Andrew Greig is a web designer based in Australia and the creative force behind DesignFlavr.com.  When he first started designing for the web he never thought it would turn into a full-time career but he is happy that it has.  His side project, DesignFlavr.com, has seen over 10 million pageviews to date and it all started from an idea of letting good art get the recognition it deserved.

Andrew refers to himself as a “creative developer” which might seem like a contradiction in terms but given Andrew’s talents the title fits because he focuses on the overall development and design when he works a project.  Andrew was nice enough to take some time from his busy schedule to answer some questions recently and here is what he had to say…

Luc asks: On your site you call yourself a “creative developer”.  Now, personally when i think of a developer i think logic, programming, methodologies and things like that but throwing the word “creative” before that is curious to me.  Do you consider yourself both a creative type and a developer?  Please explain a little more.

Andrew says: I suppose what I mean in saying that is whilst I have skill as a programmer, be it PHP, AS3, or Front End, everything always starts from the ground up as a design. Design is one of the most important aspects of project development for the web and is often left as an after-thought by many programmers or put aside for someone else to interpret. I work the two angles, Design and Development, together to try and create more harmonious endings. So yes, whilst I currently have more of a programmer focus in my current work, I am a trained Designer and always make sure that it gets shown through in the output.

Luc asks: How and why did you decide to create DesignFlavr.com?  Do you personally use what you see on the web for your own inspiration on web design projects?

Andrew says: I originally created Designerflavr out of a desire to fill a niche are in the web. I used to use places like deviantArt to try and find inspiration for design projects, unfortunately due the massive size of the site and the amount of content that just wasn’t relevant, I often found the really good art went unnoticed. So I set forth building a web gallery that would feature all the high quality art that deserved some appreciation from lovers of art and design. When I go out looking for design inspiration, I always look at it from an ideas based perspective. I don’t go looking for great designs to replicate and steal ideas from, but to help encourage my own ideas to flow. So if I see a beautiful color scheme for example or an interesting use of Typography, I might use that as a starting point in a design and work out from there. I find that design inspiration should be more of an idea igniter.

Luc asks: When you first started designing websites did you ever think it would turn into a full-time career for you?

Andrew says: Not at all. The original start to my career was in the area of Motion Graphics, Video Production etc. I slowly started migrating across to static print design and from there ended up doing website design on the side to get me through my studies at university. It was good money and was relatively easy. Overtime I started doing more and more web design and actually started enjoying the whole thing. But even then, I was still in denial that web design would become my full-time career. Now I love it and wouldn’t, for the current time, dream of doing anything else.

Luc asks: I see that you’ve done a bunch of design work using WordPress and i wanted to ask you what are your favorite WordPress plugins to use?

Andrew says: To be honest, I usually try to avoid the use of WordPress plugins wherever I can. I find that many of them offer simple fixes to solutions that, with a bit of PHP knowledge, anyone can fix much more efficiently. However there are still some brilliant ones that I find very useful, one is the ‘All in one SEO‘ plug-in which does as the name would describe and the ‘Search Excerpt’ which runs the search feature on my site very well.

Luc asks: What did you study while you were at Griffith University? Has your education helped you in your professional career?

Andrew says: Whilst I was at University, I studied a BA of Visual Media which offered a broad scope of studies in areas such as Motion Graphics / Visual Effects, Graphic Design, Typography, Design theory, Photography, Fine Art etc. I made use of all the available teaching areas and ended up finished my studies with a very well rounded skill-set. I still utilize many of them today. The most invaluable have ended up being areas based around Art Theory such as Semiotics, Human Interface Studies, and Color Theory etc.

Australian web designer, David Jonsson comes to us from Byron Bay where he crafts websites with branding and amazing graphic designs.  He got his start in designing for the web when he was living and working in London, England and got hired by a web design agency called “Pod1” and learned a lot of his skills on the job.

David has been designing websites since 2005 and more recently, in the past 3 years, he has been freelancing full-time as a web designer.  David uses typography and his graphic design skills to rework designs for the web and end up looking amazing.

Talking to David, it’s easy to see why he is so passionate about web design, his freelance career and the fact that he has never missed a deadline.  Read on to see what David had to say…

Luc asks: David how did you originally start designing website and what got you interested in web design?

David says: It all started when I left Australia to live in London for 12 months. Luckily enough when I arrived and was looking for a job, my brother mentioned that he had a friend who worked at a design agency that was looking for somebody for a couple of days to do data entry.  Fortunately for me, I learned to touch type at school and got the job. What I didn’t realize though was that I was walking into an amazing web design agency called Pod1. They had some amazing designers who I got the opportunity to sit next to and watch them create some stunning websites from scratch.  I decided then and there that this is what I wanted to do. Thankfully Pod1 kept me around for a bit and my love for design and web design just grew from there. They were all extremely passionate about what they did and the designers would settle for nothing but their best – I think that’s the most important thing that they taught me, be proud of what you do and do it as well as you possibly can.

Luc asks: Do you think in the web design profession it’s possible to become uninspired and bored of your job?

David says: If you don’t love web design or design in general it would be very easy to become uninspired and bored of your job. I on the other hand absolutely love what I do and can’t imagine myself doing anything else, web design brings in a lot more challenges as it’s more of an ever changing monster than say print design – I think this is why I love it the most, it’s challenging and is always changing. That’s not to say I don’t have days where I feel bored, uninspired and overwhelmed, but those days are very few and far between.

Luc asks: I see that your portfolio consists of a lot of graphic design work and i wanted to ask do you code any of the projects that you work on and if so what languages do you primarily work in?

David says: I code a few of the projects that I work on, it is a skill that I’m constantly learning and improving. Primarily the languages I work in are xHTML and CSS. My CMS of choice is WordPress which I’m comfortable with but when it comes to the bigger, more technical websites and e-commerce jobs I work with a highly skilled development team based in Brisbane, Australia and their work is nothing but exceptional.

Luc asks: Do you currently freelance on a full-time or part-time basis and how do you juggle the work that you do with your life in general being that you are under deadlines at times?

David says: I’ve been freelancing full time for the past 3 years. The work vs. life balance is something you learn over time. Deadlines really shouldn’t be an issue if you’ve accounted for your time correctly and set milestones that are achievable. That’s not to say I’m not extremely stressed 24hrs before launching a new site or submitting logo designs to my clients but I’m proud to say that I’ve never missed a deadline.

Luc asks: When people who become your clients what is your usually process for gathering information about the project you are going to become involved in? Also, what part does the “Questionnaire” play for your clients and potential clients?

David says: I have certain questionnaires for my clients depending on the project.  The questionnaires take care of the essential information and it’s a great way for the client to really think about their project and gives me a breakdown of what they’re hoping to achieve. I like to meet with my clients, either face to face, over the phone or a video call on Skype, this takes care of a lot of questions that they might have and I can also give advice on certain things that they either don’t understand or are not too sure about.  It’s nice to have a personal touch, I think a lot of clients appreciate that and expect it when dealing with a freelancer directly.

For those of you who’ve never heard of David Vuu, he is a multimedia designer from Melbourne, Australia and for those of you who have he’s a great guy isn’t he? David has been designing since 2004 while attending university and through a combination of paid and volunteer work he was focused on building his portfolio of web design and multimedia work. After graduation from Multimedia Systems at RMIT University in 2007 he decided that his passion for web design should become his fulltime profession. Outside of working fulltime as a Lead Designer he also moonlights as a freelancer doing everything from brand and identity work to web design and mobile web design. David is the “real deal” in a web and multimedia designer and with a vast skill set he shared more about his experiences scoping out projects, designing for mobile website viewers and his experience freelancing while working a fulltime gig with me and SpicyWebDesigners.com.

Luc @ SWD: David, how do you balance working fulltime and taking on freelance design work?

David says: Good Question! Initially, this was a difficult scenario trying to balance not only fulltime work and freelancing, but also having a social life. Now, I keep a calendar diary, adding all ad-hoc tasks that need to be completed – chipping at it piece by piece. This method is quite “old school”, but very effective in my case. Any freelancing job that is too big or requires attention during business hours would be shifted to the creative web agency I work at. It is a compromise that keeps all parties satisfied – the client would receive business hour support, the creative agency gains another client and as for myself, I would have an easier time juggling tasks.

Luc @ SWD: What is your approach to scoping out a web or multimedia design project?

David says: Once I receive the client’s brief, I do my research – it’s the most important part that builds the momentum for the rest of the project. Firstly, I research websites in the same industry getting the general feel on what is required. I then proceed with the theme and aesthetic research. Following that, I do wireframes and a sitemap. This is the process I always take within the research stage, once all that has been approved by the client, it builds the foundation for the rest of the project, which consist of designing, building and managing.

Luc @ SWD: How much designing do you do for mobile websites currently?  What are the biggest problems you face when designing for mobile audiences?

David says: Currently I spend about 15% of the time designing mobile websites. As clients are getting up to date with their technology, both new and existing clients are requesting their websites to be mobile friendly. The most common challenge I face is trying to determine what content is most important: it may sound simple but taking a website that contains content, photos and videos, and stripping it down to the bare essentials can be quite a challenge on its own.

Luc @ SWD: How long have you been designing websites professionally?

David says: My first commercial website design was in 2004 whilst I was attending university. While studying, I did the regular freelance and voluntary jobs to build up my portfolio. In 2007 after I graduated, I made web design a fulltime profession.

Luc @ SWD: Where and what did you study while you were in school?

David says: I actually began my university life studying environmental engineering. After the first year, I took the time to think about what I REALLY wanted to do – so I took the risk and did a 180˚ change: I chose to do Multimedia Systems at RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia). I have not regretted it since!

Luc @ SWD: David i see that you’ve got some experience coding in JavaScript and PHP.  Do you prefer working on coding or more graphic based projects or does it matter to you?

David says: I specialize in both front-end design and development, making sure it looks great as well as functions the way I envisioned it. I love customizing jQuery components to make it work with my designs. Overall, I enjoy both coding and designing – anything that involves a challenge to improve myself.

Dean Oakley found web design a refreshing change after finishing his information Technology degree at Griffith University back in 2004. He took his time building his confidence and his portfolio of web design work. Dean has been designing websites for the last 4 years professionally relying on a combination of HTML/CSS, PHP and JavaScript. Lately, he has been doing more and more design work and getting away from the hardcore programming of his college days. From his personal headquarters in Brisbane on the Gold Coast in Australia he has his sights set on developing his passion for the web into a full-time business and here is what he has to say about his journey in becoming a web designer.

1. How did you get into web design considering your concentration in university was in Information Technology?

We did a few web projects at the end of my course but actually studied very little Web related subjects. I just started by making sites for friends and family.  People seemed to like them and design was a nice change after years of programming. I moved to London to get more experience. I started working for a little web design / coffee shop that was running out of a disused petrol station in Shepards bush. It was really nice when you got sick of coding and making coffee you could watch the homeless alcoholics have street fights outside.

2. When did you think to yourself “Hey, I can be a web designer?”

I think it was once I had a portfolio. It takes a while to build up enough work to feel confident and it’s tricky to get job with no proof of your experience. Also there was so many bad sites around when I started it wasn’t too hard to know I could do better.

3. How did your education from Griffith University help you to become a better web designer and developer?

I did some pretty fun subjects at Griffith. But I think the software engineering subjects, although they put me off programming a little, stopped from being such a dirty hacker. If I could only get the years I wasted on Macromedia director back.

4. What are your favorite tools to use when designer websites?

All I really use to build sites are Dreamweaver, Firefox and Photoshop. I love WordPress as a basic CMS at the moment.

5. How long have you been designing professionally and what advice would you give to someone just starting out as a web designer?

About 4 years. I guess don’t take your work for granted. Try to do things well and get paid for ALL the hours you work. It’s easy to do things for free when you are excited about web design but that is when you do your best work.

6. You also say that you are a web developer.  What languages do you script and code in and do you consider yourself a stronger designer or coder?

Well I have been doing more and more design. But I’m pretty good with PHP, JavaScript and of course HTML and CSS.

7. What are your plans in the next five years with respect to your career in web design and development?

I would like to create my own profitable web based business.

Kai Brach is a web designer originally from Saarbrücken, Germany now living in Melbourne, Australia. He has been designing for the last 10 years and first got into web design when he was 19 years old taking a part-time job as a junior web designer. As he became more established with web design and he eventually decided to take his passion for web design into a full-time profession. Kai is also putting together an eBook called “Love Freelancing” that is set to come out in 2010 showcasing some great web designers. He continues to work for companies both large and small and notes his experience working at Google headquarters as an “amazing” highlight of his career to date.

1. Kai, when did you first start freelancing as a web designer?

When I was around 19 I took a part-time job as a junior web designer at a company called netmedia in my home town in Germany. As I got more experienced and confident in my skills, I started doing smaller jobs for colleagues, friends and soon after clients. Most of the work was very basic and – compared to my clients today – not so professional. But the experience in dealing with projects and clients helped my organizational skills.

While I was travelling to Australia and Asia in 2002-2003, I kept working here and there on some designs projects and only in about 2005 made web design my full-time profession.

2. How did you first gain exposure to web design and what was possible in design?

As mentioned above, I think working within a company – even if it’s just part-time – is one of the best ways to gain experience and find encouragement to work on your design skills.

Putting your best pieces of work on your portfolio site is a no-brainer in order to be seen and get enquiries.

However, I think most of the exposure and praise I received did not come from client work, but more so from my personal projects. This is also where you try out new things and have complete freedom to go down different design alleys.

The problem with client work, even if you get creative freedom, is that most of the time you get another client right afterwards that wants “something very similar”. I find myself pigeonholed quite often, so personal projects help to break the pattern and give different styles a try.

3. In your “Love Freelancing” ebook that is coming out in 2010 what can people and web designers in general expect from this ebook?

Most of us web designers have “idols”, other people in the industry that we look up to and admire (and follow on Twitter). I’m very curious as to what their life and work environment looks like. How do they work? And what do they do to come up with such good work?

As freelancers we all share a similar lifestyle – working from home or a small office, sometimes getting up late, taking the dog for a walk and having a cup of tea before we get started on checking our emails.

With this ebook I want to show a more personal side of some of the top design freelancers. It’s kinda like a behind-the-scene-look. I will conduct over 20 individual interviews and show photos of people’s office set-up, their house or neighborhood etc. It’s gonna be a cute little ebook that reminds us of the privileges of being a freelancer.

4. How was the experience of working at Google?

Amazing! I was very lucky to get the opportunity to be involved in a project there (thanks to amiando.com) and saw how things work at the Google HQ in Mountainview. All the rumors that go around about the employee benefits and incredible work conditions – yep, they are all true!

Although it was just a 1 week experience, working with some of the folks at Google really opened my eyes in regards to professionalism and open mindedness. I’m certainly aware of some of the issues that come with such a mega-company, but they really understand how to foster creative knowledge and encourage new thinking.

At the same time, it wouldn’t be a company I would try to be employed by. As we all know from Douglas Bowman designers can have a hard time fighting the data driven ethos of the company.

5. I see that you’ve developed a number of projects including GoFreelancing.org and Ausmag.de.  Do you find that you have a personal interest in the projects you choose to develop? Also, what motivates you to design these projects?

Definitely. All of my side projects come from a personal interest in the subject matter. Back in 2004, when I was traveling more I was thinking about a community where people could meet, share blogs and photos easily and stay in touch with family and friends at home. That resulted in www.globalzoo.de – a German travel community with now 11,000+ members.

Ausmag.de was also an idea I had while I was traveling. There are numerous backpacker magazines in Australia that help independent travelers find hostels, tours and activities while they are on the road. I thought it would be great to have that kind of info before you get here. So I got in touch with the publishers and shortly after started selling magazine packages to people in Europe. They love the pre-departure info and I earn a few bucks. Last year I also wrote a 250-page ebook about my experience as a backpacker traveling and working in Australia which I now also sell on the site.

Since my move to Melbourne earlier this year I also write about my life in Down Under in my (German) blog www.australien-blogger.de. It’s a great way to stay in touch with Germany and share experiences as a migrant.

As a freelancer who loves his profession there is a lot to explore and talk about with others. That’s why I started things like www.gofreelance.org and www.lovefreelancing.com

6. Since you moved from Germany to Australia what is your favorite thing about your new home of Melbourne?

Australia is a great country. People take life less serious (which is something I still find hard to adapt to) and quality of life in general is higher than in many northern European countries, I believe. Melbourne in particular is a great city with lots of art, culture and creativity to explore (did you see the new Melbourne logo?

As most migrants-by-choice I keep comparing things with my home country a lot though. So there are definitely things I don’t particularly like about Melbourne or Australia (most businesses haven’t realized the potential of the web yet, environmental awareness is almost non-existent, there is very little urban history etc.)

The traveler that I am, I might just pack up my things and explore other cities or countries in a few years time – who knows. Actually, tomorrow I’m getting ready to fly off to New York for a 3 month stay over Christmas. Anybody wants to catch up and talk design over a coffee or so?

Jade Nagy is a web and graphic designer from Melbourne in Australia. He has been designing professionally for the past 8 years and even from about the age of 10 years old he has been interested in art and design so this was a natural transition for him to make. Jade tributes his thirst for knowledge and willingness to learn new concepts as a reason for his own personal success.

Jade has created portfolio that merges his web and graphic design skills together very well. He has a playful sense of design which he is able to apply to the websites that he creates for clients, his logo design is uncluttered for the most part and his other examples of print work are balanced and interesting to look at which speaks to his 8 years of professional design experience.

1. I see that you have over 8 years of professional experience and wanted to know how you got started designing websites?

I’ve always been interested in art and design, even as a young child. I can remember around age 10, while the other kids were out playing sports, I was attending private tutoring with an art professor. Growing up I had a lot of geek friends, and I really enjoyed working with computers but wanted to do something more creative. I started dabbling in web & graphic design and taking on small jobs for friends. I enjoyed the work, and had a lot of good feedback. Eventually I decided to pursue design in a professional capacity.

2.    Jade, did you originally start as a graphic designer or have you always done web design?  Do you feel that your work in graphic design makes you a better web designer?

I started graphic design and web design at the same time. For me, they go hand in hand – one complements the other. I think it’s important to be involved in both worlds, as the trends and marketing techniques spill over from one medium into the next.

3.    What are your favorite tools to use when designing websites?

I can’t live without Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver. They’re my prized tools. Also, I like to develop and test in a local environment (i.e. WAMP) before I release a site. I’m a huge fan of Illustrator CS4 as well, but that’s mainly for graphic design.

4.    Where did you study when you went to school? What did you study?

I had been working as a web/graphic designer for a few years before I decided to study in the field. I enrolled in a design course but soon found I was doing more teaching than learning. Most of my design education has been self-taught.

5.    Do you feel your education has helped you to become a better web designer?

Self-education? Definitely. I’m constantly learning new techniques and developing my skills through research, tutorials, articles, and design showcases.

6.    What sites, books and publications do you read to stay up to date on the latest web design trends?

There’s far too many to list but here are some of my favourites – Abduzeedo.com is excellent for inspiration and tutorials (I’m a big fan of Fabio Sasso), and SmashingMagazine.com is another wicked resource I visit regularly. LogoPond.com and LogoFaves.com are great inspiration.

Sarah Enid Moule and Gennah NeSmith are both from Perth, Australia running Wildwood Creative, a small web and graphic design studio. Sarah has been designing websites for the past 7 years and Gennah started to design websites back in high school. They both admit to not being “coders” but they know the basics of JavaScripting, HTML, CSS and jQuery plug-ins in general. Sarah learned more about designing from the internet and is a self taught designer and artist and a few low level certificates and Gennah studied at TAFE (a Technical College) and Murdoch University and earned a certificate in Multimedia and a bachelor’s degree in Multimedia. Together they run Wildwood Creative with over 6 collective years of experience and have some killer design skills which they formed earlier in 2009. Keep an eye out for this tag team of designers as they continue to blaze new trials in the web and graphic design industry from their head quarters in Perth.

1. How did both you and Gennah get into web design? How long have each of you been designing websites for?

Sarah: I started getting into web design about 7 years ago, so I could build myself an online portfolio for my artwork. Once I started learning, I fell in-love and re-designed my website about once every 2 weeks! Consequently… I got bored of my own website, and now I make them for other people!

Gennah:  It all started in high school.  I was introduced to HTML and loved it. Something about using notepad to create something with structure and meaning, displaying things in such a way that made people more motivated to read, learn, and click!  I’ve studied off and on, played around with stuff in my own time.  The last few years I have been making websites for companies at a bigger web corporation, which defiantly lets you decide you are doing the right job!   I have been designing websites for 6 years.

2. Do either you and/or Gennah do any scripting on website design projects? If so, what languages do you script in?

Sarah: Not me! I do some very basic JavaScript but apart from that I mostly make the sites look pretty!

Gennah: We are not really the scripting type.  We know HTML, CSS and enough to jQuery to use plug-ins.

3. Being a two-woman web design company what do you find as an advantage of operating this way? Are there any disadvantages?

Sarah: So far I haven’t really noticed many pros or cons. I’m not big on celebrating the whole “two women taking on the world” thing. We are just two people; passionate about what we do who are always hard at work!

Gennah: We haven’t come across any yet.  At this point I would like to note, we are not feminists or do not want to be seen as two women taking on the world, rather two people who love making graphics, artwork and websites.

Sarah: Haha, yeah what she said! To be honest… I’m a pretty poor excuse for a female anyway, so really we are doing all women kind a favor this way hehe.

4. Where and what did each of you study while you were at college or university and is either of you a “Self-Taught” web designer?

Sarah: I am a self taught artist and designer. I did a couple of low level qualification certificates but everything I know I have learned from the internet. It’s the best university ever! I think when you are really interested in something; nothing can get in your way!

Gennah: I studied at eCentral TAFE(Technical College) and Murdoch University. I have both a Certificate in Multimedia and a Bachelor in Multimedia.

5. Would you said that both yourself and Gennah have different styles of design and if so how do you balance this in the web design projects that you complete?

Sarah: Definitely! Gennah is more of a corporate designer, she likes things neat and clean and shiny, where as I love designing crazy fun sites with lots of color and exciting photos. We are both able to do either style though which is great, but we play to our strengths. If one of us feels like a break, we high-five and change over, then give each other feedback and support.

Gennah: Sarah’s design is very friendly, free and artistic.  She is very good at using color to make things stand out and work well.  My style is more corporate, a little more boring but still neat and user friendly.  This is a good dynamic to have!

Michael Ott is a veteran web designer from Perth, Australia who decided to create a pretty interesting blog called “ThatWebGuyBlog.com”. He originally started the site because friends and colleagues had questions about design. He is a Senior Designer with a Perth-based firm and he has been designing sites for the past 11 years by his calculations.

Mike’s blog is full of useful information that is written to encourage exploration in web design and coding and to spread the word of best practices in web design. ThatWebGuyBlog.com is laid out in a simple and easy to digest manner which is perfect for people looking to learn a new technique and I am sure that you’ll enjoy reading his musings about web design in general.

What was your original idea when starting ThatWebGuyBlog.com?

There are a couple of reasons. Firstly, I’ve been running another blog for about 5 years now but it’s not really the right place for me to be posting articles about design (although I did occasionally sneak a few in).

Secondly I get enquiries from friends, colleagues and twitter followers about design – what tools or apps to use, how to accomplish a certain thing with CSS – and of course the obligatory “why doesn’t this work in IE!?” etc. A lot of these queries also come from designers new to the industry, and I often lend a hand to those who send me a tweet for help. I think, because I’ve been designing and coding for about 11 years now, that there is some (misguided?) notion to suggest I might know what I’m doing

So with this in mind it was time to start a new blog.

How long have you been running it for?

It’s very new – only launched in May 2009. I don’t advertise it anywhere and rely pretty much on word of mouth – or word of twitter mostly. I’ve been mentioned on a stack of CSS showcase web sites and that doesn’t hurt for publicity either.

I see that ThatWebGuyBlog.com is made up of people writing content.  How many contributors do you currently have?

There’s only me actually, but I’ve had a couple of requests from industry colleagues and friends if they can contribute. I’m entertaining the idea of opening it up to guest posts, but no concrete plans just yet.

How can web designers and the web design community benefit from your site?

That’s a tricky one to answer, because there are already several resources out there (ALA comes to mind) that kind of make ThatWebGuyBlog.com and a lot of other smaller blogs redundant. That said, I try to write my articles to be less intimidating and get to the point faster. At least the latter is what I’ve been told. My articles do however concentrate more on common web design best practices that seem to have been forgotten or never learned by beginners and industry professionals. I still know of seasoned designers for example, who know nothing about semantics, or don’t bother to get their sites to validate. This both amuses and annoys me.

What future plans do you have for the website?

I would be lying if I said I had a concrete goal in sight. It’s evolving as ideas come to me. As eluded earlier I am thinking about having guest posts from other designers who know more about me on a certain subject. PHP for example, is something I’m only average at best, so I’m hardly qualified to write an article that might require better than average PHP skills. I also plan to add more tutorials with a CSS/XHTML focus.

And like any good designer I plan to tweak the design whenever I get the urge. Your own blog is pretty much the only place a designer can go nuts without consequence.

What makes and keeps you so passionate about running this website Mike?

I’m far from being a design guru despite what it says on my coffee mug. I love being challenged and learning other ways of doing things – and more importantly learning why those alternative ways might be better. I think many designers (myself included) can sometimes get stuck into doing things a certain way. Having the blog forces me to think hard about what I’m writing  - because even though I might think I know everything on a certain topic, I have to ask myself “but is that method really the best way to do it?” – and I know anything I say is open to scrutiny and more importantly, discussion. There’s something to be said about committing your ideas to electronic paper and having them literally undergo a peer review process. It’s both liberating and scary.

Passion is one thing, time is another. I work full time as a Senior Designer and I can only give ThatWebGuyBlog.com attention between work and raising a family. A lot of my articles are fully or partially composed during the train ride to work and back (or when my daughters are asleep!).

Naturally web design is a topic that we find interesting but do you ever find that you run out of material to write about and where do you find the topics for the articles that you write?

Finding a topic to write about is always a challenge because let’s face it – most have been done already. But I keep an updated document of potential topics even though I usually end up scrapping some of those ideas.

Inspiration usually comes from an unexpected source – Twitter. I often help designers in the Twitterverse with CSS or other design related issues, or just offer encouragement when it looks like they’re going to give up and go back to tables. If I haven’t already written an article on the subject of their despair, I will. And then I’ll share it of course

Mathew Carpenter is the project manager at Tisme.com.au, a recently formed web design and development based in Newcastle, Australia. Both he and the designers and developers that work at Tisme.com.au turn out some amazing work for their clients on a daily basis. Currently, Tisme is a 5 man and woman operation that has been in business for the past 3 months and as they say “Don’t let our age fool you though; our team have years of experience under their belt and are able to compete with the best in the business”.

1. How long has Tisme been in business?

Tisme is still only a baby after being formed a little over 3 months ago with the intention of bringing creativity and innovation back into Australian websites and graphic design in general. Don’t let our age fool you though; our team have years of experience under their belt and are able to compete with the best in the business.

2. How many people currently work at Tisme?

There are currently 5 people employed at Tisme including myself. We have Dule as our lead developer who handles all of the programming and tricky stuff, Branka is our designer and one of the most creative people you will ever meet. Across the table we have Ferdinand (call him FM) who slaves away at his graphics tablet designing awesome mascots and Andi who designs some of the best promotional material including logos, business cards and more. Then I handle the project management side of the business.

3. What does Tisme pride itself upon in the field of web design?

Tisme is all about developing websites and graphics which complement our clients business, service or product. We are here to help their businesses grow by utilising current design trends and incorporating creative solutions. We pride ourselves on these characteristics and our ability to understand and meet the needs of our clients whether it is for a simple logo design or a full website design.

4. How do you and your coding abilities make life easier for people at Tisme and its clients?

Answered by DULE, a programmer at Tisme.com.au: One of the main goals of Tisme is to provide an effective and efficient experience when dealing with projects. In order to complete this, we must use clean, standard-compliant code so that we can refer back and make appropriate changes to the code when necessary. Website developers must realise that during the life of a website, you are not going to be the only person looking at the code. This is why I document and comment in the coding so that the project owner can easily modify and change the source once we have completed the project. This also comes in handy when we are commissioned to make changes to a website we have worked on before.

5. How long have you been designing websites and how do you stay up to date with the latest techniques in web design?

Answered by BRANKA, a web designer at Tisme.com.au: I have been designing websites professionally for the last 2 years but I have been involved with creating websites and graphics for a long time. It first started out as a hobby until I realised I could make a career out of doing what I love; that is, designing attractive and user friendly websites. Although staying up to date with the latest techniques in website design is essential, the ever-changing state of the industry makes it hard to stay current, though I think I do a good job. I am actively involved in several design forums, and I also love reading about current design trends in magazines and on the Internet.

6. What does the role of a “promotional designer” involve at Tisme?

Answered by ANDI, a promotional designer at Tisme.com.au: The role of promotional designer is quite a broad role. Some days it may involve creating logos and stationery for small to medium enterprises while other days could involve working on packaging for a brand new product. By doing this, I am able to work with a large selection of clients and I am constantly improving my skills which will ultimately benefit the client.

7. What kind of projects do you work on for clients and how did you earn the title of “mascot illustrator”?

Answered by FERDINAND, a mascot illustrator at Tisme.com.au: Basically I get called in when the client wants to project a specific personality, image or message through a character design. Mascots work in a similar fashion to any logo in that they represent the company and its ideals, but mascot designs can also give the consumer some things logos can’t; a face, a look, a human touch. We respond instinctively to eye contact and body language, and that’s the area of expertise for a mascot designer – to try to get the audience to relate to a brand on that intimate, personal level.

8. When it comes to managing a project for a client at Tisme what can clients expect from you as the project manager?

Answered by MAT, a project manager at Tisme.com.au: When a client first reaches out to us to create their project, our first main goal is to make them feel secure. We do this by having a free, no obligation consultation regarding their project. Once we receive all of the project details, I go ahead and assemble the first management document to hand over to the client which basically contains information about our business, services we offer and also a brief overview of what we discussed earlier in order to see if we correctly understood the clients requirements. Upon receiving the client’s feedback, a time allocation and pricing structure is sent and reviewed which outlines how our time will be spent on their project and what our initial price estimates are. As you can tell, we focus on providing the client want they want, opposed to creating a project which the client had little to no say in. By following these simple steps, we are able to satisfy the client and become more efficient and effective in delivering a positive result.

Teresa Watts aka “Chisa” is a web designer from Perth, Western Australia in Australia. She currently runs her freelance web design portfolio, her blog “ChiGarden” and works full-time as a Web and Graphic Designer. She has been designing since she was 16 years old and has been loving design ever since.

1. How did you first get started designing web sites?

I first started like most people do – designing a personal site for themselves. After a couple of years of maintaining my own site I became more and more interested in the design aspect, finally deciding that was what I wanted to do for a living.

2. When did you design your first website?

I designed my first website when I was 16, a manually updated blog covered in my amateur illustrations. I thought it was fantastic at the time!

3. What are the biggest challenges that you face on the projects you work on?

I think the most difficult and important aspect of projects is communicating with the client. Sometimes clients don’t know exactly what they want, or what they want isn’t really the best for what they want to achieve in my professional opinion, so it’s very important to discuss their options and ideas before getting too into it. If there’s a failure in communication at the start of the process then unless you’re very lucky you end up paying for it down the track.

The other difficult part is actually finding the clients, but as I’ve just started freelancing I don’t have a huge amount of experience with that yet!

4. Where did you go to school? And, has it helped you become a better web designer?

I studied Computer Science at the University of Western Australia, and decided half way through that I didn’t enjoy programming and wanted to design. The programming experience made it easier for me to grasp web-related scripting languages, but most of the skills I use today are self-taught. I did end up working at the university as a designer for a while after graduating and gained some other useful opportunities and contacts along the way though, so I have no regrets.

5. How has your work on “ChiGarden”, your blog, helped you gain more exposure in the web design community?

I tend to be a bit lazy with content, but as I like to redesign my blog every year I receive some exposure and praise through the design work. Recently ChiGarden has been featured in various CSS galleries and articles on popular design blogs, which is quite exciting! One of the articles I posted on my blog, a tutorial for making an Internet Explorer voodoo doll, also got a lot of attention and over a year later still brings more people to my website than anything else.

6. Would you say that you are doing what you “love” or are “passionate” about?

Absolutely – I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. I love that the web design process requires both creative and analytical skills, and there’s always something new to learn. I love that I can happily work on web design and development all day then come home and do some more work on personal projects. It seems rare, to find something that you both love doing and can make a decent living from, so I feel very lucky.

7. How do you usually price out your web design projects?

I usually have a chat with the client about what they’re after and what kind of direction they want their design to go in, and then estimate how long it will take me based on previous experiences. I then add in a safety margin and multiply it by my hourly rate, which I’ve figured out based on what other local freelancers seem to be charging and what I can live on. I’m still getting the hang of the best way to price things and estimating accurately, but tracking how long I spend on each project helps to make sure I’m charging what I should be.