Spicy Web Designer Interview with Jack Herbert

Jack Herbert is a web/front-end designer from London, England in the UK. He has been designing since the days of his Geocities drinking strong cups of coffee and he loved every minute of it. Jack received his Masters in Electronic Publishing from the City University in London after getting his initial education in an unrelated area of study.

1. How did you get started in web design? When did you start designing websites?

The first website I made was a disgrace. I was at university, and couldn’t get to sleep one night, so I thought I’d find out about how the whole internet thing worked. Eight hours and four strong cups of coffee later, I had a Geocities site online, complete with links to pictures of cats in scanners and other tasteless material. I realized web design would be an amazingly exciting job to be doing, and I’ve been making websites ever since. Fortunately my technical abilities have moved on a little since then (even if my tastes haven’t).

2. What are the biggest challenges that you face in web design currently?

My biggest challenge is definitely self-control. There are so many great technologies I’d love to master – I’d love to be an AJAX ninja as well as a Flash samurai – but everything’s moving so fast that there just isn’t enough time to keep up with all this stuff and actually make a living as well. A while ago, I realized I would be better off focusing on my core skills: design and layout, usability, HTML & CSS coding. That might seem unambitious to some people, but to do them properly is enough of a challenge for a simple person like me. I like to play with Flash and JavaScript sometimes – like the jQuery effects on my portfolio – but I try not to get distracted from the core stuff.

4. Why do you refer to yourself as a Front-end developer over calling yourself a web designer? Is it a way to brand yourself to your clients?

In my first web design job, I was the only web designer in a print agency, so I was in charge of all the back-end work as well as the front-end. I quickly realized that many clients don’t see a difference between those two skill sets – they assume “web designers” always do everything. Some people are lucky enough to be brilliant at development as well as design, but I think they’re rare, and I’m definitely not one of them. I guess I’m branding myself as a “front-end designer” to avoid the kind of hardcore development work I’m not interested in (no offense to all the lovely developer chaps out there!).

5. Where did you go to school and has it helped you become a better web designer/front-end developer?

My original degree was unrelated to web design, and I wanted a qualification I could show to potential employers and clients, so I did a Masters degree in Electronic Publishing at City University in London. In terms of best practice, it was probably quite helpful, but too much time was spent talking, and not nearly enough spent actually making websites. A friend of mine recently asked for advice about getting into web design, and was considering the course, but I suggested his money and time would be better spent on a few decent books and a lot of hard work in front of a computer. Basically, if you want to make good websites, you need to make a lot of shit ones first! I’ve been doing this for years, and I still make a few pretty crappy websites, but they’re getting better.

6. Since you first started how has the web design industry changed? Has it changed for the better? If so, how? If not, please explain?

I guess the biggest change from my point-of-view has been the big “Web 2.0″ shift towards increased interactivity and community on websites, which has definitely changed the web – and the world – for the better. We already have static, unresponsive media like books and magazines, and they work very well, but we don’t need websites to be like that. I guess the only problem is for people like me – not to mention the poor developers – whose clients expect the latest fad (wikis, forums, social networks, etc) incorporated into every website they own. I guess clients haven’t changed…

7. What are your favorite tools to use when designing a website? Why are they your favorite tools?

My design process always starts with pencil and paper. I’m always a bit suspicious of people who claim they don’t need to do this – Photoshop is a great tool, but it doesn’t exactly encourage creativity when you’re just knocking ideas around. Then I’ll mock up the layouts in Photoshop. I’ve also tried Fireworks – back when it was a Macromedia product – but I never really got on with it for some reason. When I’m ready to start coding, I usually hand code using Dreamweaver. I know using Dreamweaver for hand coding seems silly when I don’t use any of the powerful WYSIWYG functionality, and I know there are cheaper, leaner products out there that are better suited to hand coding, but I just like the way Dreamweaver is set up. At my previous job I managed a lot of websites, so the file management and FTP integration was a godsend. I tried Aptana a while ago, and enjoyed using it, but eventually drifted back to Dreamweaver. I think I’m just set in my ways. Maybe I’m getting old.