Web Design Inspiration Blog | SpicyWebDesigners.com

Josh Byers is a pretty busy web developer these days working for Copyblogger Media and StudioPress as one of their key theme designers not including the blogging he does at ByersHome.com and his work at Red Letters Studio.  He has spent a lot of time working with WordPress, web design and Genesis framework to develop some amazing websites.  Needless to say Josh is a busy guy these days.

Josh has been nice enough to share some of his experiences working with WordPress (he’s been working with it since 2005), his views on designing websites that work on all devices and his own personal recommendations for people looking at building websites for their business needs.  With that I give you Josh Byers…

1. Josh, with your success in the web development community, what has been the key to some of your success?

I think it really is having a passion for what I do.  I really enjoy web development and so to work on it isn’t a chore but rather a privilege.  That translates into working more and having a more targeted focus.  I’ve also been very lucky to build some good relationships that have got me recognized by key people.

2. What do you recommend to people that are looking at building a website for their business? And what are some key things that people really need to look at when considering a website for their business, in your opinion?

You have to know your audience and what content they need.  It makes no sense to put all this stuff online that you care about but your customers don’t.  Make sure your business website is viewable and useable from a mobile device – I can’t stress that enough.

3. You are pretty heavily involved in WordPress development from your personal blog to your work at RedLetters Studio and working in the team at StudioPress.  Why WordPress? And what do you recommend in terms of plugins and themes/theme frameworks to use on projects?

I’ve been working with WordPress since 2005.  I was looking for a content management system that was easy to use but would allow me to build sites the way I wanted to build them.  I’m very particular in some cases and the system I’m using needs to be flexible.

I would obviously recommend Genesis as a WordPress framework – and not just because I work for StudioPress.  I used Genesis exclusively on all my projects before I was hired by StudioPress.  In my opinion it takes care of everything a developer doesn’t want to spend a lot of time on like seo, menus, custom widgets and really lets you design and build the site you want.

When it comes to plugins there probably isn’t any that I would blanket recommend everyone have because each site has different needs.  I would say if you are going to use a plugin check out the ratings, comments and development history of the plugin.  One of the most common ways sites get hacked is from out of date and poorly coded plugins.

4. How did you get started developing websites? Is it something you always were involved with? Or did you make a change out of an original career?

I’ve been interested in the web since I got my first hotmail email address back in 1996.  I tried develop a site for an a cappella group I was a part of with Front Page but didn’t realize I needed a web host.  Needless to say I was a little confused when nobody else could see the site.

Web design was never something I intended to make a career out of – I just enjoyed it.  I built sites for my friends, my church and others.  When people started to offer to pay me to build them a site was when I first thought I could do this for a living.

5. How do you think that the mobile/tablet PC revolution that is currently underway is changing the world of web design?  What do you recommend to people to make their website more “responsive” in nature so that it renders on most devices?

Mobile isn’t the future as some would say – It’s here now and if your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices you’re either annoying your audience or they are tuning into another site.

For developers I would recommend reading Ethan Marcote’s book – Responsive Web Design.  It lays out the groundwork for making a site responsive and it’s really not that hard.

Feel free to read some of Josh’s recent articles on the StudioPress blog including…

• CSS3 is for today
• How to Make Your Website Respond to Different Mobile Devices
• Mobile Responsive Design: The Flexible Grid 
• The Secret to Confidence with Color Design

Check out some of Josh Byers work below…

24K free Child WordPress Theme for Genesis

RedLetters Studio

Josh Byers Personal Blog - ByersHome.com

Coming to SpicyWebDesigners.com all the way from Spain is Bruno Felicio, a web and graphic designer from Madrid, Spain.  He has been designing for the past 10 years and when he first started he was originally a graphic design who made the move to web and multimedia 6 years ago and since then he has created some very impactful design work online.

Bruno doesn’t choose to design for just one CMS but his favourites are WordPress and Expression Engine to work with.  I hope enjoy reading more about this talented Spanish web designer.

Luc asks: How long have you been designing websites professionally?

Bruno says: I have been designing for about 10 years. I’ve started as a graphic designer and then moved on to the digital world of the web and multimedia content about 6 years ago.

Luc asks: Do you have a specific platform that you prefer to create for like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc?

Bruno says: I try not to have a preferred platform. As a CMS choice I prefer WordPress and EE (Expression Engine. I also love the idea of having custom built CMS (Content Management System) when need ’cause it gives you a lot of creativity freedom.

Luc asks: Do you prefer to do the graphic layout aspects on a project or the coding?

Bruno says: I love to design and I also love to create. I always design with the code in mind and the other way around can also be true sometimes. Don’t really have a preference because I love doing both. I love making pixel perfect apps and websites with colors and graphics that capture your attention but I also love the coding part that it is connect to the UX. Bringing great design and user centred coding together makes great user experience, and that’s what I try to achieve at the end of the day: quality user experience.

Luc asks: Your style of design is very creative and playful.  Did you hone this in school and what kinds of things inspire you to create this way?

Bruno says: I try to get the most of me in every project that I work on. I think the inspiration can come from anywhere really. From a book, a song, weather. All that is around me serves as an inspiration. Obviously the biggest inspiration is the web itself. I always try to keep up with some of the global trends.

Luc asks: Do you think it’s important to go to University or College to become a good designer?  Did you have any inclination before you got into web design to do any other type of design work?

Bruno says: A good education is an important ground base for every professional. A designer should know the fundamentals, if someone taught him better, if not than he will have to learn it by himself. All the professions have rules but of course those rules can bend towards the creativity of the professional. I’ve always new I had to do something related to art so design was my first choice when entering into college.

Ryan Scherf is a web designer and developer from Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States of America. This designer from Minneapolis loves creating brands from scratch, showcasing his skills in the latest tutorials on WebDesignTuts+ and has dabbled in entrepreneurial endeavors most recently founding SixCentral.

Ryan has been designing for the web over the last decade; he is a seasoned professional who graduated from the University of Minnesota from their Computer Science program. What Ryan found when he got out of school and was hired as a Java programmer was that he hated it and with that decided to focus on front-end design and he has been designing ever since.

Though he does hold down a full-time day job as a Senior User Interface Engineer he has always enjoyed freelancing on web design projects as it allows him a creative outlet to hone and perfect his design skills. He currently runs RyanScherf.net and he currently posts updates on his twitter account.

I recently had the chance to ask Ryan about how he first got introduced to web design, the advice he’d give anyone starting in this chosen career path and some questions about his experiences and this is what he had to say…

Luc asks: Ryan, how did you first get started designing websites and how long have you been a web designer?

Ryan says: The first website I ever designed for profit was almost 10 years ago, and it’s still up today (poorly coded of course – http://lomag.net). I got my start by designing websites for small internet companies selling hosting and shell accounts. After a short hiatus during my time at college between 2002-2006, I really had only done small 1-2 page designs. My first larger project was in the winter of 2006 for an e-mail start-up that fell flat. At this point, I only had a few designs that I could showcase in my portfolio, and wasn’t really getting a lot of leads. I started doing some on-the-side slicing from which the owner hired me to do a few design jobs, and that’s really when it all took off. This was probably in early 2007.

Luc asks: What was the most challenging client you’ve ever worked for and why was it a challenge?

Ryan says: I’ve definitely had my fair share of challenging and frustrating clients. Some that wouldn’t pay (even after the work was completed) and others that were far too demanding. The most challenging client I’ve ever had was for a NYC start-up that dealt with Broadway shows. The client rejected 2-3 designs in a row, and provided poor direction for every single iteration. I’m fortunate now that I’m able to identify troublesome clients from the very first e-mail exchanges, so I’ve been lucky to avoid situations like this over the last few years.

Luc asks: Ryan, I noticed that you currently work full-time and that you also freelance. How do you manage between being a full-time employee?

Ryan says: That’s right — my entire freelance career has been nights/weekends apart from full-time jobs. For me, freelancing is a great creative outlet that is a lot less limiting than what I do as an in-house designer. The draw of freelancing for me is the ability to work on brand new designs every few weeks, and not having to work in the constraints of a rigid system. Fortunately, the last two full-time jobs I’ve had have been health care start-ups, so not only was there a ton of work to do, but the start-up community has been a lot of fun. The hard part is not overbooking myself, as the line between fun and burning out is very fine. I’ve been fortunate so far, but we’ll see how it goes in the future.

Luc asks: I see that you studied Computer Sciences when you went to university at the University of Minnesota. Being from a computer science educational background do you feel that you are a strong graphic designer or is this a skill that you feel you are working at? Do you prefer coding to the visual design work that your work offers you?

Ryan says: I always felt that I had to work harder at being a designer, than I did at being a programmer. I sort of fell into the Computer Science degree, as I always had an interest in computers and that felt like the next step after high school. The first job I took while in my last year at the university was as a Java developer intern, and I hated every second of it. That was really the moment I realized that I wanted to be creative in a different way. Within 6 months, I had moved to another department where I was able to do more front-end work and I never looked back.

Coming from a Computer Science background has helped me understand the limitations (and possibilities) of systems much more than I would have by just pursuing the graphic design course.

Luc asks: What piece of advice would you give a novice web designer looking to break into the industry?

Ryan says: Get your work out there. The design community is truly one of the most helpful communities around, and by putting yourself out there, you’re certain to get very constructive feedback from a group of passionate people for free. I haven’t met one designer that wouldn’t offer up feedback — all you have to do is ask. Just by putting your work out for others to critique shows the type of person you are. Also, always remember to not take criticism personal. Design is such a subjective topic, especially from the untrained eye that has no idea what they’re looking at. I was at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC a few years ago, and there was a small piece of gold foil in the middle of a huge room. I didn’t get it (and thought it was ridiculously stupid), but once again, it was only my opinion. Obviously somebody thought it was artistic enough to get into the Guggenheim — I’ve never had anything displayed in there.

The second bit of advice I’d give is to stick to it. There will always be designers that are better. Instead of beating yourself up about it, strive to do what they do. I can remember mimicking styles of really great designs to learn. Then, once I found my own style, I just went with it.

Luc asks: I see that you’ve published a number of tutorials on industry leading sites like WebDesignTuts+. How did you get into writing tutorials and why do you find it important to share your knowledge?

Ryan says: I was approached by the editor of PSDTuts last year to write a tutorial, and I thought it would be a great way to drive some traffic to my portfolio as well as share a little knowledge. I’ll admit, the first time writing a tutorial was pretty difficult and I almost gave up midway through after about 10 hours. Once I saw how helpful it was to the readers, I became addicted, and I’m trying to commit to writing a tutorial once a month (I haven’t been good about it just yet).

The message I wanted to get across to the readers is that you’re only limited by your own creativity. Creating the designs in Photoshop is pretty simple. Honestly, all of the techniques I used to create the elements of a design are probably beginner level, but the trick is mixing and matching all of them to produce a great result.

Christine Pham has been a web designer and front-end developer for over five years and currently works in Massachusetts in the United States. She is completely self taught as a web designer, having never finished college or university; however, she takes every advantage to improve her skills and knowledge. When we talked to her, she spoke to us about what keeps her passionate about web design, how she got into becoming a web designer, and her preferences between coding and designing. Please read on about Christine Pham…

Luc Asks: You said that you are completely self taught, Christine.  Did you study something else at university or college before deciding on web design?

Christine says: I come from a pretty strict family, so going to college wasn’t optional after I graduated from high school. I did spend two years in college, switching majors frequently but eventually dropped out. I think I really only attended about a quarter of my scheduled classes each semester. I skipped classes all the time, even in high school, which was a total waste of money. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m the type of learner who can benefit from everything a classroom can offer. I learn more kinetically; by actually doing things myself and solving problems in a practical work environment. Maybe one day I will go get my degree… I’ve thought about it, but I’m really trying to focus on my work right now.

Luc Asks: With over 5 years of experience designing for the web, what is it that still keeps you passionate about web design?

Christine says: Even though I haven’t had the most sparkling history of being a great student, I do like to learn as many things as I can, and as often as I can. I love that the nature of this industry offers me the opportunity to keep doing that. You have to keep learning to be successful in this field; you’ve got to get your hands on as much as you can, because if you stop educating yourself for just a year… well, you’ll wake up and realize that you’re already two years behind. I’ve been teaching myself about web design since I was 15, and I still have a lot more to learn. Needless to say, I do a lot of “googling”.

Luc Asks: When it comes to typography in your projects do you use pre-built fonts or do you do your own typographic design work?

Christine says: Fonts are like boys to me; I always have a flavor of the week. Just kidding, I’m not that popular with the boys. I do purchase and download fonts for use in my projects, and I go through phases where I like a certain slab font (Rockwell and I had a long term relationship), and then I’ll switch to a script, and then maybe to a sans serif. I love that web technology has evolved to the point that I now have more interesting options than your run-of-the-mill web fonts. I love playing with typography in my layouts.

Luc Asks: Looking at your work experience i see that you’ve jumped around a fair amount since you started your web design career.  Do you think that this is fairly common in the web design career path?

Christine says: I think it’s common for most creatives – in any industry – to jump from job to job, at least in the beginning years of their career. I think a lot of it has to do with ego, to be honest. I suppose a lot of it also had to do with the fact that I was so young and naive that I didn’t realize how much my skills were actually worth. I went through a lot of periods where I’d have to reevaluate my worth and what my salary was at the time. I think I’ve grown up since then – I have gotten to a point in my career where I’m looking for security and stability. I work at a great company now that offers that (shout out to Edvisors!). And I also have a lot of other work that I do at home to satisfy my other needs… so it all balances out.

Luc Asks: Do you consider yourself a stronger coder or designer?

Christine says: I started out as more of a graphic designer – I did a lot of print as well as web design at my first job. But I think now I’m definitely more of a developer. I’m learning PHP right now – I’ve known basic PHP for a couple years, but I’m really learning more advanced things these days. I have some friends that are backend coders and even they tell me that I have a programmer’s head. Being able to code also gives you the opportunity to make sure your designs retain their creative integrity when the final product is made. I am really anal about making sure that the website rings true to my original design. I consider myself a Front End Developer with a strong eye and background in design.

Luc Asks: What web design project are you most proud of in your career to date and why?

Christine says: That’s sort of like choosing between my babies, isn’t it? I guess, if I had to choose, it would be a project that I’m currently working on with my developer friend, Stela, called myCosmeticBag. It’s still in development, so there’s not much I can show for it, other than our blog; but it’s basically a site where girls can come together and talk and learn about makeup, as well as manage the items in their makeup collection. Users will be able to post reviews on their favorite cosmetics products, or read reviews before they choose whether or not to make a purchase. It’s also kind of like my playground for learning PHP and experimenting with HTML 5 and other new technologies. I consider this project my true baby because it’s our own concept, and it’s not a site that I’m just designing for a client. I guess that would make my other projects like adopted children!

Some more of Christine Pham’s Web Design Work:

Hank Toet is a web designer and art director from Los Angeles, California in the United States.  With over 10 years of experience in the field of design he has worked in various positions from “web designer”, “graphic designer” to a “Lead Designer” and most recently an “Art Director” but he received his education in Business Administration.  In one way or another he has been designing for the web since 1996 when Hank discovered websites and wanted to learn how to design and program them.

Hank recently got together with SpicyWebDesigners.com to talk about his experiences in design, why he loves designing for the web and his views on formally educated designers versus self taught designers.

Luc asks: Hank, with your extensive design experiences, how long have you been designing websites?

Hank says: I first started playing around with Micrograpx Picture Publisher around 1996.

I enjoyed browsing around the web and wanted to learn how to design and program websites.

I used Microsoft Front page to put together my websites but when I got my first job working as an html editor I was forced to stop using Front Page and learn how to code by hand. I’m happy I did because Front Page sucked!

Soon after that I left my PC behind and got my first Mac, haven’t look back since!

Luc asks: Are you formally educated in design or self taught?  Do you feel it’s better for a designer to have a formal education or be a self taught designer?

Hank says: Back when I started designing websites there were really no courses you could take or schools you could go to, to learn how to be a web designer.

I really wanted to learn but didn’t know where to go so I was forced to figure it out for myself. In hindsight I think it would have been nice to have had some formal education but the benefit of being self taught is that I’ve never had to unlearn the rules that are imposed on you with a formal design education. I was free to do whatever I wanted which allowed for a lot of experimentation and probably led me to solutions I would not have thought of if I was formally trained.

Luc asks: Why do you love being a web designer?

Hank says: Growing up I never really knew what I wanted to do in life but I always had a strong interest in design, I loved graffiti culture, urban design, underground music and the style that goes

along with that. When the internet started to become popular and I started to design for it. It was like all the puzzle pieces fell into place and I finally found something that was me. Whenever I sit down in front of Photoshop and look at an empty canvas I get this rush and anything is possible. It’s being excited about the possibilities and trying to do the best you can and hopefully being proud with the results when you are done. I also feel this process of learning and getting better at what you do will never stop. At least not for me, I want to keep doing this until the day I die.
Luc asks: I see that you have experience working on mobile design projects, what are your major concerns or considerations you make when designing a project for a mobile device?

Hank says: My main concern is UI; there are a lot of applications out there that just don’t make any sense. It’s easy to make something look good but it has to be usable.

Heath Waller is a web designer from Calgary, Alberta in Canada.  Up until 5 years ago she hadn’t really touched a computer let alone designed a website but about a year ago she became very interested and started learning about and designing websites.  With her educational background in visual arts she became a “natural” designer because of the parallels with her visual arts background and since then she’s been designing for the web.

Lately her interests include learning all that she can about web development covering everything from jQuery, HTML5, PHP and other languages.  She also works with a number of CMS systems from WordPress to PageLime and Surreal CMS but prefers to work with WordPress.  I hope you enjoy learning more about this impressive web designer.

Luc asks:  Heath, when and how did you start designing for the web?

Heath says:  5 years ago I had barely touched a computer. I was living in the Australian outback without water, plumbing or electricity!

I designed my first site a couple of years ago as a favor to a friend, using a WYSIWYG program. A couple of other giveaway sites followed. I had no idea of what I was doing beyond adding window dressing to a template.

About a year ago I met someone who was working as a freelance graphic designer who suggested that if I were to learn how to design websites I might get some work sent my way. I’d never thought about doing anything like that before, but I like a challenge! So I learned what I could about tweaking code to make things beautiful – while doing everything possible to avoid learning actual coding.

Eventually, partially through osmosis and partially through painful hours spent reading books about coding, I began to pick up enough of it to get templates to start looking how I wanted them to.

Then, about 5 months ago I met some young fellows who were looking for a developer to join their new web design company. It seemed a wonderful opportunity, and I told them I may not yet know how to code, but I’d be able to figure it out if they hired me. I just needed a week to study…

And the rest is history. I am now working as a developer, improving my coding skills through practical applications. There are many late nights of studying involved, and much of my weekend is spent reading the latest in online tutorials and design/development articles.

I am also looking to pick up some freelancing work in order to exercise my design abilities and to be able to improve my portfolio. And I am still learning like crazy.

Luc asks:  Do you feel you are a stronger coder or a stronger designer? What do you to improve your weaknesses?

Heath says:  Design comes naturally to me – probably from my fine art background. Color, composition, typography – these are my real loves. I get giddy over beautiful websites!

But I do find there is beauty in coding, too – turning something static into something dynamic through a magical combinations of characters, letters and numbers. To be able to take a project from idea to completion is immensely gratifying; and understanding the skeleton required for the skins I imagine makes the design process feel much more holistic.

I know where my development weaknesses lie and work diligently towards improving them. Sometimes it feels overwhelming – there is just so much to learn! JQuery. PHP. HTML5. CSS3. But then I just force myself to tackle things in bite-sized pieces, while allowing myself a bit of room for play, and things slowly come into place.

Luc asks:  Do you work with or design for any content management systems in particular?

Heath says:  WordPress is my CMS of choice. I’ve also found PageLime or Surreal CMS are good choices for smaller projects. I am a big proponent of open source. I am not yet at the stage where I am able to contribute much, but the collaborative nature of it really appeals to me.

Back when I started this journey I tried just about every one of the possible CMS solutions out there. They all felt too overwhelmingly complicated at the time. But I credit the vast number of tutorials created by the WordPress community that took me through step by baby step. I still have a lot to learn, mind you. But learning WordPress is always a pleasure.

Luc asks:  What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned since starting your career in design?

Heath says:  That the best way to really learn something is to take a crack at it. The reading can get you primed, but it is in the actual doing that the greatest lessons are learned. I can work on trying to debug a code for 20 hours strait, and be on the verge of tears, when something just “clicks”. And, suddenly, it all becomes perfectly clear. And I know I’ll never make that same mistake again!

The other really surprising thing is just how generous the design community is in helping you out when you have a problem. StackOverflow has been a lifesaver to me! People are so quick to help you out, often in ways that you know required a lot of their time and energy.

This Internet is the playground of the web design and development community; and it is wonderful to see such fair play at work.

Luc asks:  Where do you want to go in your professional design career?

Heath says:  That is such a great question! I think this is a career where the sky is the limit. And a career that one can literally take “anywhere” there is an Internet connection. Thinking: tropical island… desert oasis… majestic forest…

Web design is truly a 21st Century craft.

I’d love to better learn how to code WordPress themes from scratch so that I can set up clients to independently grow their websites. I’d like to create the kind of websites that excite viewers and make other designers want to inspect my element.

And, most importantly, I’d like to known for producing powerfully simple, attractive, content-focused sites for happy clients.

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

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.