Michael Heald is a web designer from England in the United Kingdom and he is the guy behind “Fully Illustrated” a creative agency he built from the ground up.  With over 10 years of professional experience in design, Michael has really created a style that is all his own.

He has been featured in .NET magazine and Web Designer Magazine and has won a lot of awards.  Some of his achievements to date include…

• Michael’s Creative Agency “Fully Illustrated” is named 1 of only 99 top ranked creative agencies in the world
• His design work has been featured in the “Web Designers Idea Book” by Patrick McNeil and “Websites 2” by Zeixs
• Countless web and graphic design awards from various sites like CSSMania, CSS Crème, Web 360 award and Daily Slurp to name a couple.

Even though he started off in print design when he first got out of university he was introduced to web design on a few projects and since then he has expanded his skill set into 3D and motion design with game development on an online game called “Super Turbo Action Pig”.  There is no doubt that Michael Heald is an expert in what he does and I really enjoyed having a chance to hear from him about his experiences in design.

Luc asks: I know it’s been about 10 years for you since you started your career but i wanted to ask how and where did you start your career?

Michael says: I think my career officially started when my mum and dad bought me my Commodore 64!  I was into games in a big way and deep down wanted to spend my life surrounded by games in one way or another.  Ok, on a serious note, my career started when I left Uni and started working in a local 5 man design company.  I was a graduate on a steep learning curve and managed to work on a great mix of projects including branding, web design, exhibition stand design and then later a little illustration.  It was after my first taste of commercial illustration that I wanted to move on, I had the bug!  I soon found an advert for a position as an illustrator, applied and got the job!  So for the following 5 years I spent most of time drawing characters, with a little time spent doing web/application design and then later 3D modeling/animation.  After this I moved onto a dedicated web design position for a large international web agency where after 3 years I decided to move into business on my own offering all the disciplines I’d learned over the previous 8 years.

Luc asks:  How long have you been designing for the web?

Michael says: I’ve been designing for the web almost as long as I’ve been designing.  When I started out in my first job doing mainly print, it was around the time that the web industry was in its infancy and thus, I got the chance to design a couple of sites right at the beginning of my career.  Thankfully those sites are no longer online (he laughs to himself)

Luc asks: I see that your creative agency has been named of the best in the world.  Was it a surprise to you when you first heard about it?  And, what do you think makes “Fully Illustrated” a world class creative agency?

Michael says: Yeah it was big surprise!  I never thought that a small one man design company could ever be shortlisted for a place in the top 100, let alone actually win a place!  As far as what I think makes my work worthy, wow, that’s a tough one for me to answer.  I know that I love what I do, and look forward to starting work every day and if I don’t have a project on hand, there is always something I want to experiment with myself, so this must translate though to my work in some way.  Passion would sum it up I guess.

Luc asks: What magazines, websites and other materials do you read to stay on top of the latest trends in design?

Michael says: My sources of inspiration are vast to say the least and strangely, don’t include much in the way of design related sites, in fact, I can’t even think of any off the top of my head.  I actually spend my time looking at sites dedicated to 3D, motion graphics, games, concept art and photography, as I seem to draw all my inspiration from much less direct subjects.  I’ll often walk out of a movie full of ideas for a design, it’s weird I guess.

Luc asks: With so many accomplishments in your past already where do you hope to be in 5 years from now?

Michael says: Where do I want to be in 5 years time…hmmm, continuing to do what I love, only doing it much better

Luc asks: What is the one thing that you love most about what you do for a living?

Michael says: the fact that I want to get out of bed to do it, it’s that simple.  I’ve always loved my job, from the first day of my first job, to this day writing this article.  If you can get up in a morning and get paid for something you love doing, then that is one of the best things in life, as let’s face it, you’ll spend most of your life working than doing anything else.  Oh, and the fact that I get to play and create games might have something to do with it too

Luc asks: Tell me a few things about yourself that most people wouldn’t know about you if they met you on the street.

Michael says: Oh good question.  Hmm, how about…I originally started out life wanting to be a fighter pilot for the RAF.  Oh, and I farted really loud in school assembly when I was 12   There you go, not many people know those two facts

Daniel Scocco is an online marketing professional from Brazil.  After he finished studying International Economics at the Università Commerciale ‘Luigi Bocconi’ and living and studying around the world he has managed to startup two very successful websites and grow them into businesses.

Firstly, Daniel created DailyBlogTips.com, a blog devoted to sharing information about what he has learned along the way developing websites and blogs.  This blog receives a great rate of traffic with roughly 300,000 monthly page views.

Later on Daniel decided to create OnlineProfits.com to help people looking for Online Marketing and Business training and contributors to this website’s content including Yaro Starak from Entrepreneur’s Journey, Chris Garrett and others.

Daniel had a chance to share some insight about his experiences in online marketing and web development and this is what he had to say…

Luc asks: I wanted to ask how you what was the first site that you ever built?

Daniel says: I built my first website in 1998 or so, using GeoCities. I remember I wanted to impress a girl from my school, so I built this homepage with a poem for her, and some flashing roses and GIFs around…. Needless to say it looked terrible.

Luc asks: Was it something that you did for fun, profit or both?

Daniel says: It was for fun.

Luc asks: Outside of that, your site dailyblogtips.com, how much traffic do you recieve monthly?

Daniel says: Currently the site is generating over 300,000 monthly page views (tracked by Google Analytics).

Luc asks: how did you monetize this site to get the most out of it?

Daniel says: I monetize the site with several methods. First of all I sell banner spots to advertisers. I sell them directly, so 100% of the money comes into my pocket. Secondly, I also promote affiliate offers occasionally. Finally, I use the blog to launch other projects, like OnlineProfits.com, my Internet marketing training program.

Luc asks: why did you decide to leave the design of this site so simple?  I take it that it’s deliberate.

Daniel says: I am a minimalist person, so the design of my sites reflect that. I like to have only the minimum amount of options/elements around. In fact if I could I would make the site even simpler, perhaps removing the ads. But generate a good amount of revenue, so for now they stay.

Luc asks: I was also checking out your OnlineProfits.com site.  Again i enjoyed the clean layout and its clear what you want people to do when they come to your website.  When someone signs up for the newsletter and gets the first two lessons free do you find that a good number of people convert and purchase further training?

Daniel says: Conversion rates are always low, no matter what.

But getting people to subscribe to your newsletter and building a relationship with them by giving away valuable content is one of the best marketing strategies you can use.

Luc asks: Also how do you run the training program as i see that enrollment is closed for 2009 currently.  Are there a limited number of spots available and is this something that you do live with the attendees, pre-recorded or one-on-one?

Daniel says: The program was closed during 2009 because we were working with the 200 members that joined in January of that year. We were also revamping the course, so we preferred to keep the doors close until everything was ready.

Last week we opened the doors again though, and now members can join again.

Luc asks: What can someone who attends one of your training programs expect to get out of it?

Daniel says: The goal of Online Profits is to give its members a complete Internet marketing training. We want our members to get out of it with a solid knowledge on most areas, including blogging, email marketing, affiliate marketing, web content, web design and search engine optimization and so on.

Andrew Reifman is a web designer from Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.  He studied and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia.  He bills himself as a designer primarily and not a developer and confides that one of the most difficult things he’s dealt with on a web design project is programming.

Andrew likes collaboration with others and he also likes the social interaction of working with a team of people.  Lately he has been working with MailChimp, also known as The Rocket Science Group as their web designer.  When he isn’t busy working he likes to shoot pool and working towards mastering Javascript.  Here is what Andrew had to say about his passion for web and graphic design, where he sees himself in 5 years and his experiences using social media.

Luc asks: In your design experiences to date, what has been your favorite project to work on and why?

Andrew says: Aside from working on my own site, which is always fun to do, my favorite project(s) to work on has been for MailChimp. Working for MailChimp has been very different from previous work experiences because my only clients are the people I work with. It also happens to be that my coworkers are very fun and open to being as creative as possible.

Luc asks: With your background in Fine arts, how and why did you get into web page design?

Andrew says: I was an undecided art major for several years in college. I reached a point where I had to decide which art career I would pursue. It was between continuing with a focus in drawing or entering the graphic design program. I decided that I would like to get a paycheck on a regular basis and was accepted into the graphic design program. For two years, I produced mainly print and identity work, learning very little about web design.

I was really introduced to web design as an intern. Over the next few years I immersed myself in web design, following blogs, viewing CSS galleries daily, and keeping up with trends. Design made up 50% of my job, front-end developing the other 50%. Being a developer really helped grow my abilities in design by knowing what could and couldn’t be done. It also allows me to remain in complete control of my projects from start to finish.

Luc asks: To date, what are the most difficult things that you’ve dealt with on a web design project?

Andrew says: The most difficult thing that I’ve dealt with, and still deal with to this day is programming. I’m a designer first and a developer second. In design, if things don’t work, it’s really a matter of opinion. Nothing breaks in a design that prevents you from seeing your project on the screen. Code on the other hand, forget to close that one div and your whole projects decides to explode. This was definitely a more frustrating issue when working with dynamic sites using Ruby. Now I work with more static sites, and this whole issue has gotten a little easier for me to handle.

Luc asks: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Andrew says: In 5 years, I hope to still be loving graphic design. I would love to go back to my design roots and do both print design and web design. As liberating as freelance can be, I imagine myself still working for a design firm. Once again, I’m big on working with other people, and I really need human interaction during the day. I don’t want to become a design hermit.

Luc asks: What are your favorite web technologies to work with currently?

Andrew says: jQuery is awesome. I’m really getting into CSS3 and I’m anxiously waiting for the day when every browser recognizes it. I’m looking at you Internet Explorer.

Luc asks: What role does using social media play in building your freelance web design business?  Do you find that people are responsive to following you on twitter, linkedin and other social media networking websites?

Andrew says: I’m a pretty moderate user of social media, nothing too hardcore for me. My greatest learning tool over the last year or two has become Twitter. There is no other place on the internet that you can receive as much inspiration and information from other designers. Follow the right people and you will have an endless supply of inspiration, tutorials and informative articles. At the same time, Twitter can also be my greatest source of distraction. I will admit that I need to do a better job of giving back to the design community and post more tweets of my own. Sorry about that folks, working on it.

Evan Eckard is a web designer with more than 15 years of design experience who lives in San Francisco in the United States.  Originally starting out working as a photographer later on he enrolled in an art school in San Francisco and after school Evan switched from pursuing 3d design to web design after getting inspired by sites like praystation.com.

Evan considers himself largely self-taught as a web designer but his experiences in photography, 3d and digital design and traditional design make him a very well rounded web designer.  He uses PHP, jQuery, javascript and other web based coding languages only to make his design work “sing” but he prefers to focus on the design work solely.  If you get a chance to check out his portfolio website you check out some of the WordPress themes he’s developed with his designs.

Recently when I talked to Evan about his experiences in design over the past 15 years he had following to say about his experiences to date and how he prefers to sometimes use pencil and paper in his creative process so please read on and learn a bit more about Evan Eckard…

Luc asks: With over 15 years of design experience how did you first get involved designing websites?

Evan says: Around 1994 I started playing around with Photoshop and digital media in general. As the web slowly evolved, I started coming across other designer’s websites and thought I’d like to take a stab at creating one of these. My first portfolio site was built all in frames, was extremely clunky and had a horrible user interface, but it looked awesome to me and was fun to build. Some of the first sites I came across that really inspired me were sites like praystation.com, design is kinky and others.

After that, I would work on web sites here and there for a couple of years, and then I found myself right in the middle of the internet industry working full time on web design and static development. The entire process has been self taught, with a lot of web research on how to code and implement functionality. The design aspect was just in my blood and picked up along the way in art classes at school.

Luc asks: Are you formally educated or self taught as a design professional? If so, where are what did you study?

Evan says: Mainly self-taught, but have slept through some art classes. I’ve taken a lot of traditional art classes, but hadn’t taken much in digital media outside basic Photoshop classes and such. I learned more sitting in front of a computer at home than in a classroom.

Luc asks: I like the fact that you offer free WordPress templates on your portfolio site. Why did you decide to add this feature to your portfolio?

Evan says: I started learning WordPress to run my own sites and gained an interest in theme design in the process. After I had worked on my own site and client sites, I still had ideas for potential themes I wanted to try and it grew from there. A couple I sold off, but a few I just couldn’t find a finishing point. The ones I offer for free are themes I still have ideas and updates for and enjoy working on them when I have the time. Since they were ongoing, I figured I’d just release them to the public to enjoy as well.

Luc asks: If you could tell us just one reason why you love doing what you do what would your answer be?

Evan says: I’ve always loved designing. It just so happened I fell into an area where the main media of choice was HTML. If I wasn’t doing web design, I’d be doing visual design and art in general in a different form elsewhere.

Luc asks: Do you code (using JavaScript, PHP, mySQL, etc.) the projects that you take on or do you consider yourself a hardcore designer not interested in coding?

Evan says: I use javascript and PHP only out of necessity. Ideally, I’d focus all on design, but I still have the need to develop the designs when they’re ready. I use jquery often and had to learn PHP to get WordPress to do what I needed it to do.

Luc asks: Being a designer with a number of years of experience under your belt what experience has helped you most on your career to this point and how have they helped you?

Evan says: Stay sharp. Even though I work full time for a company, I still find the need to work on other projects on the side to keep my creative ideas flowing. Variety is “key” to stave off burnout and keep the enjoyment levels up. I see so many designers that focus on certain niches and when they come up for air, everything around them has changed too much to keep up.

Also, don’t create solely on the computer. Pick up a pencil and sketch anything you can. Real world experiences applied to the web makes designs richer and more natural.

Soh Tanaka is a web designer and front end web developer who’s based in Los Angeles, California.  He first started designing websites in 2005 but he first got interested in 2004 while he was in college after picking up a copy of Photoshop.

When Soh is designing for a client these days his approach is to understand the scope of the project with respect to the person, product or company he is designing for.  He is very critical of his own work and he always strives for better on projects he takes on.

Here is what Soh Tanaka had to say when I caught up with him about his web design background, where his experience has taken him and where he plans to go moving forward.

Luc asks: I see that you started designing websites back in 2005 according to your site and i wanted to ask what were you doing before in terms of design and what got you hooked on designing for the web?

Soh says: I got my first copy of Photoshop in 2004 after taking my first HTML class in college. I was going to school for CIS (Computer Information Systems) and this was one of the only classes that really grabbed my attention. After learning the basics of HTML, I quickly became obsessed and started exploring the world of web design. Before this, I had no prior experience with design or art in general.

Luc asks: When you first start in on a web design project what do you use to inspire your creativity?

Soh says: For every project, I research the background of the company/product/person and try to understand its audience. Sometimes I bounce around the various web galleries out there, but my main goal is to visualize the environment and experience of the users and the goal of the website. To explore the theme and feel of the site, I check out various magazine layouts/design, photography, and other related sources of media to gain inspiration.

Luc asks: How many projects have you worked on since you first started designing websites?

Soh says: I lost count, but I don’t claim a lot of them. I am my own worst critic, and tend to dislike my creations after time goes by.

Luc asks: What are your favorite web technologies to work with currently and why are they your favorites?

Soh says: I would say CSS & jQuery for front-end development. I don’t really have a reason why I love them, but they are my bread and butter when developing interfaces.

Luc asks: I really loved checking out your portfolio.  It’s very professional and pretty slick!  I’ve noticed that your design style on projects is pretty broad.  How do you manage to turn out work that looks unique and different on every project?

Soh says: I actually feel like my designs look too similar. My goal this year is to break out of the box and experiment. I tend to have the typical CSS designer feel, which has a very “boxy” feel to it. I love clean and simple design, but there are times when I feel I lack proper design foundations like typography that I can definitely improve on. There are some inspirational designers out there (Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain, Yaron Schoen, Rob Morris, Martin Balhar to name a few) that make me want to challenge myself further so I can be a better designer. I hope to grow as much as I can and go beyond my usual comfort level. Gotta get back into training mode!

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.

In the interview that Joni did with me he talks about designing (mostly on a pro-bono basis) currently and takes pride in his work, where he finds inspiration for his design and his experiences since he started learning the ins and outs of graphic and web design.

Luc asks: How did you originally get started designing websites? And, how long have you been designing for professionally?

Joni says: I’ve been fascinated with websites ever since my teens and I suppose at some point just wanted to know how they’re made. I started throwing stuff at Macromedia Dreamweaver, saw what stuck on and what didn’t, and went from there.

I’ve spent the last six or so years self-learning graphic (and web-) design. I’m the sort of person who does things properly or not at all so I haven’t taken on many commercial projects yet. I did my first paid website design a year ago, but have been doing pro-bono work on and off for a couple of years.

Luc asks: When you are faced with a design problem where do you turn for inspiration?

Joni says: Never to design galleries. If I have a design problem I cannot solve, I stop trying and go do something else. The next time I come back to the problem, my subconscious will hopefully have solved it. If not, I hit reverse and try changing an element in the design that might be affecting the problem I’m having. That usually either solves the problem or causes a dozen new ones. But hey, it’s all part of the fun!

Luc asks: I see that you are currently studying Media Technology in University.  How do you balance work and school and when you graduate what do you want to do next in your career?

Joni says: I focus on educating myself as much as possible while I still have the chance. The education in my country is free, so I don’t need to be working constantly. I live a flexible life that way.

When I graduate, I’d love to find some like-minded artists and developers, and see if we could make something magical happen. Failing that, I’ll be looking to get my career “kickstarted” at a design/media agency of some sort.

Luc asks: Do you think its important for a web designer to learn new technologies and standards that come out as soon as possible or do you feel that a general understanding is good enough to see you through most design issues?

Joni says: Absolutely. I think deep knowledge of the technologies and standards you’re working with is a huge part of digital design. After all, design is all about embracing limitations and making the best out of them. I don’t think anyone can design a good website without ever touching markup or CSS.

Luc asks: Is there a particular CMS system that you like working with above others?

Joni says: They all frustrate me equally much. The only CMS-like solutions I’ve liked lately are these new inline content editors, like Unify by Unit Interactive.

Luc asks: To date, how many (paid) projects have you personally been involved with and do you consider yourself a beginner, intermediate or advanced web designer?

Joni says: I’ve only ever been involved with a couple of paid projects, so I definitely consider myself a beginner in that regard. However, I’d like to think my knowledge in HTML, CSS and cross-platform design is pretty advanced.

Sara Tusar Suhadolc is a web designer and developer living and working in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  She has been involved in designing and developing websites since she was 14.  Back then she was trying to figure out how everything works on the web and today her curiosity has only grown.

She graduated from the University of Maribor in Slovenia back in December 2008 after completing a degree in Interactive Graphic Communications.  Since graduating, she’s been working full-time for a design agency in Slovenia and in the future plans to possibly pursue freelance web design.

I had a chance to ask Sara some questions about her experiences in web design, her knowledge of front-end development and her educational experiences and this is what she had to say…

Luc asks: Sara, how did you first get into web design and why do you still enjoy designing for the web?

Sara says: I started checking source codes and playing around in Photoshop at the age of 14. I have always been interested in how stuff works and websites definitely intrigued me the most. Eleven years later, things haven’t changed much. I am still this curious kid who loves learning about design and creative use of technology on a daily basis. I think that when you acquire enough knowledge the real fun starts. I know that there’s just so much to discover, so many great websites to build so I’m already looking forward to it!

Luc asks: I see that you call yourself a “front-end developer” besides just being a web designer. What have you learned that really makes you a great front end developer?

Sara says: Well, I learned that just being a good front-end developer or just a good web designer isn’t enough. In order to become great you need to be a bit of both – a savvy front-end developer as well as a creative and resourceful web designer. We all know that the Internet is a very specific medium in terms of its possibilities and limitations. Knowing all of them well and having different solutions at hand is almost mandatory if you want your work to stand out.

Luc asks: Do you currently freelance on a full-time or part-time basis and are you selective about the projects you take on?

Sara says: The fact that I have a full time job at the moment keeps me from freelancing on a regular basis. That might change in the future if I manage to attract enough clients. I’m not particularly picky about what projects I take on as long as they represent enough of a challenge and let me express my creativity at the same time. I am at the moment busy designing a web site for this very exciting new start-up called Dog-walker Central, which will be ready for a release with the ability for the public to search profiles in the next 4-5 weeks. After that, we will continue to add features and hopefully the project will be fully up and running in June, so keep your eyes open

Luc asks: I also read on your portfolio site that you have a degree in Interactive Graphic Communications and i just wanted to ask where did you study? Have you graduated and if you have when did you graduate and also how has your education helped you in becoming a design professional?

Sara says: That is correct, I studied Interactive Graphic Communications at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (University of Maribor, Slovenia), graduated in 2008 and was even given the Best Graduate of the Year Award . Having the particular formal educational is of course an important element – it broadens one’s horizons, gives one basic knowledge, but isn’t enough in my experience. If you want to become a real player you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of free time. You have to literally eat, breathe and dream web design.

Luc asks: You say that you do your best to push the limits when it comes to front-end development and design, how do you go about doing this on your projects?

Luc asks: Extensive knowledge of front-end development helps me in being a better web designer. So, when designing I know exactly how a certain part will be executed and can therefore push the limits of design to the maximum of what is technological possible. I am particularly good at bringing nice fonts to the screen by using methods such as Cufón, Font embedding (Font Squirrel, Typekit) and sIFR.

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.

Editha Fuentes is a graphic and web designer who is originally from Chile now living in California in the United States.  Her first experience with the web and web design came in 2003 when she decided to do an internship at a graphic design studio and her curiosity grew from there.

Editha received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia in Chile in 2004 from the University of Arts and Communications (UNIACC).  When she starts in on any design project Editha turns to pencil and paper to generate her ideas for a project.  She had the following to say when I asked her about her experiences in design and how she tackles projects.

Luc asks: How did you get started in web design?  How long have you been designing websites professionally?

Editha says: This is actually an interesting question. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t very interested in web design until I moved to the States. In Chile, while I was in college, I was more into print design and animation. Off course I had to create web sites for several courses but that was pretty much it. I had my first real experience in web design when I came to California for the first time in 2003 to do an internship at a graphic design studio in Costa Mesa. I was exposed to the web design boom in the U.S as web presence started becoming important for businesses; in Chile, there wasn’t a need for websites yet. When I came back in 2006, after receiving my degree, and already knowing the importance of web design and corporate identity, I started looking into the possibility of using my talent as a graphic designer in building effective websites for small businesses. That’s how it all got started. At first, I wanted to build all my websites in Flash, but soon my curiosity took me to find other options to offer my clients. For example, I got to an advanced level in XHTML and CSS.

Luc asks:  I see that you received your education in Graphic Design and Multimedia and I wanted to ask do you think that your education has helped you become a better web designer?  Please explain

Editha says: Yes, I received my degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia in Chile in 2004. Although there are some designers out there that are amazing and have never been to college, in my case, college was of invaluable help. College gave me the foundations for everything that I do today. For example, I had to take classes that perhaps didn’t have anything to do with graphic design let alone web design, but, ultimately, these classes had the purpose of opening my mind and making me think outside the box. They taught me how to use art to express different concepts or to communicate specific things. Also, being in a University inclined towards communications, I was required to take courses that had to do with installation art, photography, creating and editing TV commercials, etc. I use all the knowledge acquired at college, most likely unconsciously, in every project that I work on. Nonetheless, I regret the fact that I was not exposed to the business side of the graphic design industry. I truly think that designers should be prepared in college to manage a business, considering that it is a career where you can easily start doing projects on your own. Lastly, our career, specifically when it comes to web design, is continuously evolving as new trends take over and new technologies become available. It is crucial that we keep on learning on our own, either by taking courses or by teaching ourselves by reading articles or books, etc. Otherwise, you become a dinosaur.

Luc asks:  What tools and inspiration do you use when you first start designing a website project?

Editha says: Although it may sound simple, all my projects start with two basic tools: pencil and paper. This is crucial because it allows me to get involved hands-on and focus on the concept rather than spending hours on the computer without a specific direction. Once I’m done with this part and I have a clear idea of what I want to create, I either use Photoshop or Illustrator, depending on the project. To hand-code a website, I use Dreamweaver. Oh, and most definitely, I use a Mac. In regards to inspiration, I believe you’re always getting it from everything around you. But, my biggest inspiration is the web. I have hundreds of websites that I visit on a daily basis, many of them by very talented designers known worldwide. There are also many CSS showcase galleries out there where I keep up-to-date with the latest trends. Besides these, music is also a great source of inspiration.  I can’t create if I don’t have music playing.

Luc asks:  What is the hardest website project you’ve ever been involved in and why was it difficult?

Editha says: One of the biggest challenges I had on a project was the lack of communication with a client. This one client was extremely busy and did not have enough time to get fully involved with the development of his website. He did not respond to e-mails on time and did not return phone calls, sometimes even for weeks. Ultimately, the completion of the project was drastically delayed and it became very frustrating for me. I usually make an extra effort in establishing good communication with clients, especially due to the fact that English is not my first language and I have put a lot of effort in improving it quickly enough to the point where I can communicate fluently (and professionally) with them. Thus, this lack of communication was the hardest thing I had to deal with.

Luc asks:  What advice do you give clients looking for help with search engine optimization or is that something you don’t get involved with?

Editha says: I get involved in the way that I advise my clients regarding the best options out there. I try to do everything that is humanly possible when hand-coding in order to accomplish search engine optimization, but I inform the client about companies that specialize in this type of service. It is also important to talk to the client about creating good content for the website. Identifying target markets or defining goals that they want to accomplish with their site, for example, will help in the wording and in using keywords within the content. Hiring a copywriter might help.

Luc asks:  What are some things you want people to know about you as a creative professional?

Editha says: I take pride in delivering great customer service and in always developing strong relationship with my clients. I take the time to do research before starting a new project in order to get to know the business and its competitors with the objective of understanding what the client wants to communicate. I also work hard until the client is satisfied with the end result. I never over look details and I feel extremely passionate for what I do. It’s interesting that I always get the same question when people find out that I’m a graphic designer: “Oh, so you build websites?” – umm, yes, but that’s not the only thing I do. I would like to take this opportunity to say that clients will find, at Unuidesign, effective design solutions in any type of design project they might need: logos, business cards, brochures, menus, animations, etc., and of course, websites!