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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. How was the experience of working at Google?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jason King is a not-for-profit web designer. He is originally from the UK but he currently resides in Melbourne Australia. While in London, UK, he was a circuit rider (a roving IT worker that supports the caseload of small not-for-profit organizations) and most recently he has been doing web design in the not-for-profit sector. Originally he started as a Librarian before turning to not-for-profit web design to make a difference.

1.  How did you get started in Web Design?  When did you first start designing websites? How did you first become involved in not-for-profit website design?

I used to be a librarian in the north of England but there were few jobs and little money in that. So in 2000 I moved to West London and began a new career as a circuit rider. You may not have heard the term, so what’s a circuit rider? Simply put, they’re a roving IT worker who supports a caseload of small not-for-profit organizations.

I noticed that almost all of those small charities were struggling with their websites, for various reasons: lack of funding, lack of staff time, unreliable volunteers, wrong decisions, poor documentation, and cowboy web designers. So I taught myself to build websites to offer my clients a web design service that understood their needs and limitations.

2. Where do you draw your inspiration from when taking on new web design projects?

I’m not a graphic designer; I’m more of a small project manager, CMS implementer and HTML/CSS coder. So my designs aren’t beautiful but they’re simple, functional and reliable and standards-compliant.

The smaller nonprofits tend to be somewhat conservative in their tastes and unaware of what can be done online these days. They’re may not be brimming with great ideas or have good images or even a usable logo. They need time and a certain amount of hand-holding to come up with a good project brief and to prepare materials and content. I encourage charities to look at example of good practice web design and to think hard about what works and what doesn’t in their field.

3. How do you price your web design work especially because you are focused primarily on NFP agencies?

I hate the whole business of quoting for work, it’s difficult to balance what’s fair with what keeps me fed and difficult to accurately judge how much time is likely to be involved. I’ve under-quoted far too often in the past – I’m trying to reverse that trend!

Just because an organization is nonprofit doesn’t mean it has no money. All nonprofits should have a strategy and a budget for their IT systems and for their web communications. I’ve sometimes helped organizations to put together a funding proposal and written the bids, so that they can then contract me as their web designer.

One of the best resources nonprofits have available is the support of volunteers and it is possible to find talented, professional volunteer web designers (e.g. via www.it4communities.org.uk) or have work done pro bono by a design agency. But volunteers can’t be expected to give long-term support or deliver a complex, unfunded project.

4. Do you normally work with other freelance web designers on projects?

Occasionally I do, and intend to do so more in future. One limitation of working solo is that you’re not likely to win the larger contracts, plus there are obviously gaps in any one person’s skills and abilities.

I often work with non-techies. For example, on a recent web project there was a project manager, a graphic designer who provided the banner and color scheme, a person employed to write original content and a copy editor to make it presentable, plus I had to liaise with a data inputter. In a situation like this the role of the project manager can be vital in keeping everyone on track.

5. Where did you go to school and did it help you in your career as a web designer?

I took a librarianship degree in Leeds. Librarianship teaches you to organize, categorize, present and describe information in ways that make it easy for its target audience to find and comprehend. Those lessons continue to be useful, especially where planning website architecture, implementing the tagging and categorizing of content, and anything database-related is concerned. Librarians have had to become much more tech and web savvy in the last decade because nowadays the bulk of information is online.

I never attended web design courses. Few of them seemed up-to-date with current ways of working and anyway I’m too impatient to sit and listen. I learn most of my skills from books, from magazines like .Net and other peoples’ blogs.

I recently mentored another web designer, teaching them how to customize WordPress to act as the CMS for their website redevelopment; and I’ve taught classes in web design. Teaching can make an enjoyable break from coding and it’s a handy additional source of income.

6. What web design sites do you frequently visit to stay on top of new topics in the field of web design?

I’d recommend the Boagworld podcast and the various emails and blogs from Sitepoint. Smashing Magazine is great for so many reasons. Take a look at TechSoup for nonprofit technology articles and discussion, including about web design.

I have to plug the Making Links conference in Melbourne, Australia in November. This year we’re putting on a whole day of sessions about nonprofit web development. Or if you’re in the US maybe you could go to the NTEN nonprofit conference instead.

Ben Tollady is a web designer who has worked on some interesting website projects ever since he first started building websites back in 1996 in the UK. Since 2003, Ben has called Australia home working for agencies mainly, he works with other freelancer designers when he isn’t busy on other big projects and you’ll usually find him somewhere around a MAC.

1. How did you first get into web design and how long have you been designing websites for?

I designed my first site in 1996 while I was at university in Loughborough in the UK. There weren’t any web design courses back then but one of the tutors on my Industrial Design course was quite forward-thinking and ran a series of short courses on the basics of this new-fangled HTML thing for those that were interested.

It wasn’t until I left university and started at a fairly large agency in London that I really got into it though.

2. Do you usually work with Creative, Ad or Design agencies?

I’ve worked with a number of agencies both in London and Melbourne (I moved to Australia in 2003). I also do a lot of work directly with small businesses which makes for a nice variety of projects in terms of size and user-types to design for.

3. What is the biggest web design project you’ve been commissioned to do and how did it turn out in the end?

Telstra Business is probably the biggest project I can think of in recent years, although my involvement there was information architecture and HTML/CSS template development rather than design. It was a huge undertaking, consolidating and migrating content from 8 sites into a single, redesigned site with a very short deadline! Thankfully it turned out well and showed great improvement in the usability tests they conducted after the launch.

4. Which college/university did you study at? What did you study and how has it helped you in your career?

I studied for a degree in Industrial design & technology from Loughborough university in the UK back in 1994.

I think the course has been a great help in terms of my web career. The skills and knowledge I gained in terms of ergonomics and human-product interaction lend themselves perfectly to that of human-computer/interface interaction. I see the discipline of industrial design much more synonymous with that of web design than any other design discipline.

5. Do you ever work with other freelance web designers on projects?

Yes, all the time! Especially for help with advanced flash work and back-end development. It’s good working with other people, especially when you work alone most of the time like I do at the moment – it’s interesting seeing how other people work and do things differently.

6. What inspires you to design the websites that you design?

A love for making things, the web and a passion for good usability. Thinking about who is going to use the site is a great inspiration too. I think it’s really important to take the time to understand the intended audience of any site I’m designing to make sure it will ‘speak’ to them.

Reading Jeffrey Zeldman’s book, “Designing with web standards” was a great inspiration too. I also seem to find myself spending inordinate amounts of time surfing the web to see what everybody else is up to.

7. One of the most interesting sites in your portfolio is the “Howl’s Moving Castle”? How was it working with Madman Entertainment on this project?

I worked at Madman for a couple of years when I first arrived in Melbourne. It’s a great place to work – absolutely packed to the rafters with talented young designers. I learnt so much from the other guys working there it’s not funny!

Other than the great team, the best thing about working on Madman projects was the fantastic artwork available to you for each project, and Howl’s Moving Castle was no exception. The design of that site was easy given I had such a wealth of fantastic artwork thanks to the Studio Ghibli drawings I was provided. We were also lucky enough to go to an advanced screening of the film before I built the site, so I had a good idea of how the site should feel having seen that.

8. Do you design your web sites on a mac or a PC? Judging by the first email I received from you came from an iPhone I am guessing you are running a MAC but maybe I am wrong? What is your workstation setup like?

Since starting my freelance business last year I’ve gone all-out MAC (I was PC before). It all started with a 24″ iMac which is my main work machine and then I got one of the black macBooks soon after for working on-site. My newest addition is the iPhone which I absolutely love.

9. What are the essential pieces of software that you work with when designing you web projects?

Omnigraffle (for wireframes and site-maps), Photoshop, Coda, Flash and iTunes (You can’t design in silence).

More about this Web Designer

URL: Tollady.com

Email/Contact: studio@tollady.com

Phone: +61 (0) 424 285 928