Spicy Web Designer Interview with Rob Morris

Robyn Morris (he usually goes by Rob) is a web designer from Australia. He has a Masters degree from the University of Canberra in Internet Communication. He has been designing websites for 7 years and he started DigitalMash back in 2002 as a private consultant for various clients and his business has grown since then.

1. How did you originally get started in web design?

Design has been something I’ve always been into. I worked as a journalist for a few years, but during this period I was spending most of my free time noodling around with HTML, CSS and Flash. I figured if I was doing this on my weekends, 1) I was officially a nerd, and 2) I might as well get paid for it.

2. What is one web technology that you couldn’t live without?

Seriously? I could live without them all. Wouldn’t life be simple? Email’s pretty nifty though.

3. What inspires you to design the way that you do?

Anything I can get my 5 senses on. If you do it long enough, you can start to cannibalize nearly everything in your world and put it towards design. Sounds funny, but most good designers are doing this all the time without thinking about it.

4. How do you price your web design work?

Pricing is easy. Getting them to pay is the hard part

Seriously, it’s a pretty simple equation. Hourly rate times by the estimated hours + small buffer for the usual unforeseen stuff. The most important thing is working out exactly what a project is going to involve and knowing how long you take to do things. Of course, projects can change and when they do, hopefully the client is going to be flexible.

5. I see that you received your masters of Internet Communication. How has that helped your career in web design?

Truthfully, everything I learned through my masters, I probably could have learned from free resources on the web. But some people place a great deal of importance on tried and true qualifications, so I’m sure it’s played a role in winning contacts even if that job didn’t necessarily call on the skills I learned from my masters. If nothing else, it’s good to have a piece of paper to cuddle up with at night

6. When did you design your first website and did you know that you were hooked after that?

I suppose I designed my first website around 1999? I found something magical about being able to type words into notepad and see colors and layouts in my browser. Even though the process has gotten a little more involved, that’s still something I enjoy.

7. What was your mission in building Digital Mash back in 2002?

Same as always. World Domination.

Digitalmash is really just a brand to put my stuff under. Some designers with cool names can just put a dot com at the end of their name, but Rob Morris is boring to me, so I came up with something else. I originally thought it would be cool to go that classic route of getting big enough to hire other people, getting a warehouse office space, being an art director who drinks coffee all day, but for me right now I am loving being a mercenary.

In the future I’d love to find some people to hook up with and work with on a more permanent basis. If you know anyone who’s got skills and is friendly let me know

8. How has the move from Australia to Japan been and how long are you planning to stay for or is this a permanent relocation?

Australia is awesome, but Japan is just so different. I originally planned to only stay a year, but I may be here for a few more now. I think the next place to live for a bit would be the US. I’m seriously scared of guns, but North West coast is really the place to be if you’re an interface designer.