Links: Pixelfish | Twitter | Facebook

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

Projekt 19 | Inspiredology | twitter.com/chadmueller

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

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

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

Links: Pixelflips | Twitter

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

Links: Experience Solutions | Twitter

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

Links: 6 Figure Freelancing | Freelance Total| Twitter

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!

Links: Mark’s Blog | Work | Twitter

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

http://www.dawghousedesignstudio.com | http://twitter.com/mj12982

Hi Jan. Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself please?

I’m Jan Cavan, a freelance web and graphic designer who runs Dawghouse Design Studio, a design blog offering free tutorials and resources to the design community.

What made you want to start freelancing in the first place?

I’ve always wanted to freelance full time. I loved the idea of having the freedom and flexibility of being your own boss and having some work/life balance, however, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical at first as I understood how, when freelancing full time, there can be times when work seems scarce and all you have are nothing but inquiries. It took me months trying to weigh things out and I was never really able to make that decision until there were some intolerable circumstances that happened in my corporate job that frustrated me and just made me decide to quit. In hindsight, it may have been a mistake to quit my job without doing much preparation, but I could definitely say now that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

I thought then that when deciding to quit your full time job to go freelancing full time and money is one of the deciding factors, full time employment usually outweighs the other but I’ve realized now that that isn’t always the case.

How have you found the first few months as a freelancer?

Luckily, I never had a tough time during my first few months. I redesigned and launched my online portfolio/blog last year and I’m very happy that it was well received by the public. My site had been featured on several design blogs and printed publications which strengthened my web presence and had certainly made it easier for me to transition from having a full time job to freelancing full time as I didn’t really have to scour the web just to find work. However, I did have to learn how to do other stuff such as negotiating with potential clients, writing my own contracts, bookkeeping and a whole lot more but it’s been an enjoyable learning process.

What methods have you used to gain new clients in the early months?

I never really thought of coming up with any special method to gain new clients during my first few months of full time freelancing. Redesigning and launching my blog the previous year improved my web presence and that was the only thing that helped me get started.

Moving forward, I started to write tutorials for Six Revisions and other well-known design blogs. That helped me gain more exposure and more new clients as well.

How has social networking helped you start up your freelancing business?

Social Networking definitely aids in getting your name out there and helps you find new business leads without costing you lots of money. For instance, the first two tutorials I wrote for Six Revisions landed on the front page of Digg and that got me booked for projects in the coming months. I also got to work with clients who found me on Twitter and Facebook.

I really love the hand-drawn illustrations on your website! How would you describe your style of design?

Thanks, Phil! Although I always enjoy exploring other styles of design, I’ve always been fond of the grunge style.

What would your ideal client be like?

As much as I’d like to be flexible when it comes to dealing with different kinds of people, it’s always great to be working with people who have a fairly good idea of what they want. That usually helps them provide clearer instructions, thus, helping the designer understand which direction to go and makes the collaboration easier.

On another note, I’ve had one client who kept sending me many different emails, all with no subject. I’d have to say that was one thing I’m not very fond of.

What are your business plans for 2010?

I’d really like to devote more time on blogging and be able to take my blog to the next level.

Are there any other designers or agencies producing work that you admire?

I really love the works of Michael Heald of Fully Illustrated. He’s a really talented guy and never ceases to amaze me with his work. Another designer I admire is Chris Spooner. He’s a really nice guy and really talented as well. He’s one of the designers who inspired me to start blogging.

What one piece of advice would you give to people who are considering freelancing?

I would recommend them to not quit their full time jobs until they are ready to make that final jump. Full time freelancing isn’t as easy as it seems. It requires a lot of work and discipline. When you decide to go freelancing full time, bear in mind that you are not just a designer this time around. You are also now a project manager, salesperson, bookkeeper, tech support guy, secretary, etc. and you have to be ready to take on those jobs as well. While fully employed, begin building a small client base you can start off with and try creating a stronger web presence at the same time. This will help get you a nice security net while starting out and help get yourself ready to make that big switch.

Thanks for a great interview, Jan!

http://www.dawghousedesignstudio.com | http://twitter.com/mj12982

Blog.SpoonGraphics | Line25 | twitter.com/ChrisSpooner

Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into the world of design?

I’ve basically always wanted to be a designer, right from a fairly young age. I’m not exactly sure where the career idea came from! I went through school, college and University focusing on art and design subjects and eventually landed myself my first job as a designer at a local Graphic/Web Design studio straight after graduation. Along the way my idea of the type of design I fancied concentrating on did change slightly. Originally it was the idea of designing posters and book covers that caught my interest, then during my later education I became more interested in 3D design, before finding a passion in website design, logo design and illustration.

I still enjoy experimenting in new areas, and the knowledge of print design, web design, branding and illustration all combines to add variety to my working days!

What made you first want to start blogging and writing tutorials?

I learnt loads of handy tips and techniques by following tutorials in my early design days, and have actually found them extremely handy since. I pretty much learnt my whole XHTML and CSS knowledge, as well as my semi-basic jQuery knowledge entirely from free articles, tutorials and advice offered online. Knowing how much I’ve benefited from such tutorials gives me the incentive to offer my advice and share what I know to hopefully help others out in the same way.

Blogging wise, I remember enjoying reading topics on sites such as Bittbox and Smashing Magazine, and saw the odd design blog spring up at the time, most of which were based on the Wordpress platform. I simply jumped on the bandwagon and gave it a go as an excuse to experiment with Wordpress and give myself a playground to test out new techniques.

In your opinion, what makes a good design tutorial?

Any tutorial that shows you how to achieve a certain goal is a good tutorial. Sometimes this might be a huge website design walkthrough from sketches to coded concept, or it might just focus on a specific area, like how to add a background image in CSS. Each one will always offer something new to a reader and help someone out in some way.

Tutorials that use plenty of images are generally better. After all, we’re in the design industry so plenty of visual cues are always handy! A picture speaks a thousand words, so a screenshot of an options screen is much easier to follow than a three paragraph description!

Otherwise, writing about something that hasn’t otherwise been covered, or isn’t a popular topic always goes down well. I think my Illustrator tutorials helped develop my blog’s exposure as there was never many of them around. So it quickly became one of the popular destinations for that particular subject.

You’ve recently moved house which can be a chaotic time! Was it difficult to fit in client work and your blogging around this?

It was a little bit of a squeeze, but luckily I didn’t have any projects with pressing deadlines, and I’d been avoiding taking on too much work beforehand. Most of the work I had on at the time was pretty open ended, and in the slower middle stages of the project. This allowed me to work off a few jobs and fire out a few emails then spend the rest of the day painting, decorating and shifting boxes. I soon managed to setup my laptop in a corner and keep things up to date.

I also powered out a schedule of blog posts for the whole month before the move, so I didn’t have to worry about writing a new article every week. That’s the great thing about blogging – You can spend a whole day writing topics and set the post to go live according to the weekly schedule, then relax for a while!

I’ve really enjoyed your recent video blog series. What has the feedback been like and do you plan to continue them?

Thanks! It’s great to hear people have taken an interest. It has been excellent recording the process of decorating the house, both for nostalgic reasons and for family local and abroad to gain an insight into what we’re up to. The feedback from fellow designer people has been great, and I’ll definitely keep them up. I’m actually thinking of creating some design related content for my blog in video format.

Your Adobe Illustrator “Purple Lemon” logo tutorial first introduced me to your blog way back in 2007. Apart from logo design, what other things do you use Adobe Illustrator for?

I remember the Purple Lemon logo gaining quite a bit of exposure for the blog, and links back into the point mentioned earlier about creating a tutorial that will help people out. Other logo tutorials at the time only focused on creating the visual graphic, whereas I wrote about the theory of logo design and pointers like making a logo that will work in a single colour. This extra info seemed to help people out and helped grow the blog.

Other than logo design, I use Illustrator for character creations, small print jobs such as business cards and leaflets and generally for random design stuff. There’s a range of shapes and effects that can be created in Illustrator, so I’ll often switch in and out of Illustrator and Photoshop depending on the nature of the project.

One of my favourite logos from 2009 was your Vivid Ways design and it was very interesting to read about the design process on your blog. Can you tell us a bit about the logo and the idea behind sharing the design process?

The Vivid Ways logo was a great example of the types of projects I enjoy – I had creative freedom on the job so I could really go to town and treat it as a project of my own. Scott from Vivid Ways and Jon from SpyreStudios also gave great feedback and were really happy with the design. Scott mentioned it captured everything he could have wished for in the design, so it was a job well done!

I’ll often put my favourite work in my design portfolio, and every now and again I’ll write a design process post for the blog. These posts tend to receive great feedback from readers as it gives an insight into how a design is developed from start to finish, as well as an overview of how the actual design was made. It also helps generate the extra bit of exposure! The post helps associate that particular style of design with my name, so it helped bring in a couple of jobs that had similar requirements.

It definitely seemed to do a good job of associating it with my name because when the Google Wave logo was released, I spotted a few comments on various websites saying ‘This looks like the Vivid Ways logo by Chris Spooner!’. I’m just glad I got mine in first!

Are there any logos or websites that have really caught your eye this year?

One web design blog I subscribed to earlier in the year is Build Internet. The guys have done a great job growing it with some fab content so far. Design wise, most of the website designs that have caught my eye have appeared in my Sites of the Week roundup on Line25.com. This series has been a great way of tracking my inspiration, and keeping an eye on new trends or styles.

What plans to you have for Blog.SpoonGraphics and Line25.com for 2010?

I’m planning on continuing to post new content each week in the form of a tutorial, an article or some kind of inspirational post. I have a design refresh planned for both sites, with Blog.SpoonGraphics being the first to see a new skin. I’ll be rebuilding the themes from scratch to give it a general update and introduce a couple of new features.

For Blog.SpoonGraphics I’m also currently contemplating a membership system, similar to a couple of other design tutorial related sites. Here I’d post some premium content, some discounts for some top design related products and services, and treat the members to some giveaways.

Your Line25.com ‘Sites of the Week’ feature is a wonderful source of inspiration. What RSS feeds or magazines do you subscribe to get inspired?

I have a feed reader packed full of a bunch of design feeds. Many of them are the usual big design sites, but I’m always adding new subscriptions. I tend to enjoy browsing the news aggregating sites such as DesignBump, DesignM.ag and CSSGlobe. All three can lead on to interesting posts and articles outside of my usual circle of feeds, and help me discover new and interesting blogs.

What hobbies do you have and do they help you ’switch off’ from designing and blogging?

Laura and I usually head off to the Cinema or the Gym in the evening. Otherwise we enjoy the odd day of adventure, often at the theme park! I have a couple of items on my wishlist for 2010, one of which is to take my motorcycle test and treat myself to a bike of some kind.

I’ve also been on an annual skiing trip the past two years with friends, so I’m currently trying to arrange a repeat venture for this year. This time my camcorder will be coming along, so keep an eye out on ChrisSpooner.com in the new year!

Finally, do you have any tips for people who want to start writing tutorials?

Don’t be afraid of giving away all your secrets, or thinking that if you show people how to do stuff for free you’ll never generate any paid client work. The effect is actually the opposite. Your tutorials help associate your name with the subject your talking about, and helps set you up as an expert. The tutorials on my blog soon generated more exposure and leads than my design portfolio, to the point that if on Monday I wrote a tutorial on how to design a skate deck, on Tuesday I’d have the opportunity to take on a skate deck design project. This is actually how I landed a job creating some merchandise for the band Fall Out Boy; that lead came directly from a related post on my blog.

With all this in mind the best tip I’d offer is to use tutorials as an incentive to try out new techniques yourself, then share your knowledge with others.

Thank you for a great interview, Chris. Wishing you all the best in your new home!

Blog.SpoonGraphics | Line25 | twitter.com/ChrisSpooner

www.rawkes.com | www.twitter.com/robhawkes

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

My interest in web design started at a fairly early age. I was about 12 years old when I got the urge to create an area online where I could share tips for a hobby of mine. At the time I had no idea what web design was but it still didn’t take me long to set up a Geocities account and have a few basic pages online for the whole world to see. From this moment on I was fascinated by the ability to put something on the internet and my OCD-like interest in how things work took over. By the age of 13 I had bought my first book on HTML and could write a website by hand without any reference. Even though HTML is a miniscule part of my current skill-set I still see that first website and book as a defining factor in where I am today.

Over the following years I played with HTML and Photoshop day in day out and by the time I was 15 I had dabbled in PHP and got my first freelance job. This was the moment I decided that being paid for doing your hobby was pretty awesome. From then on I continued learning in my own time, from books and the internet, and slowly built up my skills. It was only when I was 19 that I actually went into the industry as a full-time web designer. Needless to say that job didn’t go entirely to plan as I’m now at university, but since then I dabbled in freelance for a year and most recently I spent 4 weeks at Redweb, the #1 digital agency in the South West according to the New Media Awards.

Do you consider yourself to be mainly a designer or developer?

If you asked me this question a few years ago I would have definitely said a designer. Back then I was into product design and always put form over function. I was an aesthetics guy. Shortly after that brief moment of insanity I discovered that development was more my scene. The main attribute of development that drew me in was the whole problem solving and instant gratification of programming. Whether it was a simple bit of jQuery or a massive PHP backend, the act of coding always pushed the right buttons.

Today I focus primarily on web programming (PHP, JavaScript, ActionScript, HAML/SASS), although recently my skills have been slowly bleeding into the desktop and mobile platforms (5 points for guessing which platform). Don’t get me wrong though, I still design, I just don’t get the same satisfaction from it as I do with code. If anything I find design slightly boring now, something that has to be done rather than being motivated by the simple act of doing it.

Another aspect of development that I love is the fact it’s a constantly changing world; there are always new programming languages and techniques around the corner. Development, to me, seems a much more volatile and interesting beast. With design things tend to go round in circles with trends and the like; which I find incredibly dull at times.

Is there a particular CMS your prefer to use?

Habit would bring me to say WordPress, but for a true CMS requirement I’d have to say ExpressionEngine. I’ve only recently delved into EE for the new Rawkes but what I’ve seen so far with the built-in functionality has blown me away, particularly with the whole ‘weblog’ stuff. I can’t see myself moving from EE for a site that requires anything more than a blog, especially considering that there is a major upgrade to EE just round the corner that brings CodeIgniter to the table. I do have to say that if I was to need a simple blog set up I would reach for WordPress, no questions asked. It does its job well, enough said really.

Your new website redesign seems to be coming along nicely. Will this new site see a change in direction for rawkes.com?

Completely. The new Rawkes is going to see a shift of focus from freelancing to blogging and experimentation. When the old site was created I was freelancing at the time and needed a platform to advertise my services so I could bring in the money. Since then I’ve become a student (again) and my priorities have shifted so much that I simply don’t have the time to freelance anymore. With this in mind it made sense for me to give Rawkes a big change of scene and let it focus on my blogging and experimentation. Hopefully this new platform will give me some space to try out new technologies and learn new things as I blog about them. Ideally I’d see Rawkes adding a hub full of open-source projects I’ll be working on over the coming years, but we’ll see how that one pans out.

As for the design, that has changed a lot as well. The old site took me over 3 months to produce at near full-time devotion to it. I put a lot of effort in and would like to say that it was the best I could achieve back then. The same can be said of the new Rawkes; I’ve kept the same theme but brought it into line with where I am today with my new skills and knowledge, hopefully for the better. You’ll find that it doesn’t support IE6 anymore and utilises technologies like HTML 5, CSS 3, <canvas> and a bunch of other stuff. I decided to make it my playground really, a place where I can really go all out with these new spangly buzzwords.

Could you tell us about the time you spent with Redweb this summer. What kind of things did you learn from your time with them?

The month I spent at Redweb was amazing, there is such a great atmosphere there. I was placed in the Innovation Department, an area of the company that basically keeps 1 step ahead, looking at future technologies and how they can be used today. During my time there I got to learn about things like augmented reality although my main focus was really on <canvas> and HTML 5.

Being given the freedom to explore HTML 5 and <canvas> was a great experience and instantly expanded my skill-set. Even though I had touched those technologies in the past, I would probably have never given myself the time to properly get to grips with them, particularly with the JavaScript side to things.

How do you see the <canvas> element being utilised in the future?

Working with <canvas> has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of JavaScript with new browsers like Safari 4, Firefox 3.5 and Google Chrome. Having a fully featured drawing platform built right into the browser is going to change a lot of things in the future. In particular I’m most interested in seeing how <canvas> stacks up as a replacement for Flash. Obviously there are limitations that only Flash can address but there are plenty of opportunities where <canvas> would be more than satisfactory; with data visualisation for example.

The most important thing I discovered during my work is that <canvas> can’t do everything on it’s own, you need to look at it as a starting point. What’s great is that because it’s controlled via JavaScript it can be extended with ease. You could add a basic animation engine with not much more than a timeout function and some imagination. This is what will make <canvas> worth keeping an eye on, not what it does out of the box.

Where do you find inspiration on the web?

Inspiration is a tough one to pin down, I just seem to come across it without any particular method. I used to traverse all the regular CSS galleries but I found over time that it all got a bit samey and kept pulling me back into current trends. If anything I get most of my inspiration from people talking on Twitter about new websites and software, it’s certainly a lot easier when other people are doing the legwork for you!

When I do find inspiring work I don’t hang around, it’s bookmarked into delicious and saved onto my Mac via LittleSnapper in no time. I like to know that when the time comes I’ll have a little repository of inspiring stuff waiting for me to sift through.

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

I admire a lot of people in the industry for a variety of different reasons. Most of the people I like are great speakers and are just generally inspiring to watch and listen to. One person in particular that fits into this category is Daniel Burka, I saw him at dConstruct one year and was left inspired by his approach to design.

As for general admiration, these people certainly fit into the category:

• Dan Cederholm
• Jonathan Hicks
• Veerle
• Jer Thorpe
• Tim Van Damme
• Mark Jardine

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

I used to have an RSS subscription list as long as my arm but I found it just became too much of a distraction. Now I use Fever and keep my subscriptions to a healthy minimum (still lots though), I find using a web based feed reader stops me wasting so much time on them.

Smashing Magazine always seems to find its way into my life, although I’m starting to go off it now it’s turning into a big list blog. A List Apart is one publication that I will always have time for, its in-depth articles on interesting topics are fascinating. As for magazines, .net is definitely my weapon of choice. It sometimes is a little boring but it’s a good read regardless.

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

To be honest I don’t have many hobbies that don’t involve the internet and computing, it’s my life! I suppose I could class photography as offline, I do like going out and about taking photos of interesting things. Apart from that I keep myself busy with uni work which is actually a pretty good method of switching off from the internet, especially when writing essays. It’s all pointless anyway as I have an iPhone which keeps me connected to the internet 24/7. Good times!

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

I’ll keep this one brief as I could talk about it forever but here are my 3 main tips for starting out:

• Perseverance – accept that you’ll make mistakes
• Focus – aim for something while learning new things
• Motivation – you need to have drive to get anywhere

To put it bluntly I wouldn’t bother trying to get into the web industry if you don’t have any of those qualities, it wouldn’t be fair on you. The web, and media as a whole, is a tough industry to crack and you’ll need motivation to push yourself through the slow times. On the bright side it’s an amazing industry to be part of and the rewards for the hard work make it well worth while.

Thanks so much for the interview Rob. Good luck with your degree!

www.rawkes.com | www.twitter.com/robhawkes