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

Vibricons Volume 1

I started designing these icons for personal projects but I’ve decided to release them for you to use for your own personal or commercial projects. I hope you find them useful!

This first volume features 15 popular types of icons and symbols using vibrant and bold colours. I have started planning the second volume so if there are any types of icon you’d like to see in future versions please leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to include them.

Licence

These icons are released free of charge for both personal or commercial purposes and can be used without attribution. The icons cannot be resold or repackaged in any way.

Download

Please click the link below to download a ZIP file (60 x PNG files, preview image and readme file) – 485kb

Vibricons – 15 Free Vibrant PNG Icons

Heart Internet recently got in touch with me to help get as many talented designers as possible to enter their brand new design competition. I fondly remember entering this competition last year and it was a lot of fun having the chance to create a concept advert for a big brand like Heart Internet. The eventual winner of the 2009 competition was David Baker who designed a superb advert mixing photography, imagery and Heart Internet’s brand colours.

Following on from the success of last year’s competition they are looking for another designer to create a brand new magazine advert for them and win £2,000 worth of prizes. As well as winning a 27” iMac, a 32GB iPod Touch, free Reseller hosting for a year and a free domain name the winning design will be also used in a national magazine.

The competition is open to any designer, Heart Internet customer or not, and closes 15th August.

For more information and to enter visit their website:  http://www.heartinternet.co.uk/designcompetition/

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

This guest article has been contributed by our friends at PeoplePerHour

Being Your Own Boss

A lot has to be said for rolling out of bed in the morning to a leisurely cup of tea before taking a short stroll to the office in the spare room. It certainly beats the daily grind of gridlocked traffic and chasing that elusive parking space. And the extra time saved can be ploughed straight back into your business or used for well earned relaxation: the time is all yours; the choice is all yours.

Being your own boss means you can tailor your workload around your other commitments, whether that involves a young family, a busy social calendar or studying for a university degree. Being your own boss creates the perfect opportunity to dictate your personal work-life balance. As freelance web designer, Phillip Lovelace stated in an interview in March 2010, “I do prefer being able to set my own hours”.

Creativity

It isn’t just the practical issues that appeal to would be freelance web designers; it is often the creative elements. Many want to break free of bureaucracies that flourish all too often in regular employment. But more than this, freelancers aspire to do their own thing. How much better it is to be rewarded with praise for a good job done and be empowered to see that job through from beginning to end. Working for yourself enables you to achieve just that, or sub-contract out the parts you don’t particularly enjoy yourself.

The overriding seller for many freelance web designers is being able to create without intrusion, without your boss pulling the plug on your project and ultimately being empowered to complete the transference of the image in your head to the blank web page you are designing. As blogger and freelance web designer, Luke van de Paverd attested in an interview in February 2010, “I feel a lot of freelancers are creative types first and business people second”.

For other freelance web designers, the motivation comes from a combination of creativity and work-life balance. It simply enables you to take complete control over all aspects of your life.

Risks

So if going freelance is so wonderful, why doesn’t everybody take the plunge? For many of us, going it alone is a pretty frightening thought.

Suddenly there is no-one to turn to if you have a problem. There is a deadline looming with no respect for the fact that you have the flu. There are piles of administrative chores to face from writing contracts to chasing payment, from bookkeeping to filing self assessment tax forms.

Despite the glamour of freelance, the tedious elements are unavoidable. Just as a business has to work hard to succeed, so does a freelancer web designer. But if you are prepared to put in the groundwork and are not above tackling the more menial stuff, freelancing can work for you. Perhaps most importantly, whilst clients will have deadlines and specific requirements, the strategic agenda is yours and no-one else’s.

Further Reading

It can be a daunting decision to take the leap in to the freelance world. Luckily, there are many articles and resources written by freelancers who have taken the risk and are prepared to share they advice. Be sure to bookmark and read the following articles:

• Start Your Own Business by Mark Boulton (essential reading!)
• Starting a Business series from John O’Nolan
• Organise and Manage Your Freelance Business from The Design Cubicle
• Become a One Man Web Agency from .net
• Contract Killer by Andy Clarke
• Invoice Like a Pro by Smashing Magazine
• Estimating Time For Web Projects More Accurately Part1 and Part 2 by Sam Barnes
• 10 Excellent Tips For Designers to Improve Their Income by Web Design Depot

The photos from this article are from Shutterstock

You can find out more information at http://www.shutterstock.com

When it comes to using photos on websites, we all know about copyright issues – or do we?  If you’re not sure of the pitfalls, check out these pointers from Shutterstock, an innovative global e-commerce company and a leading provider of stock photos, illustrations, and footage.

1. Get Permission

The most common mistake people make is using images they find online without obtaining proper permission. This can land you in serious trouble. The legal option is to buy from a royalty-free image library.

2. Model Release Forms

If you plan to use images of people on a commercial site, you need a model release form – even if you have taken the photos yourself!. Photos containing people sourced from Shutterstock already have the necessary model releases in place, so you can use the images without worry that a model might make a claim.

3. Check the Terms

Check the image agency’s Terms of Usage and the different types of licences. For example, most royalty-free stock images cannot be used in conjunction with unlawful or immoral content.

4. What Type of Licence?

Most stock agencies offer two or more licences differentiated by the scope of permitted uses. This means that if you intend to use a stock image to sell or promote a product with high distribution (such as a CD cover that would be reproduced in excess of 250,000 copies), you first need a licence that allows for this higher volume. This is to ensure that the photographer or artist who created the image is properly compensated.

5. Editorial Use Only

Another common mistake is confusion between ‘editorial’ and ‘commercial’ images.  Images labeled ‘Editorial Use Only’ cannot be used for commercial purposes – i.e. the image can only be used to illustrate a news-related story. It cannot be used to sell or promote a product, service or idea, which rules out most websites.

6. Logos and Trademarks

Royalty-free images cannot be used as part of a ‘branding’ campaign: they cannot be incorporated into logos or trademarks.

More Information

With images playing such an important role in web design, it’s well worth looking at Shutterstock’s 25-A-Day subscription which lets you choose from millions of photographs, illustrations and vectors for a flat rate. You might never worry about images again.

All images in this blog post have been sourced from Shutterstock’s library of images.

You can find out more information at http://www.shutterstock.com

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

To be in with a chance of winning one of the copies simply leaving a comment below or send an e-mail to phil@thewebdesignblog.co.uk

Please note: Unfortunately this competition is only available to UK residents, please accept our apologies if you are outside of the UK.

I use Expression Web as my main editor on my PC for HTML and CSS coding. The interface is clean, intuitive, extremely quick to work with and supports multiple schemas.  The particular highlights of Expression Web for myself are the superb FTP manager which allows you to quickly connect to different sites to make edits (very handy for maintaining multiple client websites) and the “Super Preview” which lets you check your website in different web browsers (including multiple versions of Internet Explorer)

If you use a PC to write HTML and CSS code I strongly recommend you download a 60 day trial of Expression Web at http://www.microsoft.com/expression/ and try it out for yourself.

Competition

The competition is for one of two licences for the complete Expression Studio 3 suite including all 5 of these elements:

• Expression Web
• Expression Blend™
• SketchFlow
• Expression Design
• Expression Encoder 3

To be in with a chance of winning one of the answers simply leaving a comment below or e-mailing phil@thewebdesignblog.co.uk

The competition runs until the 30th May 2010

The two winners will be chosen at random by www.wearesocial.net who will send the product to the winner within a week of getting the winners contact details.

Unfortunately this competition is only available to UK residents.

Requirements: PC running on Windows XP & Service Pack 2, Windows Vista or Windows 7.

More Information about Expression Studio

• SketchFlow prototypes are fast, easy and inexpensive to build, making it possible to create, explore and compare multiple ideas before moving forward with a solution. Learn More
• Expression Web makes creating compliant standards-based Web sites faster and easier. With a state-of-the-art design surface that generates clean CSS, you can make design decisions on the fly, knowing that you’re seeing a faithful representation of the final browser-rendered page. Learn More
• Expression Blend™ is the tool for interaction design on the Silverlight and .NET platforms and enables user experience concepts to be delivered with full fidelity, from the initial prototype to the completed project. Learn More
• Expression Design is a professional design tool for creating graphics content that can be used within the authoring applications in Expression Studio: Expression Blend and Expression Web. Learn More
• Expression Encoder 3 provides the power of industry leading encoding, in a simple approachable interface to make it easy to prepare video for use in a variety of ways, including Silverlight on the Web. Learn More

You can download a 60 day trial at http://www.microsoft.com/expression/

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

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My Old E-mail Setup

My old e-mail and calendar system was based around Outlook and I’ve always found it met my requirements very well but it had started to become slow and cumbersome and was using a large chunk of system memory.

Over the years I had created an elaborate system of folders and sub folders for my e-mails which was becoming increasingly difficult to manage. I ended up  just using the search function to find old e-mails but Outlook was taking several minutes to search the thousands of e-mails on my system to find the one I was looking for.

After recently reading Getting Things Done by David Allen it became obvious a much simpler method of sorting and processing my e-mails was long overdue.

I wanted something that would let me send and receive e-mails from multiple accounts, let me organise things intuitively and find what I need quickly.

I’ve had a Gmail account since 2004 but it has only ever been used as a backup system for my e-mails (I’ve set a copy of every e-mail to forward to my Gmail address) and as an emergency e-mail solution when I’m out of the office. To say I hadn’t explored all the features and settings would be an understatement! It seemed the obvious choice…

Making the Transition

My first step was to explore the features Gmail offered. My existing Gmail account proved the perfect testing ground because five years worth of e-mails that were already on the system. A quick glance at the intuitive search method gave a very favourable first impression letting me find a specific e-mail from back in 2004 in just a few seconds.

I’ve got several e-mail accounts that I wanted to filter in to my Gmail inbox (web design, hosting, blog etc…) and this was easy to setup. I could choose to either have a copy of all my e-mails from my other POP3 accounts sent to my Gmail address (which I’ve had for the last five years) or I could setup the incoming server to receive all my e-mails directly in to my Gmail account.

Gmail also lets you send e-mails from “non-Gmail” e-mail addresses via your own SMTP server (for instance, with my phil@thewebdesignblog.co.uk e-mail address) and the recipient will see the e-mail as being sent from my address rather than the Gmail address associated with the account.

And, just like Outlook, if I reply to an e-mail sent to a particular address the recipient will see a reply from that e-amil address as long as I have set up the reply-to address in the Gmail settings. Very handy.

During my first week using Gmail I watched this great video from Ryan Carson explaining the benefit of using keyboard shortcuts. The basics were easy to learn and I found myself using them automatically without thinking. When viewing e-mails I quickly got used to using J and K while reading messages to move between older and newer e-mails but then I discovered using [ and ] would do the same thing but automatically archive the message without going back to your inbox each time. This has proven to be a really big time saver for me! You can literally skim through your e-mails and either archive messages with [ or ] or leave them in the inbox with J or K so they can be processed later.

If I see something is urgent when checking my messages I add it to the starred label (keyboard shortcut s) which lets me quickly view my priority e-mails. I’ve also setup custom labels for Next Actions, Someday and Projects which I can assign to each e-mail to help me sort through them at an appropriate time.

My Favourite Keybaord Shorcuts

Gmail provide an overlay of their main keyboard shortcuts which helped me learn them quickly. Simply press ? when using Gmail to quickly bring up the list.

Here are some of my favourites:

• c - Compose a new e-mail
• c + Shift – Compose a new e-mail in a new window
• k - Move the cursor to a newer conversation (or move to a next message if you are viewing the conversation)
• j – Move the cursor to an older conversation (or move to an older message if you are viewing the conversation)
• [ - Archive and go to previous message
• ] - Archive and go to next message
• x – Check or uncheck the selected conversation
• o / Enter - Open or expand the selected conversation
• n – Go to the next message in a conversation
• p – Go to the previous message in a conversation
• e – Archive the selected conversation
• s – Star a message or conversation
• r – Reply to message sender (from the conversation view)
• a - Reply to all recipients (from the conversation view)
• f – Forward a message
• l – View the labels menu
• v – Move the conversation to another section
• Shift + i - Mark as read (and skip message in conversation view)
• Shift + u – Mark as unread (and skip message in conversation view)
• z - Undo

Please click here to view the full list of shortcuts.

Combination Keys

You can also use a series of combination keys to quickly move around the different sections of Gmail:

• Tab then Enter - A really useful one! Once you’ve finished writing an e-mail just press tab followed by the enter key to send the message
• g then a - Go to all items
• g then s – View your starred itmes
• g then c – Open your list of contacts
• g then i – Go to your inbox
• g then t – Go to your sent items
• * then a – Select all mail
• * then n – Deselect all mail

Please click here to view the full list of combinations.

Using Labels and Filters

When it came to deciding if I’d start using Gmail permanently it was the labels and filters that were the clincher for me.

I am so used to using folders in an attempt to organise my e-mails and I wasn’t sure if I’d get on with Gmail’s labelling and filter system but it turned out to be a piece of cake.

All you have to do is assign a few basic rules to create a filter. For example who it is from, what the subject of the e-mail is, what keywords it contains etc… and then you can decide what Gmail does with these e-mails. For instance, you could set these e-mails to skip the inbox, apply a label, delete them, star them or even send an automatic canned response.

I’ve setup several filters which apply custom labels to both incoming mail and all archived mail.

There are so many ways you could take advantage of this to organise your inbox but I’ve listed a small selection below:

• Any e-mail that contains the word “urgent” goes gets a Urgent label
• Missed calls and answerphone message notifications have a Telephone label
• Client project questionnaires have a Worksheets label
• All online payments I’ve received have a Payments label
• Receipts (and shipping notifications) from online purchases have a Shopping label
• Twitter and Facebook messages and friend notifcations have a Twitter or Facebook label
• Hosting and domain renewal notifications have a Hosting label

What I Love About Gmail

• I can sync my e-mails and contact list with my phone (more info at http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/)
• The “Send and Archive” button (labs feature) – When you send your e-mail reply this button will send and archive the e-mail automatically which is a big time saver.
• You get over 7GB free storage space but you can upgrade your storage space if required.
• If you use Google Calendar you can set it up to send you an e-mail every morning with your daily agenda.
• If your e-mail contains the words “I’ve attached” and you try to send the message without an attachment Gmail asks if you want to send anyway or cancel and add the attachment. (via Grace Smith)

What I Think Could Be Improved

• You can already setup an automatic signature but it would great to be able to have different signatures for each e-mail address you send from.
• Some times Gmail can pause when sending emails or other actions requiring a refresh to fix (but this could be a browser or computer issue)

So, after a month of using Gmail I am hooked. I’ve now started using it permanently for all my e-mails in conjunction with Google Calendar. I’ve tried to move over to Gmail several times before without really embracing the system but this time, for whatever reason, it all seems to have clicked in to place.

Over to you!

If you are a Gmail user I’d love to hear your own tips and tricks. How have you got your labels setup? What lab features do you find useful? If you’d like to share your favourite Gmail tips please leave a comment at the end of this post!

The main Gmail icon used for this article was designed by Sergio Sanchez Lopez