You’ve recently decided to become a full-time freelancer. How are you finding this so far?

I bloody love it! I’ve wanted to work for myself full-time for a long time and if you’ve spoken to me in person in over the last few years I’ll have probably told you so. “Ultimately I’d like to work for myself full-time” was starting to become my catchphrase. So I figured it was about time I took the plunge. I’ve no regrets so far and still have a roof over my head so that’s a win in my book.

Have you found that Twitter has made it easier to get new enquiries from potential clients?

I’ve found twitter to be a great resource for getting the word out about things I’m working on and of course staying in touch with my peers. It’s difficult to gauge how many enquiries come through it though. At the moment I’m finding a lot of my work is coming through collaboration with other designers and general word-of-mouth.

Do you have any advice on mixing freelance and family life when you work from home?

My son is brilliant at getting me away from my computer. He literally comes and gets me out of my office if I haven’t already met him at the front door when he comes home from childcare.

Getting established as full-time self-employed has in some ways been helped my the fact that my wife is doing a degree and is often studying or is on placement in the evenings so I never feel like I’m neglecting anyone. We always ensure we spend the weekends together so all in all my work/life balance is pretty good for our particular situation.

The new Naomi Atkinson website is fantastic. Can you tell us about your collaboration and involvement with the website?

Thank you! I’m really pleased with how naomiatkinsondesign.com turned out. The design was done by Naomi, the photography by Dan Rubin and the front-end development by me. It was a lot of fun to work on, Naomi is a brilliant designer who has great attention to detail and having access to Dans skills with a camera was just icing on the cake really.

Responsiveness was very important to us all. Once Naomi had nailed the look and feel of the design, it became a team effort to perfect how visitors would interact with the site and how it would adjust depending on the context it’s being viewed. I then went to work bring it all to life. I think we’re most proud of the team section. It’s a combination of jQuery and CSS3 transitions with a pure jQuery fallback for browsers that don’t support it. This results in a much smoother experience on mobile devices with native transition support.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into the web design and development industry?

Well I was originally an IT Technician, I worked in the private sector as well as within education (several collages and a university). When I started working in IT we were still repairing computers, changing components and occasionally the old soldering iron would come out, but by around 2004 it had all become pretty much monkey work. A computer broke and you sent it back to Dell and installed a replacement. I was getting really bored!

I’d been looking around for an alternative career and for a while I thought I’d get into CG animation, join some gaming company and achieve stardom creating the next Half-Life. The only problem was that I wasn’t very good at CG animation…

Around this time (2004) I was playing a game called Guild Wars and was part of a guild called War Masters I believe… (might have just made that up, can’t remember) anyway there were about a hundred of us in the guild and we decided we wanted a website and a forum to share strategies and stuff, all very geeky, and I volunteered to build the site.

It all gain momentum from there really. I remember following Dreamweavers help tutorial on building a website, which was in tables, and a good friend of mine Paul Stanton (who I was working with at the time and who was already designing and building websites) hit me round the head with a CSS book and that got me looking into Web Standards.

I landed my first full-time position as a Web Designer/Developer in 2006.

What is your normal workflow for creating a website from start to finish?

If I’m doing the entire site from start to finish, my process is typically research => wireframing => design concepts => front-end build => cms integration => go live.

I aim to keep the client involved throughout the course of the project with an in-person kick-off meeting when possible and a training day/half-day towards the end of the project before go-live so that they can add more content to the site and any last minute bugs can be ironed out.

Like most freelancers I’m always reviewing and attempting to improve my workflow so if something falls down for one project I’ll modify my approach for the next. Nothing is set in stone, it’s all quite flexible.

Above Screenshot: Cambridge Pianoforte website design, front-end development and CMS integration by Ryan Taylor

Are there any other designers in the industry producing work that you really admire?

Oh yeah, tons. Naomi Atkinson, Dan Rubin, Elliot Jay Stocks, Mike Kus, Jessica Hische, Tim Van Damme, Ryan Downie, Oliver Waters, Simon Collison, Meagan Fisher, Sarah Parmenter, Roan Lavery, Jon Hicks to name but a few.

Do you have a particular web design conference or event that you never miss?

Not particularly no. I’ve been to Future of Web Design and Web Apps a few times, DIBI, dConstruct, New Adventures, SXSW. I try to attend as many as I can as I’ve found them to be one of the best ways to network with other designers and developers but it all depends on my schedule really. I’ll be attending New Adventures again in January 2012, Mr Collison throws a cracking conference so looking forward to that one.

Above Screenshot: The new Headscape website – Design, front-end development and CMS integration by Ryan Taylor

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ‘switch off’ from the internet?

I’m learning to play guitar. I’ve actually been “learning” for quite a long time (translate that as I butchered the thing once a week then put it back on it’s stand), but now I’m actually having lessons and have bought a decent guitar – a Yamaha APX 500 – which is my baby and hangs on my office wall. Apart from that when I’m not working I’m spending time with my family.

Finally, do you have any tips for people starting in the industry?

My advice would be to network as much as you can, attend meet-ups in your local area, collaborate with people and learn from them. Conferences are a great place to do this if you can afford them. I was lucky in that I met Paul Boag early in my web career and he’s been a good friend and mentor to me ever since, which is why when the opportunity arose for me to mentor someone myself I was happy to do so. I’m currently sharing my insights with a nice Canadian chap called Chad McDonald who wants to expand his skills into front-end development as well as design.

Thank you so much for taking the time to take part in our interview Ryan

Havoc Inspired | Follow Ryan on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Front End Developer Anna Debenham We've interviewed Anna Debenham, a talented front end developer and...
2. Interview With Freelance Web Designer Clive Walker Clive Walker is a freelance web designer/developer based in Horsham,...
3. Interview with Freelance Web Developer Mark Perkins Mark Perkins is a full time tea-drinker and general web...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you got in to the world of web design?

I actually got started in the world of design in 2001 as a lithographic printer in the Armed Forces. I would spend half of my time operating the presses and the other in the prepress suite designing and prepping the artwork. It was here that I was first introduced to programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop.

It wasn’t until I was tasked to design and build an interactive CD-ROM that I first encountered HTML. I muddled through and eventually came up with an end product that was passable but more importantly I was hooked – this was something that was in complete contrast to the static nature of print work and I loved it.

I think like most in this industry I then experimented with different techniques, programs, languages and the more I dabbled the more I wanted to learn. Eventually I left the Armed Forces to concentrate solely on web design and the rest as they say is history!

What was your original inspiration behind Premium Pixels?

There wasn’t too much of a motive behind Premium Pixels originally other than to experiment with design in ways which I couldn’t necessarily with clients. Premium Pixels served, and still does, as a place I can justifiably play around with elements I have never been tasked to design before or try out new design ideas in general.

How do you find the time to create so many top quality freebies so regularly?

It can be very tough do so consistently but the only solution is to make it. I typically set aside some time each morning to play around with a new ideas before concentrating on “real work” later. I tend to work on the larger freebies over a period of time making small additions each day. That and I work very long hours

What plans do you have for Premium Pixels in 2011?

2011 is going to be a great year for Premium Pixels. There will be a small facelift shortly which I’m very excited about and the freebies will continue to come thick and fast. I have had a number of requests from other designers looking to contribute their own files which I will also be looking at.

Another new addition for 2011 will be the introduction of tutorials (another frequent request) so designers can get a better understanding of how I have designed a particular element rather than just downloading the final result.

You’ve recently started freelancing full time. How have you found the first few months?

So far so good, I’ve managed to take on a grand total of 0 clients, all planned of course! When I took the plunge I vowed to spend some time working on my own projects before concentrating on client work – it has been great, a very rewarding process. I do however have a number of upcoming client projects which I can’t wait to get stuck into!

Do you find it easy to separate client work with your own projects?

Finding the time to work on both can be extremely difficult. It’s also very frustrating when you find yourself spending more time on one than the other. Ultimately the trick is to take on client work that you will enjoy as it will limit resentment – easier said than done in a lot of cases.

I try to limit my client involvement to just one project at a time. I find this beneficial for both myself and the client as they get my undivided attention which generally results in a better final product. It also allows enough time to work on personal projects in the “downtime” of the client project e.g. the days between client feedback etc.

Your WordPress themes are proving very popular on ThemeForest! What do you think makes a theme popular on marketplaces?

In general I think a well designed theme that will suit a variety of purposes has the potential to become popular. More often that not that means not over-designing the theme, just giving it a sense of character while not taking away from its ability to be customised.

What theme options and customisations have proven most popular with people purchasing your themes?

So far the most popular features/requests have been for shortcodes. Shortcodes, when used in moderation, are great for allowing the non-technical user the ability to add styled content to the theme with very little effort – buttons, columns and alerts are proving particularly popular.

Are there any designers in the industry that you really admire?

Far too many to list! Naturally I admire those designers that have huge ability in areas where I would like to improve – illustration, icons and logo design specifically. Sean Farrell, Pasquale D’Silva and the SoftFacade team spring to mind.

What hobbies do you you have to help switch off from the internet

I try to spend as much time with my dog as possible, being a Siberian Husky he needs a lot of exercise – perfect for getting me away from the screen! Other than that hobbies have taken a back seat since the arrival of my 3 month old son. I’m sure any parent will agree, finding time for yourself can be difficult in the early days… but I wouldn’t have it any other way

Thanks for being interviewed Orman. All the very best for 2011

Premium Pixels | www.ormanclark.com | Follow Orman on Twitter

No related posts.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into the web design and development industry?

I learnt my first HTML playing an online game called Neopets. It had this “create a webpage for your pet” feature which I tweaked obsessively. I then decided to start a real site for my friends where we could add funny quotes and that sort of thing. Then I started getting a few people asking me to do websites for their businesses and it kind of went on from there.

Do you consider yourself to be mainly a designer or developer (or a bit of both?)

I’m definitely more comfortable coding because it’s much less subjective. I do design when there’s nobody else to do it, and I love doing it for my own personal projects (because there’s no client to please), but I generally prefer working with a really good designer.

How did you find going back to full time employing after freelancing? Was it a difficult decision to make?

It was an incredibly difficult decision to make. I’d been freelancing since I was 16, full time since I was 18, and I really enjoyed it but I found it almost impossible to switch off at the end of the day. I resented spending a disproportionate amount of my time doing all the admin stuff that comes with freelancing rather than getting stuck into some code. It was also pretty lonely, and I was desperate to work alongside other people. It’s nice not having to worry about that sort of thing any more.

What was the most important thing you learned while freelancing?

I guess the most valuable thing I learnt was how to be self sufficient. I had to learn how to do everything for the first time very quickly, and deal with all the mistakes I made along the way. You don’t get a guaranteed paycheck on the same day every month, and if you don’t get up in the morning and get the work done, you don’t get paid.

What do you think about the current state of education for web design and development courses?

The majority of students I’ve spoken to feel disillusioned with the courses they’re taking. A lot of the content is so out of date than when they leave, they’re not equipped with the right skills and really struggle to get a job. I’ve talked and written a lot on the problems I had when deciding whether to go to university. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a course that wasn’t going to be value for money, and I think I made the right decision at the time by not going. In my experience, a lot of web development courses try to dumb things down to make them easier to teach and mark, but in the process they abstract things so they’re no longer relevant. For example, web design is part of the IT curriculum for secondary school students in England, but a lot of students are being taught how to make websites in Microsoft Powerpoint, or in some cases, in tables in Microsoft Word.

How would you improve things with current web development courses?

The best courses I’ve seen have really close ties with industry professionals, and adopt curriculums such as WaSP’s InterACT curriculum and Opera’s Web Standards curriculum.

I did a Q&A with students in Damascus High School and they were studying InterACT’s curriculum and were very enthusiastic about it. Ideally I’d like to see an institution like the Open University offer one of these courses. Open University courses are cheaper than traditional university courses, and you can study remotely while you work, so they’re incredibly accessible.

Can you tell us about Scrunchup and how it began

Scrunchup began in 2008 when I was talking to some friends about how there isn’t really anywhere for young people to go when they’re starting out. There are a lot of negative stereotypes associated with young developers, and there’s also a lot of bad advice, so I wanted somewhere to put stuff that people like me would find interesting.

Do you have a particular favourite web design conference or event that you never miss?

I have quite a few. There’s dConstruct in Brighton in the summer which is nice because the content is quite theoretical which makes it different to other conference. I spoke at the Web Developer’s Conference in October which was great fun because the majority of the attendees are students and it’s in Bristol which is a lovely city. I went to my first Full Frontal conference a couple of weeks ago which was cool and of course there’s Future of Web Design which I look forward to every year because it’s such a massive event.

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ‘switch off’ from the internet?

It’s difficult to switch off because my work is also my hobby, but I’ve always been into drawing and photography and I’ve been trying to get more of that into some of the work I’m doing. I also enjoy cooking and would like to get more seriously into that, it’s just the washing up at the end that puts me off!

Thanks very much Anna!

Anna is a front end developer at Message in Brighton. You can also follow her on Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Web Designer and Front End Developer Ryan Taylor Ryan Taylor is a talented freelance web designer, front-end developer...
2. Interview with Freelance Web Developer Mark Perkins Mark Perkins is a full time tea-drinker and general web...
3. Interview with Web Developer Rob Hawkes Rob Hawkes is a web developer and is currently studying...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into the web design and development industry?

I first seriously got into web design once we started Pixelfish, I’m afraid I’m not one of those people who’s been coding since the age of 4! My background is one based in the world of graphic design rather than pure web and I believe this has been a huge asset for us as a company.

Both me and fellow founder Adam Bowen studied at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth (Now Arts University College Bournemouth), taking a BA in graphic design. This meant we came into web design with a solid understanding of design as a whole, something which we have been able to feed into our work.

During my degree my passion was for print based design, and in hindsight I wish I’d got into digital earlier. It has to be one of the most exciting and challenging sectors to work in, with constant new technologies coming to play, there really is something for everyone.

How did Pixelfish get started and what were your experiences of starting a business?

Pixelfish was founded by myself and fellow Director Adam Bowen back in August last year. From September we moved into the Enterprise Pavilion that is situated on the Arts University College Bournemouth campus, and I’ve got to say that has been a great move for us. Being surrounded by fellow creative companies has meant rather than be isolated, we are right in the middle of a place that holds ideas and creativity in the highest regard.

As for our experiences of starting a business then all I can say is it has to be the best thing I’ve ever done. Yes it does mean it consumes my life, and also happens to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done but with it come rewards that can’t be matched. The thrill of knowing everything you are working towards is for you, and you only really does get my juices going. Every morning I wake up and am excited to start work and there aren’t many jobs you can say that about day in day out.

Do you have a preference for a particular CMS or do you use an in-house system?

We are a big believer in open source technology and think its certainly going to be the way forward, you just have to look at sites such as the new White House website, that is powered by the Joomla CMS platform. Going with an open source technology means you get the perks of large communities providing support as well as continual upgrades and add-ons.

We use one of the best new Content Management Systems out there called Concrete5, which is developed over in the west coast of the USA. We’ve been working with the system for the last 10 months and find it to be the best mix of fantastic client usability along with a huge amount of extensibility. Before forming Pixelfish we undertook several months research and trailing of all the open source platforms out there, so we didn’t pick Concrete5 on a whim. We’re effectively becoming the UK partner for Concrete5 which looks to hold a very exciting future.

How important do you think it is for clients to be able to update their own web content?

Updating your web content is vital to having a thriving and successful site, our gospel if you like is all about change, and having a site with change built-in enables everyone to adapt their content at will. Gone are the days of static information sites, and in their place are websites that have the ability to change on a daily basis.

Do you provide training to clients to help them learn the CMS?

Yes, I think it would be pretty reckless for a web agency to let a client loose without prior training. We’re fortunate in that the CMS we use is one of the easiest to use, offering in-context editing which is a godsend. Quite often our clients remark on how easy our CMS is to use, almost not believing how straight forward it is. As part of choosing to go with us, we like to think we provide a support service that is hard to beat.

Are there any other designers or agencies in the industry producing work that you really admire?

Locally I’m really liking the work of web solutions outfit 3 Sided Cube, who have just produced a great little iPhone and Android app called Vision Test. Nationally and internationally then I like to keep abreast of all the major creative agencys, coming from a graphic design background, I still have a vested interest in print design as well as digital. I think its incredibly important to keep your inspiration pool as broad as possible.

Do you have a particular web design conference or event that you never miss?

We are regular attendees of the Bournemouth Meetdraw event. We even helped organise the last event held in Bar So, meaning we have got to know all the key players involved. Its been a great event for us to help establish ourselves in the local area and feel part of a bigger community. One of the things I’d like to do is help get Bournemouth and Poole on the map as one of the regions for top notch digital in the country. Events such as Meetdraw certainly help increase the profile and feed into this aspiration.

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ‘switch off’ from the internet?

I absolutely love sport, whether it be football, F1, tennis or running, or anything else that I can find. I also am a big fan of cars, particularly some of the classic eighties hatchbacks such as the Golf GTI (My current car!).

I’m certainly someone who has many interests out of work and I think its an incredibly important area to my life, and something that is quite often forgotten about by people in startups. You need something to take your mind away from work, otherwise you will be all consumed by work and that isn’t good for your mental health!

Finally, do you have any tips for people starting in the industry?

Just go on and do it, I would love to see more graduates starting up new businesses, because in many ways it is the best time to do it. Having little or no overheads or family commitments means you can commit your life into your startup. On the flip side you may have little experience but as long as you have an enthusiasm and willingness to learn then you won’t go far wrong.

Thanks for taking part in the interview, Dan!

Links: Pixelfish | Twitter | Facebook

Related posts:

1. Interview with Damian Rees from Experience Solutions Damian is an applied psychologist but don't let that scare...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What made you decide to start a blog?

I had folder upon folders of inspirational images – business cards, logos, posters, websites. I started collecting them and it just felt dis-organized, so I decided that a blog would help organize the findings, I could quickly hop onto the blog and find all my inspirational pieces.

Where does the inspiration for your articles come from?

The majority of our articles are lists posts – a lot of the articles come from projects. When I get a new project, I am on the hunt for inspiration… I collect them and usually when I am searching I find a lot of great images, so I manage to put them in folders then post them.

Do you find it easy to juggle managing a blog with running a company?

It’s not easy – a blog takes up more time then you think. Right now Inspiredology is run by myself and Andrew who handles all the giveaways, advertising and any marketing related tasks. We just recently opened up our own design studio Projekt19. We also both work corporate jobs, so when we get home we get to work. Inspiredology posts an article three times per week, it helps to get other writers involved. That on it’s own is time consuming to manage and search for writers.

What, in your mind, makes an article interesting?

In my mind, I believe it’s something that hasn’t been talked about much. These days it’s tough to create articles with that theory, just because there are so many articles out there. I remember when I first started the blog 2.5 years ago, I did two posts 120 Brilliant Logos and Cool Business Cards, and to this day they are still the two most popular posts on Inspiredology. The reason is that at the time, I know for a fact that there were less then 3 posts out there that were similar. Today you search in Google, you’ll find multiple pages on the topic.

What tips do you have for writing a blog post?

Be yourself, don’t try to write like you are some English major if your not. We are designers first, and we shouldn’t hide that writing isn’t our strongest suit. People will see right through it, and they will also respect you more for being yourself and seeing that you are trying to improve.

What advertising techniques have been the most beneficial to Inspiredology?

I started advertising on Inspiredology by manually emailing, uploading then just having my own calendar set up. This become too much for myself to juggle, writing, maintenance, advertising, plus freelancing and my full time job. I eventually jumped on BuySellAds.com, which took away all of the trouble of managing that aspect of the blog. Right now, I have Andrew that handles all of the advertising, and we are still using BuySell but I think we are working on other alternatives. We are always looking for new ways of managing ads. BuySell is great – but they take a big chunk of our advertising costs.

Can you tell us a little bit about your new Projekt19 studio?

Projekt 19 has been an idea for a couple of years now. Before Inspiredology, when I was freelancing, I went under the name Chad Mueller, I always imagined that one day I would have a studio of some sort. So being the creative person that I am, I was always thinking of names for the company. Not just names, but brands, what the company could offer, how the business would be managed. I finally decided that I needed to take my freelancing career to the next level. That’s where Andrew comes in, we have been long time friends. After school we took two different paths, he went more marketing and advertising, I went design. I knew he would be a good partner to have, really offset our skills. He could help bring in business and market the company while I could handle all the creative.

We sat down, ironed out the details, business plan, numerous logo’s and concepts. About a month ago we launched, and thus far we have had very positive feedback, and a good workload – enough to keep us busy.

How do you keep everything organized with your blog and studio?

We are currently using Project Bubble, there are so many different apps, it was very frustrating finding one that we could use. We finally decided on Project Bubble because it was free at the time, and the developer Stu was constantly making updates, as well as listening to the user feedback. Which only met he was very passionate and his customer support was out of this world.

What other web design or development blogs do you enjoy reading?

There are so many, Smashing Mag has always been great, I enjoy the Fuel blogs, Line25, BuildInternet, Soh Tanaka, Inspired Mag, Web Design Ledger so many to list.

Finally, do you have any advice for people starting their own blog?

Yeah make sure you know what you are getting into, if you just want to write posts – think about writing for other blogs. Don’t feel that because you want to write, doesn’t mean you have to start a blog. You can have your voice heard other ways… many popular bloggers don’t have blogs but write on numerous websites.

Thanks for the interview, Chad!

Projekt 19 | Inspiredology | twitter.com/chadmueller

Related posts:

1. Interview with Freelance Web Designer Jan Cavan Jan Cavan is a web/graphic designer, illustrator, blogger, geek, the...
2. Interview with Luke van de Paverd of 6 Figure Freelancing Luke van de Paverd is a successful a freelancer from...
3. Interview with Designer and Blogger Chris Spooner Chris Spooner is a creative designer, avid blogger and is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Hi Grace. Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into the web design and development industry?

After I graduated with an Interactive Multimedia Design Degree in 2005 I started work as a graphic designer for a local print company. Concentrating so much on print work made me miss working online though, so after a year I started to freelance in my spare time and build up both my contacts and portfolio to the point where I could freelance full-time and so then created Postscript5, which has now been in existence for nearly 4 years.

If such a thing exists, what is a typical working day like for you?

A typical day means having breakfast and a read through my RSS Feeds (in Google Reader) and morning news at 8.30am. I also use this time to go through my emails so I’m ready to start work around 9. I work through my prioritised tasks until around 10.30 when I have a morning break (at least one cup of tea is involved in this!) I also use this time to return phone calls or contact clients. I work through to 1pm when I stop for lunch and then finish at 4.30pm. I usually leave the office for lunch and meet with friends/family as I feel it helps re-fuel my creative energy for the afternoon.

I finish earlier than most because i like to take 20/30 minutes to plan my next day (using TaskPaper), prepare invoices and generally tie up any loose ends from the day’s work.

This is a typical day but of course every day is different, as I do consulting work I may be out of the office for most of the day or there may be client meetings scheduled throughout the day, but it serves as general overview of my day to day routine.

What do you think are the best and worst things about being a freelance designer?

One of the best aspects of being a freelancer would be the satisfaction of creating and running a successful business and being your own boss. It’s hard work but it’s so completely worth it.

Probably the worst is all the admin, definitely not my favorite aspect of being self-employed!

Yep, I totally agree about the admin!

What is your normal workflow for creating a website from start to finish?

I use a consistent documented process for each project which is constantly being refined. It includes the following phases:

My design workflow couldn’t begin without the initial discussion and discovery phase which helps me gather all the necessary information on the project. Along with an overall picture of the intended users needs and goals, target audience or demographic and required personality and intended style of the website.

This is followed by the Wireframing phase where I create sketches of the layout which are turned into wireframes (depending on the project this is either done using the Greybox Method in Photoshop or Mockflow). These are then reviewed and approved before the design process begins.

Once the wireframes are approved the project moves onto the design phase. The wireframes are taken and given the design treatment and polished. They are then presented for feedback (using Notable) and iteration as necessary until approved.

I then build the design into working prototypes using CSS and XHTML (all according to accessbility guidelines). These are presented and given feedback on all aspects of the build. I then work with the client to polish and tweak until the build is finalised and complete.

Although the project is tested through each stage of the build, this stage involves a complete usability test across all platforms and browsers, checking for cross-platform functionality and appearance. I use a combination of my own testing environment and Browsercam to do a complete check, with the results forwarded onto the client for review. We are then ready for launch!

How important do you consider wireframing in the overall web design process?

Wireframing is an essential step in my design process. It’s a phase I incorporate on projects as it allows for rapid prototyping and helps both myself and the client to pinpoint any potential problems. I also find it invaluable on projects to have a visual representation of content, hierarchy and layout.

It really acts as the blueprint for the content, design and construction work that comes later.

By using wireframes I find the entire design process is much smoother and more efficient. I know by talking with my clients that it is a step in the process they have come to appreciate because it makes for a more efficient project.

What are your current favourite tools for wireframing?

While I am an avid user of Mockflow, two tools that I always use when wireframing are:

(1) Pen & Paper

It’s the fastest way to brainstorm and convey as many ideas as possible with the least amount of effort. Sketching enables me to break down ideas and fully explore UI options and I find putting it down on paper tends to raise questions and ideas and leads to changes. I use the Sketch Sheets supplied with the 960 Grid System (http://960.gs/) which display a browser frame and grid lines.

(2) Grids

Using a Photoshop Action (http://bshoults.com/960-grid-actions) that recreates any of the 960 templates, I start creating the wireframes using the grid as a reference point for positioning elements (Cmd + H to toggle the handy guide visibility). As a side note, Grids aren’t for everyone but I do feel they help give structure and a solid foundation to build my designs upon.

You often have lots of exciting side projects going on! How important do you think personal projects are for developing skills?

I enjoy working on projects which are not client related as it lets me experiment and work at my own pace as well as putting some of creative energy into projects that build up my name and brand.

These type of projects are essential to help me explore ideas, new techniques and different methods and technologies. Each project I work on helps me learn something new and helps to improve and develop and knowledge and skills.

Are there any other designers or agencies in the industry producing work that you really admire?

I’ve always admired Jason Santa Maria, he’s an innovator in both his work and writing. I also hugely admire Contrast (based in Dublin) as they are one of the most talented and forward thinking companies in the industry today and I’ve actually had the pleasure of working with them on several projects.

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ‘switch off’ from the internet?

I love spending time with friends/family and am also something of a ‘movie addict’ and can often be found at the cinema or in front of a great DVD.

I’m also hugely into photography at the moment, having purchased my first DSLR late last year and find going on photo walks and spending time with other photographers to be truely inspiring.

Finally, do you have any tips for people starting in the industry?

For those just starting out in the industry, having a solid portfolio is essential. Either work on a reduced fee basis with local charities or businesses, to build your portfolio or create your own project briefs, to show what your capable of to potential clients.

The next step is to become involved in the local business and creative community, attend networking events, making sure you have business cards of course! Immerse yourself in the online community through social media, industry blogs and forums.

Most importantly, focus on creating a reputable and accessible brand. Don’t forget to constantly improve your skills and knowledge and keep reaching out to meet new people and build your brand and client base.

Thanks for taking part in the interview, Grace!

Postscript5 | Hi, I’m Grace Smith | twitter.com/gracesmith

Related posts:

1. Interview with Designer and Blogger Chris Spooner Chris Spooner is a creative designer, avid blogger and is...
2. Interview with Web Designer and Blogger Phillip Lovelace Phillip Lovelace is a web designer, avid blogger and twitter...
3. Interview with Web Designer and Front End Developer Ryan Taylor Ryan Taylor is a talented freelance web designer, front-end developer...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into the web design and development industry?

To be honest, I kind of fell into the web design industry. I was first introduced to graphic design when I was in high school (light years ago). I was taught the very basics of HTML at the time, but the class was more focused on print design. I really got involved some years later when I landed a job with a startup company.

My position was more of a marketing related position but since I had some experience in design and HTML, I was able to quickly jump in and work on websites if needed. Once that happened I was hooked and began to learn all I could about web design, web standards and front-end technologies.

The rest is pretty much history and I now work full time within those areas and spend my days creating websites and interfaces for clients of all kinds.

Do you consider yourself to be mainly a designer or developer (or a bit of both?)

I would have to say designer by far, as I mainly focus on visual design and front-end code. Although, I do enjoy working with developers and almost always pick up something new in the process. I always keep an open mind but also try to educate while making sure the code comes out as clean and well-structured as possible. It’s always a bit exciting when I explain to a developer why a certain bit of markup should be written in a certain way and they actually learn something new.

I do dabble in a bit of code every now and again but when it comes to creating solutions for clients I tend to leave the programming to real developers.

Are you currently working full time or freelance? Which do you prefer?

I currently work freelance and have for the largest majority of my career. While I started off in a full time position, I do prefer being able to set my own hours and the additional freedoms that come with freelancing. Although, one thing I do sometimes miss is the human interaction that is more present when working in house or in a full time position. It can be a bit tough at times to get constructive feedback when the only person in my office is 2 years old!

What is your normal workflow for creating a website from start to finish?

Good question. I don’t think my process contains anything out of the ordinary but it usually begins with a lot of questions and good old reliable pen and paper. Once I have enough details and a rough sketch of a design I will move that into an image editor and create wireframes and graphic concepts. After concepts are approved by a client or are something I am happy with personally, I will begin writing out the HTML and setting up the structure of my documents. Past that, I will style out the content with CSS and throw the interaction layer on top using nicely degrading JavaScript.

Where do you find inspiration on the web?

I find the web itself to be very inspirational. The way people can share information; design related or not is amazing. As far as web design related inspiration, CSS galleries and the works of the industry’s top designers are always inspiring. One that stands out lately would be dribbble (http://www.dribbble.com).

The service is invitation only but allows designers to give a peek into what they are working on. They also recently introduced a rebound feature that has added a gaming element into the mix. It’s not only a lot of fun but great for getting inspired and viewing samples of other designers work.

Are there any other designers in the industry producing work that you really admire?

The recent work of Dan Cederholm and the amazing CSS3 articles and work by Andy Clarke deserve the utmost admiration and respect. The quality and high standards along with the rate in which those two produce is outstanding.

Another group of designers that I have had the pleasure of getting to know and admire recently would be the duo from www.KS12.net – A recent creative collaboration (www.postcardsfromberlin.com) has turned into one of those projects that you never want to see end due to the amount of fun it’s been. Oh and the Photoshop files they delivered to have converted to HTML & CSS are something I keep opening again and again just to admire!

How important do you consider web standards to be in modern web design?

Oh man, I am glad you asked! Web standards and standards based design practices are highly important and help to improve the web for everyone involved. In the beginning the movement was established to solve a major problem with the way browsers were competing with each other and causing nothing but major headaches for developers. Having a standardized way to produce code helped to eliminate the problem of having to code multiple versions of websites for different browsers. Just imagine having to do that today with a site that contains thousands of pages! Incorporating web standards guidelines into designs can also help to reduce load time, ease maintainability, improve accessibility and work on a wider range of devices. Those few points would make web standards highly important in modern web design and the benefit to users is the icing on the cake!

Do you have a preferred piece of software to code your websites in?

I use Dreamweaver most of the time. While I wouldn’t call it preferred, maybe familiar is a better term. I am sure I may catch some grief for it, but for the record I have never used the WYSIWYG editor or design view. I use it solely as a text editor but the auto-complete and built in FTP are great additions that help to speed up my workflow. And with the addition of the latest zen coding plug-in, it’s become even a bit faster.

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ‘switch off’ from the internet?

These days – between work, a 2 year old son and my second son being expected any minute now, I have a hard time finding a hobby in the traditional sense of the word.

To switch off for me means it’s time to play with my son, spend time with my very patient wife or fix/prepare something around our place in preparation for the new arrival.

In general though, I am a huge fan of traveling and have had the opportunity to visit many amazing places while living in Europe for the past 5 years.

Finally, do you have any tips for people starting in the industry?

Find the section of web design you are most passionate about and totally immerse yourself in it. In the web design industry things change at such a fast pace – If you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing you will burn out or be left at the back of the pack.

Above all, enjoy it and get to know others in the field. Working solo can sometimes be a lonely situation but from my experience our industry is full of amazing people that are always open and willing to give great advice and interaction.

Thanks for taking part in our interview, Phillip

Links: Pixelflips | Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview with Web Designer, User Interface Guru and Blogger Grace Smith Grace Smith is a designer, self-proclaimed Apple fan-girl and Twitter...
2. Interview with Designer and Blogger Chris Spooner Chris Spooner is a creative designer, avid blogger and is...
3. Interview With Freelance Web Designer Clive Walker Clive Walker is a freelance web designer/developer based in Horsham,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Can you tell us a little bit about Experience Solutions and how you first began?

We specialise in making websites easy to use. Ali Carmichael and myself are the two directors and we met a few years ago when we both worked in a web agency in Bournemouth. He was Head of Project Management and I was Head of User Experience. We felt that my 10 years of experience as a usability engineer combined with his 10 years of web project management were a good mix. Over a few whiskeys in our local pub in Bournemouth we formulated our plan to take over the world…the usability world…well on the South Coast at least.

What kind of services do you provide to your clients?

We offer services that help our clients get closer to their users. Our main offering is usability testing where we recruit target audience users and test websites with them. We’ll work with our client to understand which areas of the site are the most important to their business, which areas they have concerns with, and which areas they have questions about. We’ll draw up a test plan which is designed to give users realistic tasks to perform while we observe and ask questions. Once the research is complete, we’ll work with our client to find solutions to the user experience issues we found.

In addition to usability testing we also provide user experience audits and online usability surveys to understand what changes need to be made to a site. Once we have a list of issues, we’ll work with the client to generate improved user journeys and wireframe key areas of the journeys which need to change. We often generate a prototype of the new site to test again with users until we and the client team are all happy to launch the amended site.

How important is usability testing to get the best results from a website?

If you compare the web industry now to where it was 10 years ago usability testing is everywhere. Back then it was a luxury that most companies saw as useful, but weren’t really convinced. Now, we have agencies coming to us because their clients have demanded usability testing. It shows how far the industry has come and the importance of understanding who you are designing for right from the beginning.

Without usability testing web designers, online marketers, developers, and site owners often guess what their users need. They tend to either design what they would like to use, or mimic what competitor sites do. With usability testing we help remove the guess work, the opinions, and the confusion and help them focus on the areas of the site users struggle with. By removing the user barriers, the website will make users happier, convert better, and generate more business.

What is your normal workflow for creating a website from start to finish?

Whilst we are involved throughout the design process, we don’t do any web design or development work ourselves. Instead, we try to remain impartial and offer the voice of the user in the process.

A full redesign project would usually start with a user requirements capture project to understand what users need from the new site, which competitor sites they use and why, and what’s missing. We’ll then create user profiles (or personas) with the project team to focus on who they are designing for. We’ll then set out the core user journeys to design for and wireframe the key pages. At that point we’ll step out and come back in to test a prototype of the site with users. We then provide ongoing support throughout the development and launch. Once a site is live we provide regular testing which, in combination with web analytics, allows us to focus on key areas to continue to improve conversion rates on the site.

Are there any other designers or agencies in the industry producing work that you really admire?

The other companies in our field that we think are at the top of their game are Ideo, Cooper and adaptive path.

Do you subscribe to any blogs, podcasts or magazines to help stay on top of the web design world?

Yeah we do, but finding the time to read it all is the biggest challenge. Fundamentally what we do is help other people solve user experience issues creatively so it is important for us to keep up with new design work. Smashing magazine is fantastic for this. Like any professional, it’s always good to keep up with what’s going on in your industry so we have a couple of blogs we like to keep on top of like http://www.everydayux.com/ , http://www.usabilitypost.com & http://www.uxmatters.com/

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ‘switch off’ from the internet?

We’re both massive football fans. Unfortunately this doesn’t always help us relax but it does take our mind off work. Ali is a Liverpool fan and I’m a Chelsea fan so you can imagine that there are some tense moments between us. Ali plays and manages his Sunday team while I prefer to get a little less cold and muddy by playing Fifa 10 on my Xbox 360.

Finally, do you have any tips for people starting in the industry?

I think the only advice really worth listening to when it comes to starting a career is to keep an open mind, try lots of different approaches, find what you really enjoy and do more of that. Specialising in a field you get a kick out of is the best way to earn a living.

Links: Experience Solutions | Twitter

Thanks for giving us an insight in to usability testing and Exerience Solutions, Damian

Related posts:

1. Interview with Neil Dennis of Strawberrysoup Strawberrysoup are a creative web design agency with offices in...
2. Interview with Dan Hinton, Creative Director at Pixelfish Dan Hinton is Creative Director at Pixelfish who specialise in...
3. Interview with Web Designer, User Interface Guru and Blogger Grace Smith Grace Smith is a designer, self-proclaimed Apple fan-girl and Twitter...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Earlier this week Luke interviewed me for his website so I thought I’d return the favour and ask him a few questions for our readers to learn more about him and his work!

Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into freelancing?

Before I started freelancing, I was at uni, and paying my bills from playing online poker. I had already run an online shop for a couple of years, and I thought I had plenty of knowledge about websites, so I decided to try and diversify my income and sell some websites.

I got my first clients through an ad on ebay (which proved to be hugely successful when I was starting out), and through direct mail + a follow up call.

Do you consider yourself to be mainly a designer or developer (or a bit of both?)

I’d say a little bit of both. My uni course was in business, so I don’t have any formal education in either.

Looking back at my work from 2007, it was pretty bad from a design perspective, and I’ve improved a lot since then. I still wouldn’t say I’m a good designer though, especially compared to the amount of really talented designers that are out there.

My development skills are kind of the same. I’m good at what I need to be good at, but there are loads of developers that are much better than me.

My strength really comes from being really good at figuring out what a client wants, and putting a plan together to achieve it, and using whatever resources I can get to make it happen.

What is your normal workflow for creating a website from start to finish?

I think my workflow is pretty standard

• Project definition
• Wireframe
• Visual design
• PSD -> html/css
• Develop any features
• Flesh out content
• Testing
• Launch
• Marketing

Of those, I’d say project definition is the most important step.

I like to spend a lot of time with clients before doing any work. In some instances up to 3 meetings before getting started. It gets the client in the right mind, and I find it speeds up the rest of the process. Good planning prevents annoying changes.

Where do you find inspiration on the web?

For design stuff mostly DeviantArt. I am a bit embarrassed to admit it but sometimes I check out some of the expensive design contests on 99designs to see what’s happening there. I also have a few web designers that I absolutely love.

Since I outsource a fair chunk of design work, I find myself keeping up with trends from hiring designers that are better than me.

Are there any other designers in the industry producing work that you really admire?

Yeah I really love some of the work from http://www.pixel-house.com.au/. That style really appeals to me. Something about the way they use images and still keep everything so pristinely clean really attracts me.

Even though he isn’t a designer, I also really admire Brendon Sinclair (http://www.tailored.com.au). While not the most politically correct guy, his writing and books have helped me out a lot.

Can you tell us about your blog 6 Figure Freelancing?

Yeah sure. It’s a blog I’ve very recently started. I like to think of it as an analytical, theoretical and sometimes a practical blog, and the idea behind it is to examine freelancing from a business perspective.

I feel a lot of freelancers are creative types first, and business people second. While that’s probably a good thing in a lot of cases, my guess is that most of the time, being a business person first makes more money.

A lot of creative types don’t care so much about the money, and that’s a fair point. But I do. It’s funner for me to make a big sale than an awesome design.

My hope is that through my short, frequent, and usually analytical posts on the blog, my way of thinking about things can help other people think about making more money from freelancing.

At the same time, I’m gradually building up some templates, documents and other very practical things for freelancers starting out. Like one post I wrote about the wording of my emails where I follow up payment, and another I wrote about some of the terms in my proposals. These practical things are for freelancers who are just starting out and haven’t yet organised their business systems.

From your experience of running 6 Figure Freelancing can you tell us what you think makes a good blog article?

I don’t think I’m really qualified to answer that question. My blog is really new and still quite small. Maybe you can ask me in a year

From a readers perspective, I like reading articles that open my eyes to new ideas, or new perspectives.

How did you get involved with the Freelance Total app?

Sure. For those that aren’t aware, Freelance Total is a business management application for (as the name suggests), freelancers.

Freelance Total, I think like a lot of apps of this type, started off as a stick to scratch my own itch. At the time, I was getting someone else to send out invoices and do follow ups for me. It was a complete mess. The average time it took to get paid was woeful. I was missing leads because I was forgetting to follow up, and I was using some project management software that made projects take longer to manage than actually do.

I realised that if I wanted to grow as a freelancer, I had to sort out the basics first. A strong and stable base for my business would free up more time to focus on growth.

I founded Freelance Total and built the first version myself, and have since partnered with a couple of others so we can bring out more features.

The idea behind it is to make it as flexible as possible, while still creating strong systems.

What advantages does you app offer to freelancers?

The mindset I talked about earlier – coming at freelancing from a business perspective with the goal of maximising profits, is something that I think is unique to Freelance Total.
Many apps focus so features like time tracking and invoicing. While freelance total has those things, it focuses on things that appeal to a more profit oriented individual. For example, recurring invoices, a sales pipeline, and streamlining the freelancing process from initial contact to final payment.

It mimics some of the freedoms you get in apps like Basecamp and Backpack, and brings them into a more structured system like you would find in Freshbooks. I think that’s a very unique thing for an application like this. And our feature plan for the future drives the application further in both those directions at once.

Freelance Total is not about any one individual function. It’s not just about projects like Basecamp is. It’s not just about sales like Salesforce is. It’s not just about invoicing like Freshbooks is. It’s about including the features that freelancers use, and presenting them in a flexible and fun way.

Thanks for the interview, Luke!

Related posts:

1. Making The Decision To Start Freelancing Freelance web design is becoming a successful business for many...
2. Interview with Freelance Web Designer Jan Cavan Jan Cavan is a web/graphic designer, illustrator, blogger, geek, the...
3. Interview With Freelance Web Designer Clive Walker Clive Walker is a freelance web designer/developer based in Horsham,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into the web design and development industry?

I did my first sort-of-programming at Uni – I studied Oceanography but we used a piece of software called Matlab that it has it’s own programming language for sorting and visualising large data sets. That gave me a taste for the development side of things I guess. After Uni I started teaching myself how to make websites whilst I was working at a windsurf centre in Egypt – don’t ask me why, I just wanted to do something constructive in the evenings and somehow I stumbled onto making websites! A mobile dialup connection in the middle of nowhere made it more painful than it needed to be – but I didn’t know much else so it seemed ok at the time.

After that I co-founded a small non-profit organisation called the EcoSurf Project and became it’s ‘webmaster’, creating and managing the main site, online store and a few mini sites. We won an award for our work but couldn’t figure out how to make it pay the bills so eventually we had to close it down. As there were more opportunities for web designers/developers than Oceanographers around I started looking for agency work and got into the industry properly then.

Do you consider yourself to be mainly a designer or developer (or a bit of both?)

I think I am definitely more of a developer – I love the problem solving aspect of writing code, and (contrary to what a lot of non-developers think) I believe that writing good code requires a good dose of creativity as well.

I currently do a lot of backend development (mostly PHP/MySQL), although JavaScript and frontend development is really my one true love!

I do love the design side of things, but I always feel a bit inadequate without any formal design training, and whilst I think I have a reasonable eye for layouts I’m definitely not a talented designer by any stretch of the imagination. However, I believe some understanding of basic design principles is crucial to good frontend development work and I have tried to educate myself a little on grid layouts, colour theory, typography etc as I have gone along.

Are you currently working full time or freelance? Which do you prefer?

I’m currently freelancing, trading under the name of Medium. I’ve only just taken the plunge full time into freelancing so I’m still finding my feet with it all a little!

What is your normal workflow for creating a website from start to finish?

The first thing I will try and do is to work with the client to get a loose first version of the sitemap together. Even if this changes a bit later on I find it really useful to have at least a rough overview of the structure of the site before starting any design or development work.

Then I will often have a good browse through sites like Ember or some of the CSS galleries to get some general ideas and inspiration. I’ll also tend to use sites like Kuler or ColorSchemer to help me try and put together a nice palette for the site. When I’m done with that I’ll start with sketching out lots of little thumbnails of layout ideas until I find something that I think will be suitable for the site I’m working on. I will probably then sketch out one or two larger versions of the layout until I have crystallised the idea in my head. None of these are meant for client consumption – they are just very quick sketches for my own benefit.

Next step would be putting together a rough wireframe for the client, including the basic building blocks and IA ideas for the site. This might be done using something like Omnigraffle, but more and more I am doing rough HTML wireframes/prototypes early on as I find the client engages much better with them when they can actually interact with the prototype. If the site will need a CMS I frequently hook the wireframe up to the CMS we’ll be using to make things easy to move around and to put in dummy content, and later just update the templates when the design has been done.

Once the wireframe has been signed off, I’ll pick up Photoshop and start putting together the design. Once the key pages of the site have been signed off I will start turning the design into HTML/CSS/JS templates, fleshing out the other pages as I go. I rarely design everypage as a flat visual – mostly I will do two or three pages at most and then put the others together as I go along.

If the site has any complex functionality I will generally be working on this whenever something is with the client for feedback – that way by the time the design is finally signed off I will often have got a fair way through the development side which speeds things up a little.

Once all the templates are done, I’ll hook them up to the CMS (if required) before doing the bulk of my cross browser testing (I primarily develop in Firefox) so I can see how things will work when there is some real content in there and if things are affected by any CMS quirks that there may be. And then it’s off to the client for approval, although I will often have a working dev site up for them to check and feed back on as I go along so there are no nasty surprises at the end!

Where do you find inspiration on the web?

Well, as I mentioned above I find sites like Ember and one or two of the CSS galleries like Design Shack useful for keeping up with current web trends and ideas. Design pattern collections like those at PatternTap and Chris Messina’s Design Patterns Flickr collection are also really useful sources of ideas and best-practice solutions to common problems.

I’m always looking for more off-line inspiration, and certainly looking through print design books and magazines with one eye on how the ideas in them could translate to the web is something I have found useful in the past.

Are there any other designers in the industry producing work that you really admire?

There are plenty! I love the work done by Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain at 31three, Jason Santa Maria, Tim Van Damme, Douglas Bowman and by agencies such as Happy Cog and Clearleft – to be honest there are to many to mention here but those are a few that spring to mind immediately.

Do you subscribe to any blogs, podcasts or magazines to help stay on top of the web design world?

Yes indeed – I have far too many RSS feeds in my reader to list here! I don’t really read any magazines regularly anymore, but I do listen to a lot of podcasts like Boagworld, Shot of Jaq, yayquery amongst many others (including most of the shows on the Twit Network – but they are more tech than web really).

Do you have a particular web design conference or event that you never miss?

Well I’ve been to dConstruct for the last two years running, and really enjoyed it. I was gutted not to be able to go to the Full Frontal JS conference last year and will definitely be booking into that one for 2010. I’d love to go to more to be honest but if you need to travel to them the costs soon add up – and with two little daughters I’ve got a lot of mouths to feed!

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ‘switch off’ from the internet?

I do a fair bit of medium to long distance running, a bit of windsurfing and I also love doing a bit of cooking when I get the chance – although out of all of them running is really the best way to clear out my head after a long day in front of the computer. And of course playing with my kids is a great way to get back a bit of perspective on the world.

Finally, do you have any tips for people starting in the industry?

Don’t cut corners. Write code by hand, take the time to learn not just how things work but also why, and make sure you pay attention to all the little details as it’s these that separate good developers (and websites!) from the really great ones.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Mark!

Links: Mark’s Blog | Work | Twitter

Related posts:

1. Interview With Freelance Web Designer Clive Walker Clive Walker is a freelance web designer/developer based in Horsham,...
2. Interview with Front End Developer Anna Debenham We've interviewed Anna Debenham, a talented front end developer and...
3. Interview with Web Developer Rob Hawkes Rob Hawkes is a web developer and is currently studying...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.