Spicy Web Designer Interview with Debbie Campbell

Debbie Campbell is a web designer from Fort Colins, Colorado in America. She first began designing websites back in 1995 while she was in grad school and has been into computer graphics since she was about 10 years old. Besides running “Red Kite Creative” which allows her to take on independent web projects and work with other web designers and developers her blog called “Position: Relative” which is a wealth of knowledge for other web designers and web developers worldwide that Debbie has a lot of fun producing.

1. How did you first get started in Web Design?

I’d been into computers, especially computer graphics, since I was about 10. And into design since I can’t even remember; I’d always wanted to be a designer of some sort. I have an environmental design degree and that whole experience was the first time I’d combined my love of computers with design.

I started in web design as just a hobby, doing it for fun. On my first attempt I found the entire process to be a strange combination of intuitive and challenging. That hooked me right then because I love that kind of thing – complexity totally intrigues me.

2. When did you design your first website?

In 1995 when I was in grad school, my husband and I got snowed in at Thanksgiving and were unable to leave. I had several days of free time on my hands during the blizzard and I built a site for my advisor’s
working group. It was horrible, but it was fun. And it was an eye-opener for me (especially since I was getting a degree in a hard science at the time!).

3. When you write for your blog “position: relative” what is your purpose for writing such a blog? To share experiences, to network, to showcase your skills?

It really started as a way for me to document my own processes; when I figure out how to do something new, usually in CSS or XHTML, I’ll write it up. The blog serves as a kind of wiki for me (haven’t had time to actually put together a wiki for myself) full of information about what I’ve learned. If I find a useful site or tool, I’ll share that too.

One thing that’s great about being a web designer/developer is that I get to learn something new almost every day. I’m not a heavy JavaScript user, but just in the last few weeks I’ve starting using jQuery and Yahoo User Interface libraries on an interface design project I’m working on. I love getting to learn something and then being able to apply what I’ve learned right away. I’ll talk about those kinds of experiences in my blog too.

I also use it to talk about experiences with clients that I think might help other designers, and how they might deal with issues with their own clients.

Lately I’ve been trying to use the blog more to talk about my design/development process. I’ve been discussing my current projects in more detail just to show what I can do and how I go about doing it.

4. In your article “Deciding Pay Rates and Wages for Designers” you talk about how you price the work that you do. This is a question that i ask a lot of web designers but what are some of the best tips you have when it comes to deciding what to charge for your time on a web design project?

When I first started out on my own, deciding my hourly rate was a major ordeal. I searched the web for tips and ideas, and I have a few links that were pretty valuable to me:

www.sitepoint.com/article/web-work-should-charge/
blueflavor.com/blog/2006/apr/25/pricing-project/
mirificampress.com/permalink/pay_me_please
www.hwg.org/resources/faqs/ratesFAQ.html

This is a good tool for freelance designers:

freelanceswitch.com/rates/

Taking a look at competitors’ pricing is also a good idea, if you have any local competitors that post rates. You can also check out salaries for your region and expertise on salary.com.

Making accurate estimates is one of the most challenging things I’ve found in my business. I’m much better at it than when I started (when I chronically underbid everything), but I still get caught sometimes and am forced to contribute free time on the tail end of a project. That’s something I’m still working on.

5. I seem to read it whenever it comes to my inbox but did you first start writing for DesignNews?

Um – did you see a post from me there? I haven’t written anything specifically for them.

6. At your company “Red Kite Creative” what is your approach towards the web design work that you do? Is Red Kite Creative a freelance studio or do you have other web designers that work with you as well?

My approach towards web design is an enthusiastic one. As I mentioned before, I’m completely entranced by complexity. Web design and development is the most perfect job I can imagine because it is so multifaceted – I rarely get bored.

I try to bring my passion and excitement for the art and science of web design to the table right up front when pursuing a job or working with a client. One thing that’s different about me – I designed, built and ran a web retail business for nine years, so I have insight into ecommerce that many web designers don’t share. I’ve seen first-hand how SEO and PPC can impact someone’s business. I understand how much it means to be successful online for a person who’s working on their own, maybe for the
first time.

It’s really critical for me to connect with my clients and to be able to communicate with them in plain English, not tech-ese, and I work hard at doing that. I try to make the entire process very transparent; I use a project management site for my clients, and I try to keep them in the loop at all times as to what’s happening with their project. My clients are my partners in every effort, not just customers.

Red Kite is at this point just me, an independent designer, but lately I’ve been so busy that I’m beginning to farm out certain tasks to other web designers. Mostly these are people I’ve met through my Meetup group, Fort Collins Internet Pros, which has been a wonderful resource since we formed it in January 2008.

7. What is the most valuable piece of technology that you use on a daily basis?

CSS, without a doubt. When I discovered CSS Zen Garden and learned that I could build a site and actually put everything exactly where I wanted it, unconfined by table structure, I was totally blown away. CSS is the most fun and challenging part of the site development work I do every day. I continue to learn better practices and push the limits of the designs I can bring to the web through CSS.