SpicyWebDesigners.com - American Web Designer

Tracy Apps is a true Milwaukee designer so don’t let her name fool you!

Posted on August 29, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

Tracy Apps is a web designer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. Tracy has been designing websites since 1996 and professionally started designing websites around 2001. She continues to learn to design websites and remains passionate about it even taking the time to network to stay on top of the latest technologies. She formed Tracy Apps Design LLC 12 years ago and is the owner and principal designer for her company.

1. Tracy, when I first saw your site I actually thought it was a site for “Apps” as in “Applications” but you’ve got some great design work and I was very surprised. Do you get a lot of people who actually find your site looking for application design?

I get that a lot. I’ve even gotten email responses with “please use your real name/full name when signing up”… it’s funny. I sometimes wonder how many people find me looking for “apps” as in applications, but it’s not far from what I do. I have done a lot of consulting when it comes to user interface on websites as well as web applications. I may even be collaborating with some other creatives and programmers here in Milwaukee to put together some iPhone apps in the near future. It’s exciting to have such a talented network of friends in my hometown.

2. When did you originally start designing websites and when do you consider that you turned “professional”?

Oh, I’ve been “designing” websites since 1996. (And I use “design” in quotations on purpose. I think of the sites I put together back then and… Well let’s just say I learned good design by breaking every rule in the book when I first started! ) I started designing and developing websites for small clients starting around 2001. I feel that my sites didn’t really hit that “professional” level until a year or so after that.

3. Do you feel you still have a lot to learn about web design and if so then how do you currently stimulate this need to continue learning?

There is *always* more to learn about web design. Web technology, trends and concepts keep changing at an alarming rate, so it truly is a full time job to keep up with everything. Some find that scary. I find that exhilarating! It definitely takes an undying passion in web, technology and communication to not get burned out by the constant learning and growing in this field. One of my favorite ways of keeping on top of technology is networking. Talking with people. Connecting with people at conferences, unconferences, meet ups and online. Social media has made this networking even more accessible and meaningful. I remember spending hours, if not days, working on solving a coding problem… now with social media, I can ask my network and have an answer in minutes.

4. On the main page of your portfolio I see a link for a “Free Consultation” and I am curious if people actually take advantage of this and also what does the free consultation cover?

Actually yes. I enjoy doing this, not only to get to know the client and make them feel at ease with me. But also it helps me a lot in determining the scope of the project, what is needed (and sometimes what they really don’t *need*) and allowing me to give a more accurate quote of a project. these free consultations usually end up being an hour long meeting or phone conversation where I ask lots of clarifying questions and make the client think more about what they *really* want to solve with their design needs. (Instead of just “I want a website” we dig much deeper into what do we want to be saying, who are we trying to reach, etc.) I also enjoy the time to see what the client is doing, what their passions are and a bit of their personality (or the personality of the company). These characteristics end up being key to how I design for that particular client.

5. How do you usually calculate an estimate when building a quote for your web design services?

This always ends up being the hardest part of design for me. luckily I have years of examples under my belt, so I have a basic understanding of how long it takes me to design a homepage comp, or how long it takes to write the CSS for a layout. Yes, sometimes the unexpected happens in the design process (or client revisions, or programming, or all of the above! ) so it’s best to be very clear in the quote. I lay out specifics within my quotes, including how many revisions are allowed, how many layouts, etc. it’s also crucial to keep an ongoing, open communication with the client with the progress, any roadblocks and being upfront about anything that will jeopardize the original quote.

Also, as the designer, it’s always best to over deliver. Yes, sometimes that means doing a little extra work “for free”, but it keeps a happy client, and most likely, a return client. So in the end it pays off to go above and beyond the quote.

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Cary Hawkins from Oklahoma City discusses making the jump from traditional graphic to web design

Posted on August 28, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

Cary Hawkins is a web and graphic designer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the United States. Cary is relatively new to the web design profession who started designing for the web about a year ago and before that he was involved in various graphic design positions since he finished college in 2005. He studied at the Oklahoma Christian University and received his BAS in Communications in 2005. Lately, Cary can be found learning new tricks in web design and plans to continue learning more about web design as he involves himself in various web design projects.

1. How did you originally get started in web design and when you go decide that you were ready to turn professional?

I got started about a year ago. I had lots of experience at that point with logo and print design, but very little with websites. I never really “turned” professional – just started making my own sites for my print/logo design company and have been improving ever since. There’s so much to learn about web development.

2. Cary, I see that you do a lot of print design work outside of designing some great websites and I wanted to know do you find that having a background in print design allows you to understand more and relate it to web design?

Designing websites is pretty similar to designing a magazine, catalog, or brochure with some minor differences. Web development, however, is totally different. I started out not even knowing how to do basic html body tags! You basically have to learn a new language with web development: HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript – they are all varied dialects of the same foreign language. Learning how to do one aspect well, does not guarantee proficiency in the other.

3. What are some of your favorite tools, plug-ins and software you use when designing websites for clients?

Jquery is pretty sick! It’s easy for someone like me who hasn’t been doing it that long. Also, I use the Firefox plug-in Firebug to dissect other good sites and see figure out how they work.

4. Do you do any scripting on any of your website design projects? And, if so, what language or languages do you script in currently?

I’m really quite a “noob”. I can do some java and recently learned a little PHP, but for anything beyond that, I outsource the work.

5. I see that you use a wide variety of social media including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote and engage your audience. How has this helped your business?

I just recently added these links, and haven’t used them much. Honestly, I think Twitter is the best because it’s easy to design your page and easy to say what you want. The other sites are so convoluted that I question their ability to help promote my brand.

6. How long have you been freelancing and what lessons have you learned since you started?

I started freelancing in September of 2007. Here’s a list of revelations:

Referrals are lifeblood. In my opinion, you can be an average designer and still make a killing if you have good networking skills.
People work with people they like.
Service and quality should always trump price. If you think your price is fair, don’t back down.
On large jobs, always ask for a deposit up front.
Designing for friends is hard. Treat them as though they were any other customer.

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, Graphic Designer, Oklahoma City Web Designer, Oklahoma Web Designer, Print Designer, web designer

Jeremy Kratz from Little Rock mixes a little coding into his design projects

Posted on August 23, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

Jeremy Kratz is a web designer from Little Rock, Arkansas in the United States. He first started designing websites back in 1997 when he was in junior high school and in college he studied Computer Science which is when he began designing websites professionally. Jeremy is very comfortable when it comes to scripting and programming as well as design. He has learned a number of lessons since he started building sites and is focused on delivering his best on any project he is involved with.

1. When I was checking out your portfolio of web design work I noticed that you list ASP.net and JavaScript and I wanted to ask you how comfortable you are with coding and scripting in general?

My degree is in the Computer Science field, so I have a fairly strong programming background. I’m very comfortable coding and scripting; I typically spend about half of my work day on programming.

2. How long have you been designing websites?

I designed my first website back in the Stone Age – around 1997 while in junior high school.

3. Are you a “self-taught” web designer? If you are not then what did you study when you went to school? And lastly has it helped you to become a better designer in general?

I was self-taught up until college. While most of my courses were focused on programming, I did take a design minor to balance out my experience. The basic-level graphic design courses I took toward the beginning of that track gave me a solid understanding of the fundamentals (alignment, repetition, etc), which have really helped me become a better designer.

4. What are your favorite tools when it comes to designing for the web?

Photoshop for graphics, Visual Studio (or its free Visual Web Developer version) for coding, and Firefox + Firebug for fixing everything I screwed up.

5. Since you began designing websites professionally how would you say you’ve matured in the web design business and what lessons have you learned along the way?

The main area where I think I’ve matured has been on the business/management side. It’s easy for someone to build a website, but it can be difficult to attach a price to it, meet a deadline, and keep a client happy along the way. This is something I continue to work on.

As for lessons learned:

Develop a thick skin. It’s very easy to emotionally attach yourself to a design, so it can hurt when someone criticizes it. Try to filter out the noise (‘your site is lame’) from the useful (‘the sidebar text is hard to read’). It also helps to look at work samples from the person who is criticizing you; I’ve found that the most antagonizing comments come from those with little or no design experience.
Don’t be afraid to turn work down. If you have too much on your plate or if a project seems too big to handle alone, it’s OK to refer them to someone else or give them a later time when you’ll be available.
Document everything. Unfortunately, there are clients who will try to take advantage of you. There are some people who will think that your work is overpriced and will refuse to pay you. You can avoid a lot of headaches if you document your rates, estimates, scope, changes, etc with email correspondence.

6. I see that you have a strong programming background and also that you took the time to learn design. Which do you like better, programming or design?

I’d say it varies from day to day. If I’ve been doing a lot of programming, I’m ready to do some design work. If I’ve been working on a design, I like to switch to programming for a while. I don’t always have the same preference, but doing both helps keep me from getting burned out.

7. What languages do you currently program, code and/or script in when working on web projects?

I do a lot of work in ASP.NET/C#. Recently I’ve done some work with Django/Python, and I’ve done PHP off and on when needed. I used to hate writing JavaScript, but jQuery has taken a lot of that pain away.

8. When did you start designing and developing for the web professionally?

I started professionally while still in college. I did a lot of freelance projects for various departments around campus, which was a great way to earn some discretionary funds.

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, Arkansas Web Designer, Little Rock Web Designer, web designer

Paul Carbo, the Logo Designer turned Web Designer from Philly

Posted on August 12, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

Paul Carbo is a web designer from Pottstown, Philadelphia in the United States. He has been designing websites for about a year now but he has been designing logos for the past 10 years. Paul started designing logos because he found logo design competitions to compete in and became very interested in learning more about design and the rest is history. Now in his early 30s, working from home on a freelance basis full-time he talks about continuously improving and feeling very proud coming from a self-taught upbringing.

1. When did you design your first website and how did you find the initial experience?

My first attempt at designing and building a website was probably about 3 years ago when I wanted to showcase my logo designs. I didn’t have the slightest clue as to what I was doing and relied heavily on Dreamweaver. It’s funny and mighty embarrassing admitting that I sort of knew CSS had something to do with web design, but had no idea what it did or how to use it. In the same regard, html was a mystery to me as well. I didn’t hand-edit a bit of code. I just kept clicking buttons in Dreamweaver until things looked similar to how I wanted it. Obviously it can be assumed that my first site was entirely tabular. It wasn’t until many sites later and just as I became a table-making master that I learned I was doing things all wrong. I kept hearing about DIVs and reading that no site should ever be made with tables. It was pretty discouraging knowing everything I learned up until that point was all for nothing, but at the same time I was determined to learn the proper way of building a site. This is what really initiated the process of me learning to hand-code html and CSS without the help of Dreamweaver. At first, it was a daunting process, a lot of trial-and-error as well as many online tutorials, but slowly and surely I weaned myself off of Dreamweaver and eventually learned the right way to make a site. Without clients even being aware, I actually went back and rebuilt a few of the early sites I made just because I couldn’t stand knowing that they were wrong.

Learning something always leads into 10 more things you need to learn, and just as I figured out the basics of HTML and CSS, it was on to validation. After validation came cross-browser compatibility. After that came many more little things that I just was determined to master. It’s no lie that every single day I am constantly learning something new and for me, it’s what keeps me going. I love it. And in the grand scheme of things, I am totally aware that I only really know a small amount and have m uch more learning ahead of me.

2. How many years of professional experience do you have as a web designer?

I have only been designing websites professionally for about a year now, starting out as an utter novice and working my way up to the point I’m at today. I started out designing logos 10 year ago and it is what led me into the wonderful world of web design.

3. Having been designing for the past 10 years and being completely “Self taught” has not having a college education affected you and if it has then how has it affected you?

This is probably my favorite subject to talk about because like anyone out there who took the time to teach themselves anything, along with that comes a certain level of pride that continuously fuels the desire to always be improving and learning more. Would I have been better off going to school and being taught? There’s no way to answer that.

When I was in High School I was an artist. I was really into painting, illustrating and drawing, but didn’t have a clue as to how to make any kind of career for myself with these skills. Graphic Design wasn’t even a consideration, probably due to the time of my graduation, 1998. I’d like to say I had some foresight back then knowing I was capable of teaching myself what I needed to know, but that wasn’t the case. I was cocky, lazy, and I had just spent the past 12 years going to school every day, why would I voluntarily choose to keep going?

A year later, while decently comfortable selling cars for a living, I acquired my first version of Photoshop. In my spare time I would just play around with it. During the same time, I was pretty active on a video game forum and became interested in making graphical signatures. I seemed to catch on pretty quick and started getting requests from other members to make ones for them. It was pretty addicting and I learned a ton simply by experimenting with techniques learned from online tutorials.

Soon after, I came across a site called Worth1000 and found out they had logo design competitions that actually paid out money. This was where I began my professional career and when I really starting learning about graphic design. Photoshop wasn’t the best program to be designing logos, so next I took the time to teach myself CorelDraw. Learning a vector program really opened up my eyes to the world of design and gave me the confidence in thinking I could actually make a career for myself out of this.

For a long while, I put in a lot of time designing logos for Worth1000, only crossing my fingers and hoping to get chosen and ultimately paid. I did pretty well, but there came a point where it just didn’t make much sense wasting time on projects that I wasn’t getting paid for. I reached out to a few of the people that were using my designs and asked for referrals. For many years to follow, I continued to work full-time in sales while doing design projects on the side as I could get them.

I eventually managed to learn enough to land a full-time job as a designer for a sign company where I got to sit in front of Corel all day and actually call myself a designer. Being able to tell people I was a “Graphic Designer” was a really big deal to me. It was a great sense of accomplishment and definitely a title that was I proud to announce when asked.

A few years later, the company I was working for conducted interviews with design firms for their re-branding. Seeing these people come in, and knowing I was totally capable of doing exactly what they were going to do, made me extremely anxious and very upset with myself that I wasn’t living up to what I knew was my potential. I think it was less than a week later that I abruptly quit and decided to take the risk at freelancing full-time. I was living alone, and had a whole slew of bills every month that I was responsible for, but knew I had acquired the knowledge, naturally had the talent and definitely had the motivation to make this work, so I went for it. Strictly designing logos wasn’t going to cut it and I knew that teaching myself web design to the point I was able to professionally offer it as a service was essential if I ever wanted to sustain a living.

A year later, here I am. Business is inconsistent, but constantly getting better. I am always stressed out at my workload and I work twice as much as I used to at my full-time job, only to barely make the same amount of money. The difference is, I love every second it. I am finally doing something I enjoy doing which removes every bit of what goes into the word “work.” Work is no fun and the majority of our lives are spent doing it. If I am going to spend so much of my time doing something, I need to love it or else I’d feel I was wasting my life. I always refer back to the time when I had a “real job” because what I do now just doesn’t feel like work to me. I am addicted to this stuff and almost feel like I am cheating somehow by being able to do it. How many other people get to make a living in the same clothes they slept in the night before?

The biggest thing for me, though, is I have actually figured out a way to use the talents that I had back in high school. I am an artist and I get to be one every day. Never in a million years would I have thought there’d be a way for me to put any of that to use, but I have. And even though I’m not rich and have a very long way to go before I am, I already consider myself successful because I am having a great time doing what I’m meant to be doing.

The whole process of learning every bit of what I know on my own makes all of this that much more enjoyable. I am not one to say that college isn’t worth it, or that you shouldn’t go if you think you don’t have to. All I know is that this is what worked best for me. I am the type of person that will never hire someone to something I am able to do on my own. Whether it’s replacing the brakes on my car, hanging drywall or learning design, as long as there are directions on how to do something, I never see any reason why I can’t or shouldn’t do it myself.

4. What are your favorite tools and/or plug-ins to use when working on a web design project?

Since working on projects for clients is sometimes restricting as far as what I am allowed to do, I like to do all my experimenting with the fun stuff on my personal site.

Right now, I have been really getting into JQuery. The language is new to me, and nothing that I am able to write from scratch, but the possibilities that seem to exist with it really drive me to learn as much as I can about it. I’ve definitely mastered the technique of finding something pre-built and modifying it to do what I want it to though, and this has proven to be a great way to start the learning process.

sIFR is something I recently have become familiar with and spent a good amount of time perfecting on my site. Only being able to use a handful of boring fonts when designing really puts a damper on the creativity that could be possible. Even though methods like sIFR, Cufon and Facelift aren’t perfect and all have their pros and cons, it’s nice to see more options being worked on to help out an aspect of design that has really been left behind.

5. What do you think is the best thing that has happened to web design in the last 10 years?

Without a doubt the best thing to happen to web design in the last 10 years has been the designers themselves, more specifically, the amount of them.

I remember back when I first thought of freelancing full-time, I was turned off by how many designers there were and thought that the industry was flooded and there wasn’t any room for someone like me to be any sort of successful. However, what I thought would hold me back and hinder my growth actually turned out to be the best help for me. Every single one of these designers serves as a source of inspiration and education.

With all of these CSS and logo galleries popping up over the past few years, it’s amazing to me just how many great designers there are out there. The quality of work that exists drives me, and I know many others, to keep on improving and being creative. It’s hard at times, because it seems that everything has been done already and there’s no chance of coming up with something new, but it’s impossible not to try. Ultimately, the competition has made the world of design take on a life of its own. It’s quickly and constantly evolving and keeping up is the fun part. To think how far things have come in the past 10 years, only makes me wonder where things will be in the next 10. There’s no way to even begin to speculate. Maybe things will eventually plateau and level off, but I doubt it. There are just too many people trying too hard to be too innovative. If necessity is the mother of invention, competition is definitely its father. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, Philadelphia Web Designer, Philly Web Designer, Pottstown Web Designer, web designer

Justin Delabar talks usability testing, web strategy and web design with us

Posted on August 5, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

Justin Delabar is a web strategist and web designer living in Orlando, Florida in the United States. He built his first website back in 1997 and later got his first “paying gig” in 1999. Since then he has been involved in various projects at the university he attended which taught him about web strategy and other user-centric design principles. Even though Justin studied political science and international relations in university he believes that explains partially why he became interested in design research methods. He currently works as a User Experience Architect and here is what he had to say about how he became involved in web strategy as a web designer, how school influenced him professionally and how he normally conducts usability testing just to name a few things.

1. I wanted to ask you about how you got started designing websites. Reading on your site it looks as though you’ve been doing it for about 10 years now.

Now that I think back on it, I actually designed my first site back in 1997. From what I remember the background consisted of a repeating animated eyeball and the pages included several “under construction” hardhat gifs (we all had to start somewhere, right?). I had been interested in computers and technology since I was four, when I received my first computer — a Tandy 1000 running DeskMate 2.0 — and that interest ended up turning into a passion for all things internet related. I was attracted to the openness of the medium as a publishing platform, mainly. I was the kid who worked on the school newspaper and jumped at a chance to do the family newsletter whenever the opportunity arose, so having a global platform to express myself was something that spoke to me. I initially created websites to act as vessels for my written work, and it’s only by happenstance that I eventually got pretty decent at visual design. I started my first paying gig in 1999, designing, writing, and editing a video game review website for an online advertising network that was then based out of Irvine, California. It was around that time that I realized design was going to be the career for me.

2. How did you start getting involved in Web Strategy? I assume that you started in web design and slowly made the move over but i wanted to know how do the skills gained in web strategy help you to become a better web designer?

I really got into web strategy during my years in college. I worked as a designer for the university and was constantly surrounded by incredibly smart people who looked at design and marketing problems from perspectives I had never before considered. I heard the term “usability testing” around this time and became intrigued with user-centric design principles. I had an amazing supervisor who allowed me to learn and grow into a user experience design role, as well. After a couple years I had implemented new processes for our design projects including iterative wire framing and usability testing. It was incredibly gratifying to learn how to gather actionable data to make online experiences better for people in such a hands-on manner.

3. Did you go to school and study anything that was design related? Has it helped you in your career up to this point and if so then how has it helped you become a better designer?

Actually, I have very little formal design training. I took a few classes in college about HTML and design, but eventually decided to follow different academic pursuits. I did not feel that I was learning anything about website design that I hadn’t already figured out on my own after already being involved with projects hands-on for a few years, as terrible or arrogant as that may sound. My degree is actually in Political Science, International Relations, which I believe partially explains why I became so interested in design research methods. I could do qualitative and quantitative analysis of amorphous foreign policy issues all day, but there’s no way to actually test and apply hypotheses in the real world. With design research you can take data and make real change that improves the lives of real people, if only a little bit.

4. You do you usually conduct usability testing for a client?

When I worked at my university we’d simply grab students from outside our building, give them some pizza, and record them interacting with our sites or applications since they were our target audience. Pretty convenient. When I entered the real world and joined Rise Creative Group, where I currently work as a User Experience Architect, that strategy for usability testing obviously needed some re-tooling. Ideally we will find a way to get 10 to 15 minutes with people in our client’s target audience, sit a laptop in front of them, and record their interactions with whatever we’re testing as I set up scenarios and ask questions. Generally I try to make testing sessions as tailored to the person using the site or application as possible, which tends to increase the person’s comfort level and leads to more accurate responses. For instance, if we’re testing a vacation rental property application, I would ask the person using the site to find a property that fits their ideal needs, instead of asking them to find a specific property. In the case of the latter the person tends to feel more like they’re taking an actual test, which leads to nervousness and skewed data.

The most important thing to keep in mind about usability testing is that it doesn’t need to be a huge production. You don’t need some fancy lab with two-way glass (in fact, I generally recommend against that sort of setting as it tends to make people feel less at ease). You just need a laptop with some sort of screen and voice recording software, a list of questions, and a real desire to make your work better. Also, don’t worry too much about the demographics of those who test your work. If they don’t fit the target perfectly it’s not a big deal since you’re still getting real human responses to your project, and that’s better than just guessing about what works.

5. What are some of your favorite tools to use on a web design project?

My absolute favorite tools are my pencil and my notebook. I use my notebook on projects from the initial meeting through sitemapping, wire framing and the sketching of visual elements. It’s a quick and easy way to burn through ideas quickly and get down to the best options available. For more complex projects where detailed sitemaps, concept models, and/or use cases are required as client deliverables I rock out in OmniGraffle. For visual design I prefer Photoshop and Illustrator, and for production I use Dreamweaver.

6. To you, what does it take for a user experience to be successful when designing and launching a website?

At the core a successful user experience is one that’s content, visual design, and interactions seamlessly work together to create an intuitive whole. It takes a commitment to understanding not only the objectives of the client or business, but also the goals of end users and developing ways for the two to effortlessly meet. And it’s also an ongoing practice, it’s not done when the site launches. Having an open dialogue with users and being able to adapt to changing requirements and user behavior is essential for success.

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, Florida Web Designer, Orlando Web Designer, web designer, Web Strategist

Spicy Web Designer Interview with Justin Cline from RYU Graphix

Posted on July 27, 2009 Written by Luc 2 Comments

Justin Cline is a web designer and art director from Denver, Colorado in the United States. Justin currently runs a one man design outfit called RYU Graphix Design Studio. He originally started learning HTML in high school and started designing “real” websites until about 7 years ago. Justin is entirely self taught when it comes to web design by buying books and reading online which allowed him to advance his web design skills.

1. How did you get started in web design?

I got started because of my natural curiosity for how things work. Just like playing with LEGOs I wanted to see how websites worked so, I found online tutorials. I remember learning html by hand in whatever plain text editor was in OS9 – then uploading to a geocities account via my dad’s blazing fast 56k dial-up modem.

2. When did you start designing websites?

I started playing around with html in my earlier high school years, but didn’t start trying to build “real” websites until about 6-7 years ago.

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

I’d say that trying to create something unique is fairly challenging these days… with all of the galleries and resources, it’s a lot easier to pull in ideas, but it also stifles some of the creativity. Also, learning to enhance my JavaScript (specifically jQuery skills) has been a challenge. I’m definitely wired to the designer side of things, rather than developer.

4. Do you code any of the web sites that you design currently? If so, what language(s) do you code in?

I do… I hand-code XHTML and CSS. Dreamweaver aids in speeding the little things up (like closing tags, formatting, etc.). I also know enough PHP to get by, writing custom functions and seriously hack up a CMS… and enough JavaScript to tweak existing code to my needs.

5. I wanted to ask if and where you studied at college or university, what you studied and ask how has your education helped you become a better web design professional? What other skills has it helped you to gain and what else has it taught you about design in general?

I’m entirely “self taught” — if I wanted to learn something, I read up online or bought books. I lucked out in having both parents with strong artistic background, so I was constantly immersed in art growing up.

I think these days, in web-design especially, that aside from the basics (which you can learn online easily) — by the time a curriculum was developed, it’d be outdated. Technology moves so fast these days that you really need to have the desire to learn and stay “plugged in.”

6. What are your favorite tools to use when designing a web project? Why are they your favorite tools?

I almost always will start with pencil/paper to develop the basic layout and user interface, and then flesh out the various types of pages. The paper is perfect for rapid prototyping and getting your ideas out.

From there I create a basic grey box layout in Photoshop based on a grid and make sure things are still working in a more “real life” form. From there I start adding some colors, imagery and embellishments. Depending on the client/project I fully refine the concept(s) in Photoshop or just enough to get the idea across. I find some projects are better suited jumping into coding early and doing most with CSS, but again it depends.

I use Dreamweaver to speed up the process, but mostly hand-code in there.

7. Do you currently run Ryu Graphix Design Studio? How many people currently work for Ryu Graphix?

Yes I do. Currently I am the only official employee and contract out the work I need done that I can’t handle myself. There may be some exciting developments on this soon though. Mums the word.

8. How do your commitments as an Art Director make you a better designer?

Leading an in-house team has been great; it’s helped force me to step “out” a bit. It’s good having people under me, whom I trust so I don’t have to be the “pixel pusher” but rather director. Our team is small enough though where I still get to do my fair share and step into the projects I want to.

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Spicy Web Designer Interview with Sam Wilson from Story Pixel

Posted on July 25, 2009 Written by Luc 3 Comments

Sam Wilson is a web designer from Lexington, Kentucky in the United States. He first got interested in web design after attending a lecture where an entrepreneur was talking about his online business. Since early 2007 he has been designing websites and building his brand, “Story Pixel”. Sam originally started off studying Software Engineering and Mathematics. He is highly skilled in Flash, Actionscripting and CSS and his work goes to show it.

1. How did you get started in web design?

During a lecture, an entrepreneur spoke to us about his Web-based business, Inspired by his vision and convinced that his company was destined for millions in VC funding, I accepted a Flash position at this (shortly bankrupt) company.

2. When did you start designing websites?

My first major CSS site was in early 2007 to promote my freelance brand Story Pixel. This personal project opened my eyes to the power of CSS.

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

Taking the emphasis from my whereabouts to the quality of my work in the minds of potential clients is an ongoing challenge.

4. Do you code any of the web sites that you design currently? If so, what language(s) do you code in?

Yes, I like hand-coding things. It really feels like making art when you are doing it by hand. I like CSS and Ruby on Rails supporting my markup for personal projects and applications. For my site, I used ExpressionEngine which I also leverage sometimes for simple blog projects to be updated by nontechnical people. For Flash, I use ActionScript 3.

I studied Software Engineering and Mathematics after determining I wanted programming skills to make things on the Web. Since entering the workforce, I have grown as a designer through practice and observation. Perhaps as a result of my studies, I see function and design as different aspects of the same challenge. I use stories to balance these two aspects and inject personality which I feel enriches the user experience.

6. What are your favorite tools to use when designing a web project? Why are they your favorite tools?

Currently I use too many. I like TextMate (for Ruby), Coda (for XHTML), and CSSEdit (for CSS). For design, I use Photoshop, Illustrator, and my Moleskine sketchbook to develop design ideas. For planning/wireframes I like OmniGraffle and my sketchbook. For flash coding, an Eclipse plug-in called FDT makes development much easier. Eventually I wish to evolve into using Vim for coding.

7. Would you consider yourself an expert when it comes to flash?

Hrrm, since I associate expertise with arrogance, I never wish to regard myself as an expert in anything. I instead strive to be inspired and let things go from there. I do feel I’m competent and still interested in appropriate applications of the technology (which are rare).

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, Kentucky Web Designer, Lexington Web Designer, web designer

Spicy Web Designer Interview with Ronnie San

Posted on July 8, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

Ronnie San is a web designer from San Diego, California in the United States. He has worked with both smaller organizations up to fortune 500 companies. Ronnie has been practicing web design ever since about 1996 and by 2000 he was designing websites professionally. He was lucky enough to be selected into the inaugural year of the AIGA Link program and spent the next few years studying with the top names in graphic design industry.

1. How did you get started in web design?

My first exposure to the Web came in the mid 90s during the AOL era. I had a 14.4kb modem and it usually took several minutes to download a “graphic intensive” website. In 1996, my older brother bought a new computer with an HTML text editor pre-installed. I wasn’t sure what HTML was so I ran through the included tutorial. After a few minutes I had created my first “Hello, World” website. I took advantage of the 2MB of free hosting space that came with AOL and posted my first website which consisted of a guestbook and about us page. There wasn’t much design involved aside from a couple graphic headers and a tiled background image.

2. When did you start designing websites?

I started designing websites professionally in 2000 when I was hired on as web designer for Desgined Internet (www.designedinternet.com) in Chula Vista, CA. Back then it was named DDS Technologies (Digital Design Solutions). We were located in an office building filled with dentists and every now and then a random person would walk in asking to make a dental appointment. I was able to acquire the job after showing off a small portfolio of some personal sites I created. Most of our clients were SMBs or local governments.

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

I would say the biggest challenge by far is educating the client. Many clients don’t understand the importance of a good website or the cost involved in creating one. Aside from that, it’s always a challenge coming up with new ideas and concepts, but a challenge that drives innovation and progress both personally and throughout the design community.

4. Do you code any of the web sites that you design currently? If so, what language(s) do you code in?

I currently work at BusinessOnLine (www.businessol.com) in San Diego, CA. I actually started there as a coder, but when the designer parted ways, I stepped in to fill the position. Initially, I would code about 1 of every 4 sites I designed, but as the company grew, my focus narrowed to only design. Whenever the work load lightens up, I help out the coding department and take on some of the more complex jobs involving database integration or custom scripting. Away from work I code everything I design. I think my knowledge of coding has helped me a great deal when designing websites because I understand the limitations and the possibilities.

While I was at Designed Internet, I was exposed to ASP 2.0 and what could be achieved using an Access Database. I did some research and within a couple weeks had coded my first database-driven custom content management system for my church’s website. When ASP.Net was introduced, it proved to be a challenge. This is when I made the switch to PHP. I prefer doing all my server-side code in a PHP with a MySQL database. On the front end I use JavaScript with JQuery (www.jquery.com) and—on occasion—Mootools (www.mootools.net). I also use Flash with ActionScript 2 or 3 every now and then, but never for a full website build. My jquery file upload plugin, Uploadify (www.uploadify.com) is actually built using Actionscript 3.

I attended a high school with a really good art program. I honestly learned most of my skills from the 4-year program at that school. The summer after high school, I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in the inaugural year of the AIGA Link program. This program allowed me to take classes with some of the top names in the graphic design industry. I had planned on attending an art school, but the funds were not there. So I ended up taking two years of general education classes and a handful of design classes at a couple of local community colleges. During those two years, I ended up getting my job at Designed Internet and never got around to finishing my degree.

In my experience, working in the field has been more helpful than what I was taught in school. Every project is a learning experience and I’ve been improving my skills from day one. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that there is always more to learn. You have to evolve with the industry if you want to get anywhere. When you’re not working, spend time reading articles or visiting design galleries. Another big lesson I’ve learned is that as a designer, you need to have confidence in your work. Clients are hiring you because you’re the professional, so if you need to push back, do it. Ultimately your client will have final say, but it never hurts to try.

6. What are your favorite tools to use when designing a web project? Why are they your favorite tools?

I live and die by Photoshop. I started using Photoshop before there were layers. It has so many features that there’s always something new to learn about it. Some of the other tools I like to use that help make simple tasks more efficient include SnagIt (www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp) for screen capturing and AdesClrPicker (www.adesclrpicker.com) for sampling screen colors.

7. Even though you design for both smaller clients and the likes of Fortune 500 organizations what rules do you live by when designing for any client no matter how big or how small?

A philosophy I recently started to follow is this: “Design it how I want it, then let the client dial it back down.” A lot of clients don’t know the possibilities when it comes to website design. The majority of the time, clients might think they know what they want, but they really have no idea. Either the client will love it, or they’ll ask you to take another shot. Either way, you’ll end up with an approved design.

8. Since I can see that you code and design your own work I wanted to ask do you prefer coding more for the web or designing for the web? Please explain.

I’m completely middle-brained. I love the creativity I get to express when designing and I love the logical challenges I can solve through coding. I don’t think I could do just one or the other. When I feel my creative juices running low, I can switch over to DreamWeaver and get my coding fix until my brain gets overloaded with code.

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, california web designer, San Diego Web Designer, web designer

Spicy Web Designer Interview with David Moulton

Posted on July 2, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

David Moulton is a web designer from Lansing, Michigan in the United States. He started to design websites in college in 1998. David studied Design and Communication at Valparaiso University and later graduated in 2002. Ever since then he has held numerous positions from Web Design Consultant, an Instructor, an Associate Director and always a solid web designer learning to design and build better website. Here is a little bit about what David had to say about his experiences in web design…

1. How did you get started in web design and when did you design your first website?

It all started in college; I blew out my knee playing football and was stuck in my dorm room… I got bored and started playing with my roommate’s computer, this was in 1998 and I had no idea what I was doing. I stumbled on GeoCities and off I went. I created an awful, awful site. I think it had a spinning globe and Austin Powers dancing (all animated GIFs). It was a mess. However, I didn’t know any better and when my college advisor Doug Kocher encouraged me to keep going I did. I got better with each site and eventually switched from PR to New Media.

2. Looking at your linkedin profile i see that you’ve worked in a number of roles from Associate Director to Senior Designer. Do you feel that because of your broad range of experiences working within the web design and development field you have a solid grasp on what your clients need and how to deal with problems as they arise?

Great two part question… understanding a client’s needs boils down to listening. I try to give them the time and space to tell me what they are thinking. Most often this includes the client telling me how to solve the problem. Letting a client explain what they want and what they think the solution is helps me understand what outcome they want. Many times I do not agree with their solution but instead of telling them “You’re wrong” I ask a question or two to guide them to a solution I think is more appropriate. When clients participate in the problem solving it’s easier to get them on board with initial concepts and any subsequent ideas.

Knowing how to deal with the problem is the other challenge and experience helps. While no one can “predict” the outcome of a design decision, having solved a problem once allows me to draw on that experience and make better recommendations. The trouble with experience is that it has a shelf life. A lot of the experience I have from 7-8 years ago isn’t as applicable now.

3. What are the biggest challenges that you face in web design currently and how do you manage to overcome them?

There are a two main challenges. First my need for pixel perfect design and valid code vs. delivering on time. The other is staying current and fresh.

The perfection vs. on-time thing boils down to understanding that the clients business will be hurt if I fail to meet my deadlines. Say I deliver a page that is 20K instead of 15K, the impact of the extra code weight is not worth the delay. However I know that the “glitch” is still there. When I know I can do better with a little more time I will add things to my “back-burner list” and work on them post launch. Send a client an email that says I shaved off an extra 5K because it was bugging me often results in them being happy that you were willing to obsess over the details and me knowing that I got it right.

Staying current is tricky. Techniques and software are updated so often that I could spend a ton of time focused on whatever is bleeding-edge in the industry. For now, I read. A ton. I mostly read blogs and design sites that help me gauge when to make changes or additions to my skill set.

Staying fresh is a similar problem. I try to print off my work and hang it on the wall. Staring at a bunch of work allows me to see where I am repeating myself. If the repeat is me being lazy or uninspired I swear it off. A couple months ago I banned angled and reflected screenshots from my designs! Apple.com was starting to overly influence my work.

When I need inspiration I look to design sites, magazines, tv shows (esp. the opening credits), and book covers for ideas. When that doesn’t help I force myself to stop thinking about the problem and do something like mowing the lawn. Letting my brain have a rest helps.

4. Did you study design at school or are you self-taught? If you went to school, how has your education helped you become a better web design professional? What other skills has it helped you to gain and what else has it taught you about design in general?

I went to Valparaiso University and did study design and communication. However most of the skills I use as a designer (code, IA, Photoshop or Illustrator) were things I gained by spending countless hours experimenting or analyzing other people’s sites. The things that my education at Valpo helped with the most were problem solving and confidence in myself. Being able to think through a problem has certainly helped me as a web designer.

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

The web design industry has changed to meet the needs of the web’s roll in life/business in general. Initially, I feel that the web was an afterthought for most businesses or institutions. So web designers were relatively unimportant to the organization. As the web became more central to the business so did the people managing the site. Web designers went from people that might have had great freedom to do what they thought was best to people tasked with the responsibility to ensure that the choices they were making were actually the best. The prevalence of tracking tools and analytics reflects this. So does the focus on usability and standards.

6. On your site i can see that you use a number of social media tools. Do you feel that this helps you in generating more business?

Maybe yes… I have been approached about consulting and full-time work via the social media sites and I know that I’ve been able to connect/reconnect with people faster because I am participating; however I am not sure of the signal vs. noise ratio regarding social media. I am fascinated to see how this all plays out.

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, Lansing Web Designer, Michigan Web Designer, web designer

Spicy Web Designer Interview with Lisa Bun

Posted on June 22, 2009 Written by Luc Leave a Comment

Lisa Bun is a web and graphic designer from Chicago, Illinois in the United States. She technically started designing websites in 2007 but started in graphic design much earlier. Lisa studied at Columbia College of Chicago and earned her Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts with a concentration in Graphic Design in 2008. Lisa has recently been working for a local web design firm in Chicago as a Graphic Designer.

1. How did you get started in web design?

I actually fell into web design after getting an internship at a small web design company, by word of mouth. I was studying graphic design at the time and the only thing about web design that I learned was the little amount that was required of me, which was just basic HTML/CSS. After I landed the internship, there was one designer working there at the time, but I didn’t learn much. So when I was given my first project to work on, I just designed what I thought was best and took into account the project’s target market, industry, and competitors. For inspiration and a little help, I researched and browsed websites all day. Web designing was all relatively new to me, and I would just sit and create random layouts all day to get some practice. I just kept teaching myself new techniques and developed my skills in Photoshop. I can honestly say, looking back, I made some terrible layouts back then, haha. But after going from intern to employee at the same company, and making layouts day after day, in a few months I definitely began to grow as a web designer.

2. When did you start designing websites?

Technically, I didn’t start designing real websites until I became an employee, which was at the end of 2007. Like I said before, in the beginning, I wasn’t making the best web designs. But even at my worst, I was told I was doing better than some of the other designers that came in and out of the company. So that encouraged me to keep going, and I honestly developed my web design skills in just a matter of a few months. I’d like to think web design came naturally after a while, especially after seeing how many bad websites were out there, I was determined to help make the internet a little bit better. Right now, I think that I have developed a good understanding of the web and have made dozens of layouts for a large variety of clients. I personally always note my improvements and notice how much better I am now than the month prior. Practice makes perfect, right? I think so.

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

Currently, one of my challenges is dealing with clients. I know I still have a lot more experience to gain and I am constantly learning new things every day. So this may be a challenge that isn’t new to some, but I have realized how difficult it can be to deal with clients. There are the clients who think they are designers and find some way to ruin their websites, or the clients who constantly request revision after revision but don’t understand why their websites never gets completed on time, or the clients that think it takes a few minutes to slap together a design and want it done right away. I’m sure these are issues that many people encounter, and I am learning how to deal with these issues and how to set boundaries.

Also, I think right now there is the challenge of actually getting work/clients. I don’t know how many people are facing this challenge, but I think with the state of the economy still in bad shape, people don’t want to pay a lot of money for what they want or need. Unfortunately for some really talented designers, this means you don’t get paid what you’re worth and you may have to settle for less.

4. Do you code any of the web sites that you design currently? If so, what language(s) do you code in?

I can do HTML/CSS. My current website, which I just recently launched, is the first site that I coded myself. This is mostly due to the fact that I work at a company where I mainly create the design, and there is an in-house developer whose job is to do all the coding/programming. I see myself as a graphic designer that can design for the web, coding is not really my cup of tea. But as I begin to work as a freelance designer, I plan on and would like to continue to code more websites myself.

5. Did you study design at school or are you self-taught? If you went to school, how has your education helped you become a better web design professional? What other skills has it helped you to gain and what else has it taught you about design in general?

I went to Columbia College Chicago and studied graphic design. Web design was offered, but wasn’t something I thought about majoring in. To be honest, I think I gained more knowledge by jumping into the field of web design as an intern and learning it on my own, than I did at school. I’m sure going to school helped me in some ways, but I really believe that I learned more on my own – especially when it comes to web design. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with a few different designers, some experienced and some not at all. I have learned that you can’t judge designers by where they went to school or their age. Different things work for different people. I have worked with designers who were both much younger and much older, and designers who had years of schooling and some who had none at all. You would be surprised at who had real talent and who didn’t, or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised at all. Nonetheless, the design skills and knowledge that I have acquired in this time has also allowed me to become a better communicator (when working with clients) and a better problem solver (finding the best design solutions).

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 have been designing for the web for about two years now. It’s not that long, I know, but I have noticed some trends through my daily observations. What I have seen is the huge Web 2.0 trend that’s been going on for a while now. It has transformed many websites, definitely for the better, by putting an emphasis on simplicity and user-friendliness. Websites are becoming cleaner, easier to use, easier to read, and aesthetically pleasing. Although, one thing I will note with this trend is that more and more websites are starting to look the same. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think when too many websites begin to resemble each other, creativity and uniqueness can be lost. It reminds me of the current branding/identity trend where larger companies have been taking their brands and generalizing their appearance. To me, it just seems like people are for some reason shooting for a more generic look – which for some has not worked in their favor.

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

Photoshop and my Mac are the two things I couldn’t live without or design without. I use Illustrator for some things as well, but Photoshop is where I make all my wonderful web creations. There are also great websites out there that I think act as useful tools. I am still exploring different design galleries and blogs, but my current favorites are smashingmagazine.com and sixrevisions.com. These blogs are full of great resources and countless information for both experienced and non-experienced designers. I think it is important to keep up with the latest trends, what’s going on in the industry, and to hear the advice that knowledgeable design experts have to share. And as a designer, who’s determined to leave her mark in the design world , these two blogs, as well as others, are providing the information I need to help me do just that.

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Filed Under: General, Web Designer Interviews Tagged: American Web Designer, Chicago Web Designer, Illinois Web Designer, web designer

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