Spicy Web Designer Interview with Nick Jones

Nick Jones is a Flash and Motion Designer from Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. He first cracked open Flash in 1999 and he has been developing his skills ever since. Because the majority of the work he does currently is Flash/Motion Design based; Flash is the corner stone of the eye-catching and highly interactive work that he produces. A SpicyWebDesigners.com proclaimed “RockStar” in the area of Flash, Nick has built such a strong body of work that it is definitely worth the time in exploring his portfolio.

1.  How did you first get involved with web design?

I backed into it. I went to school for 3d but lost interest in it quickly. A friend from school knew HTML so I did a design for his brother’s bar and he made a site out of it. That got me my first job making celebrity websites. Then I had to learn how to make the sites myself so I wouldn’t get fired.

2. When did you first become involved in motion design and flash design in general?

In 1999 I opened Flash and shape tweened a head into a United States but I didn’t know what else it was good for. In 2000 I had to do a site for a model, turned really bad actor, named Ashton Kutcher so we could get to his agent’s real clients. We needed something to wow them with so I did it in Flash and haven’t looked back. And that is how he got famous.

3. What is the greatest thing that has occurred in the world of Flash since you started using it?

Dot syntax. Writing tell targets and setProperties was rubbish. The 3d features built into CS4 and the work people are doing with Papervision is really great but it’s just getting started and I don’t know how to do it very well yet so I’m going to play down its greatness a little.

4. Where did you go to school (University/College)? Do you feel that it helped your career?

I graduated from a really prestigious technical school. I don’t recall the name but it was in the desert and there were a lot of us there who didn’t belong in school anymore. It helped me figure out what I didn’t want to do.

5. Do you consider yourself more of a “Self-Taught” or “Formally Educated” web designer?

I had to take an HTML class but had no intention of creating any websites until a couple years later. I would love to find out what you learn at a real design school, just so I could know those things and not have to skip the education portion on resumes.

6. What are your favorite tools to use doing Motion Design and Flash Development?

Keyboard, Mouse, Photoshop, Flash, caffeine

7. How long have you been designing websites? When did you first get introduced into Flash and Motion Design?  Is there a fair amount of coding involved in good motion design and flash work?  What sources (sites, books, magazines) have you found useful in becoming a Flash and Motion Design RockStar?

Seriously? I made some text and images move around when you click on them and I get to be a RockStar for that? Suck on that Bono! I’d save that label for the guys I’ve been copying since 2000 (and I’ve met some of them, they’re not that cool either). You don’t need any code to do good Flash/motion work, but it’s helpful if there’s any interactivity. Colin Moock’s Definitive Guides are great if you can learn from books. I’ve never gotten more than half way through one but the stuff in the first half was enough to get me by. The best way to learn it is to take on projects you have no idea how to do and then have to learn how to do them so you can eat.