Spicy Web Designer Interview with Dan Ciobanu

Dan Ciobanu is a web designer from Timisoara in Western Romania. He has been designing websites for over 8 years since the spring of 2008 when he designed a travel agency website using Photoshop and shortly after that found Macromedia Flash Kit and there was no looking back.

1. How did you first start designing websites?

I never really designed my first site. There, I said it! I tried to design it, but the end result was as far from design as hair growing on a frog. That was way back in the spring of 2000 when somebody I know wanted a site for some travel agency. Got my hands on a Photoshop kit and started to toy around with it. Later that year I’d seen a flash website and it really knocked me out… The motion, the effects… The very next day I got a Macromedia Flash kit and never looked back! I was amazed about the things designers and developers can do with a little gizmo called Flash. Suddenly the Photoshop layout comes to life with just a drop of Flash! One day somebody forwarded me a .pdf file about the basics of design and workflows and that got me started.

2. When did you first start designing websites? How long have you been designing websites?

My first “by the book” designed website came along later that year (2000), I think it was October. So I suppose I do this for over 8 years now and I am still love doing it.

3. What did you study in school? And, has it helped you become a better web designer?

I graduated with a BSc degree in Chemistry (go figure!) and later on another one in IT. None of those had anything to do with helping me become a better designer. What really helped was having talented people around me, many of them being really, really good at what they are doing.

4. What is the biggest challenge that you’ve faced as a web designer?

Waking up in the morning. No, just kidding. Actually, time is my biggest challenge. But I am planning on moving on a planet where the day lasts 48 hours.

5. Which web technologies could you not live without?

I have to plead guilty and say Web 2.0 in general, but I don’t think I could live without Flash and jQuery. Just like Flash and jQuery, Web 2.0 is a revolution that sweeps through web culture communities all over the world. It literally changes the face of the web. And the best part is? We are all part of it!

6. Are you currently freelancing full-time or on a part-time basis? If part-time, what do you do as a day job?

I am freelancing on part-time basis and as for my day job; I do the same stuff for an employee-friendly design studio called Citrus Design.

7. What are your most favourite tools to use as a web designer?

Right! Well it’s no surprise here: Adobe’s Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver and MacRabbit’s CSS Edit / Espresso, and my early 2008 iMac.