gig?

I work full time as a freelance web designer; I’ve been freelance for 3 years now and before that I was employed as a web designer – the experience you get from being employed is vital and I would recommend getting at least a few years under your belt to anyone that’s considering freelance

6. What are your favorite tools to use when it comes to designing websites?

I’m a bit of a sucker for applications but Photoshop has been the rock over the years, I have it open all day every day. I love the independent software too though – at the moment I really like Coda. I love the idea that it’s possible to be a web designer with almost entirely free software. I don’t know anyone that is doing that, but it is possible.

7. What is the most challenging thing you’ve faced as a web designer?

That would have to be managing the workload; I’m in the fortunate position where I get more projects coming in than I can handle so I never have to go looking for work. The downside is I struggle to say no when I’m busy – so I end up putting a lot of hours in just to keep up – but when you’re doing something you enjoy, it’s difficult to complain.