Just Creative Design

Designer In The Spotlight - Phillip Lovelace

Designer In The Spotlight (DITS) is a weekly feature that I run every Sunday to help particular individuals in the design community get their name ‘out there’ and to educate the community as a whole. It is a series of questions that asks the designer about themselves and their job as a designer. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming DITS post fill out the form here.

1. Please tell us more about yourself, your background, education and what you do as a designer.

I am a 28 year old web designer from the southern United States who currently lives & works abroad in Berlin, Germany. I have a great interest in all things web but my main focus is to take creative ideas and turn them in to beautiful functional websites while also supporting web standards.

I began my design career in early 2002 after being hired by an online travel company. After about a year of working in an office I moved to working from home and haven’t looked back.

Although sometimes I miss the daily grind of a 9 to 5 office job, working from home has enabled me to start my own small web design firm here in Berlin and to also co-found an online marketing and technology firm back in the States.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you become an artist / designer?

I have been designing in some shape or form since I was in high school. My high school offered a graphic communications class which introduced me to graphic design, print design and touched briefly on web design. I instantly became fascinated with all aspects of web design!

Even though I didn’t begin a career on the web until a few years later, I kept myself up to date and used the web as a creative outlet. This eventually led to working as a full time designer.

3. Where do you work and what is your daily routine?

I currently work from my home in Berlin Germany. A daily routine is quite a work of art these days. As a new father my routine is quite a bit different than in past years.

I usually start the day by clearing out my inbox and getting back to clients and co-workers. With the time difference quite a few emails get sent while I am sleeping. After that is full on completing my task list. I work a lot of hours and quite a bit of those are at night and into the early morning. I think this is quite normal in our field and especially when you work from home.

4. How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career and how has that differed to how you market yourself now?

In the beginning I worked in an office so marketing myself wasn’t so much of an issue. Now that I have my own small firm its a lot more important. Most of my clients come from referrals and word of mouth. Thus far this way has been very effective and I have been lucky to not have to spend a lot of time marketing myself.

5. What are your tools of the trade? This could include hardware, software and traditional tools.

Right now I do all my work on a PC set up with an external monitor attached. Although this will probably change very soon. I use a moleskine notebook for brainstorming and sketches. Photoshop and Fireworks for graphic concepts and usually write HTML & CSS by hand.

I have also recently started using getsignoff.com for sharing designs and client feedback. While I have only used this tool a couple times so far I believe its already been very beneficial and helped my overall productivity when pitching designs to clients.

6. How do you manage the business side of design such as accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping?

N/A

7. Where do you get your inspiration and how do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?

A lot of my inspiration comes from wanting to help others make their ideas a reality. I think the best inspiration booster is to step back from the computer and get out and have some fun or do something you enjoy.

Just take your mind of your task list and the ideas will come! Of course current trends and the work of today’s rock star designers (Cederholm, Santa Maria, Boag) would also be an influence. There are countless other designers and inspirations out there but those are just a few of mine.

8. Can you please guide us through a typical project from start to finish.

A typical project usually begins with an introduction to the prospective client. This can be them contacting me via email or telephone or myself contacting them through a referral. This is where I find out the initial details of the project and if I am the guy for the job.

If I am the guy for the job, I begin by getting as many details as possible from the client. I work very close with clients so that I understand their needs. Once I have a grasp of what the clients objectives are I will get to work on some very rough concepts and outlines. This usually results in another meeting where modifications and new ideas are suggested by the client.

Graphics, design tweaks and a final concept are usually the last step before coding begins. Of course sometimes a few tweaks are needed but these can usually be dealt with while coding.

Once concepts are approved the XHTML & CSS are coded out along with any programming that may be needed and the site is built and delivered.

9. What are your top 3 websites / books and why?

Designing with Web Standards by Jeffery Zeldman - This book introduced me to the world of web standards and helped to change the way in which I work and view the web overall.

Web Standard Solutions by Dan Cederholm - As probably one of my biggest influences it was a no-brainer that I read Dan’s books. The tips and techniques in this book are something I find myself going back to again and again.

CSS Mastery by Andy Budd - When I first read this book it was like a slap in the face that helped to wake me up. I thought I knew CSS fairly well but this book helped open my eyes to the world of advanced CSS techniques.

10. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out?

Don’t stop learning! Read, participate, talk, and enjoy web design. It will come, just keep on keepin’ on!!

Jacob: Thank you Phillip for taking the time to fill out this interview… If you want to be featured as the next Designer In The Spotlight, please fill out this form.

Designer In The Spotlight: Umberto Micheli

Designer In The Spotlight (DITS) is a weekly feature that I run every Sunday (or more) to help particular individuals in the design community get their name ‘out there’ and to educate the community as a whole. It is a series of questions that asks the designer about themselves and their job as a designer. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming DITS post fill out the form here.

1. Please tell us more about yourself, your background, education and what you do as a designer.

My name is Umberto Micheli. I work as a self employed creative designer based in Ontario, Canada. I have a Degree in Advertising & Design Communication.

I work for a number of clients ranging from small to medium, with a couple leaning toward, what I would consider, large clients.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you become an artist / designer?

I’ve been scribbling since childhood, and continued though to the agency level where we would always start with initial sketches before finalising concepts - computers were just starting to become the focus back then - I’m giving away my age here ; ) I became a designer because I had a natural tendency to go that direction.

3. Where do you work and what is your daily routine?

I worked at Weaver, Tanner & Miller an advertising agency, that has since spun off and become a different company, under a different name.

My daily routine used to involve, design, meetings, photo shoots, supplier quotes, supervision of junior designers…basically I acted as an Art Director but now I am self employed.

4. How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career and how has that differed to how you market yourself now?

After life at the agency I became a “preferred” supplier and of course that didn’t last long as the agency was going through internal changes to the point where the entire creative team was let go, one by one.

This forced me to start my own small business and so initially marketing myself was going out to perspective clients with portfolio in hand and showing my work experience. Now most everything is done online, and that’s where I’m trying to get a handle on how to best get my name out there, be it blogging, social sites, e-commerce… etc

5. What are your tools of the trade? This could include hardware, software and traditional tools.

Mac & Adobe Suite.

6. How do you manage the business side of design such as accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping?

Good question. Well I invoice clients per job and hope for a 30-day turn around which isn’t always the case. Some clients pay within a 7 day period, while others unfortunately take 60 - 90 days. Case in point - I did some creative work for a rep who in turn is waiting for Mr. Client to pay her, which means I don’t get paid until she gets paid - it becomes a vicious circle sometime. Part of being self employed is occasionally having to chase clients, the one thing I don’t like about the self employed thing.

7. Where do you get your inspiration and how do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?

Inspiration can come from just about anywhere, Your local grocery store, to street graphics, web, kids - I have 3 young kids…etc

8. Can you please guide us through a typical project from start to finish.

It really depends on what that project is, but most any graphic design project, be it print or digital has to start with a client briefing at which point I research the requirements and then try to distill that into ideas.

Once we have the “idea” we present, or forward the concepts to the client for approval. Client will get back with comments and direction and we then finalise the project. If print is the next step I liaison with the print house, secure sample approvals with the clients and proceed to print, where I may oversee a press approval if needed and once complete it’s delivered to the client.

If I’m working on a Corporate identity after having gone through the initial concepts and having finalized selection of the logo - I then proceed to the stationary layouts and or any other layout material that’s needs to branded with the logo.

9. What are your top 3 websites / books and why?

Chapters is a great place for books Design, otherwise:

• landor.com - great work
• designerstalk.com - great sites

10. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out?

We all know that brands help consumers make choices. In a world of branding, where we are making visual communications a reality take ownership in what you create and know that your role as an artist does influence people. That’s a great role to have.

Jacob:

Thank you Umberto for taking the time to fill out this interview… If you want to be featured as the next Designer In The Spotlight, please fill out this form.

Designer In The Spotlight: Lady Omega

Designer In The Spotlight (DITS) is a weekly feature that I run every Sunday to help particular individuals in the design community get their name ‘out there’ and to educate the community as a whole. It is a series of questions that asks the designer about themselves and their job as a designer. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming DITS post fill out the form here.

1. Please tell us more about yourself, your background, education and what you do as a designer.

I was born in ex-USSR, but have travelled a lot since then, and now temporarily living in the USA. My next stop, where I am planning to settle down, is Malta. As a child, I went to an art school, did piano and dancing. Also, I my father taught me foreign languages. When I grew up, I got an M.A. in Cognitive Studies of the Language and a B.A. in English teaching. But at some point I wanted to do something more creative, so I got interested in web design. I learned a lot by myself, and step by step, got to do some freelance work. Now I have my own company, Elune Art, which does front-end website development. As a designer, I do css, html, some php and javascript coding, print design, graphic design, skins for various web interfaces (blogs, cms, forums). I enjoy doing creative work and I am planning to go more into animation, character design and video editing. I also make some music and sing in a band called Kaiaphas.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you become an artist / designer?

I’ve been designing since 2004. Before 2004, I  had a couple of “confusing” years when I was looking for myself. The person I met, who nowadays is my true partner and friend, was the one who inspired me to do web design. I’ve been very art-oriented since I was a child, but with all the troubles I had back then, I forgot what it was to be inspired. So, I started by learning Photoshop, and then I got interested in web design. I got a subscription to Computer Arts magazine, which is a great source of inspiration and learning new trends and techniques. Since then, i’ve designed many sites, and have been continuing to improve my skills on a daily basis.

3. Where do you work and what is your daily routine?

I work at my office part of the house. My daily routine usually starts at 5:00 AM - I do yoga, gym, and then start working. I have big lists of tasks in front of me, and I feel happy when I cross each item out and go on with the next step. I usually work on more than one site every day, so my tasks vary a lot - from creative to just pure code. My working day ends around 8:00, then I watch a movie or go out and have fun.

4. How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career and how has that differed to how you market yourself now?

In the beginning of my design career, I created many sites for free to fill up my portfolio. Then I started selling banners and templates at Webhostingtalk. Sooner than I expected, I got some good clients, who would also recommend me to other people. Now I have my freelance web design company, Elune Art, which consists of 4 professionals, our work is much more complex and, certainly, on a different level.

5. What are your tools of the trade? This could include hardware, software and traditional tools.

Adobe CS3, Swish, Wacom Intuos drawing pad, pencil and paper, pc, laptop, my camera, imagination, crazy people and friends.

6. How do you manage the business side of design such as accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping?

Me and our main programmer are the ones who deal with that. I am not a very math person, but what has to be done, has to be done. Sometimes we use Freshbooks for invoicing , or our own site.

7. Where do you get your inspiration and how do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?

I get my inspiration from nature, talking to friends, art magazines, art events, obscure movies and CSS galleries. I keep up to date through my RSS reader, Computer Arts magazine, my Delicious bookmarks and blogging.

8. Can you please guide us through a typical project from start to finish.

1. A client contacts us (usually via email). We have a questionnaire for the client, which clarifies their needs. We evaluate the project, see if we are able to take it, what resources it would require, what a time frame would be, and we set the price.
2. We contact the client, let him know about the time frame, the price, how many free revisions and free support he would get.
3. If the client is interested in us doing the project, we invoice him for 50% of the total price and start working.
4. When the graphic layout/design is done, we send the sample to the client (with additional descriptions of functionality, etc), so that he can preview it and let us know if he is satisfied with it. If not, we revise the work (usually a client gets 3 free revisions, if more, he has to pay per hour).
5. When the client is satisfied with the look of the site, we start coding it and integrating it on our local server. When the integration is done and everything is working properly, we show the preview to the client and invoice him the rest of the project’s price. After that, we upload the work to the client’s server and the site goes live. The client gets our support with the site if there are problems with it.

9. What are your top 3 websites / books and why?

Notcot.org - innovative design applied to whatever you can think of - I really like this site.
CSS Mania - lots of inspiration
Return from the stars by S.Lem - very prophetic and “colorful” book
Carlos Castaneda’s works
( I couldn’t choose just 1 book but those 2 mean a lot to me)

10. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out?

Never give up. Generate as much happiness as possible. The main thing is to start, not speculate, but just start doing.

Jacob: Thank you for taking the time to fill out this interview… If you want to be featured as the next Designer In The Spotlight, please fill out this form.

Designer In The Spotlight: Elliot Jay Stocks

Designer In TheSpotlight (DITS) is a weekly feature that I run every Sunday (or more) to help particular individuals in the design community get their name ‘out there’ and to educate the community as a whole. It is a series of questions that asks the designer about themselves and their job as a designer. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming DITS post fill out the form here.

1. Please tell us more about yourself, your background, education and what you do as a designer.

For years I thought I was going to be an illustrator, since I spent the majority of my childhood drawing, and used to draw and design various things for school, like posters for drama productions, pamphlets for open evenings; that sort of thing. In my early teens I really got into comic books in a big way and started writing and drawing my own, which I used to print and sell to school friends. I was pretty sure I was going to pursue a career in comic book illustration, but then I discovered music. I formed my own band and then got into digital art (very late, actually - not until 1999) and started designing CD covers. Then I realised I needed a website and my interest in the medium was fueled.

I went to University and studied for a degree in Contemporary Media Practice, which was very vague but allowed me to focus mainly on Digital Media. My web design knowledge at this time was next to nothing (I couldn’t write HTML at all) and I focused straight away on Flash.

Over the course of my years at university, I started doing sites for friends’ bands and so built up a portfolio quite quickly. When I left uni I was very lucky to get a job at EMI Records, who (I think) were pleased by the musically-orientated portfolio.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you become an artist / designer?

Oops. I think I’ve answered that above! But also: I’ve been designing ‘professionally’ (i.e: from when I graduated) since summer 2004.

3. Where do you work and what is your daily routine?

I work for myself, and I work at home, in the heart of the English countryside. In terms of a routine, I start work around 8.30 to 9, although I never actually begin any ‘real’ work until 10. I spend the first hour catching up on email, RSS feeds, Twitter, general web surfing and research. I’ve recently written about why we should all write off that first hour. Editors note: You may also be interested in this article on the best time of day to do things as a designer.

4. How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career and how has that differed to how you market yourself now?

I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had to do very little marketing. I submitted my personal site to a lot of CSS galleries when I released it in April 2007 and that had a huge snowball effect, in terms of it getting featured and linked to from a lot of other sites.

When I started writing for magazines and speaking in public last year, I did have to push a bit to get myself out there (by phoning up and emailing magazines like .Net and asking to speak at events like Oxford Geek Night. These days I’m lucky enough to be invited to appear at events and write for magazines, and I haven’t yet had to ‘look’ for work - all of my clients have come to me first. I’m very grateful for this, and I know it won’t last forever!

5. What are your tools of the trade? This could include hardware, software and traditional tools.

As of last week, I’m now the proud owner of a new MacBook Pro and 24″ LED Cinema Display, so that’s my hardware. Software-wise, I use (unsurprisingly) Photoshop for all design work (coupled with InDesign for print stuff), and I build sites with TextMate. Other apps I use on a daily basis include Transmit for FTP, MAMP for local development, Things and iCal for task management, Scrivener for copywriting, and LittleSnapper for capturing design inspiration.

6. How do you manage the business side of design such as accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping?

I have an accountant who takes care of my tax return paperwork; I just keep a record of my earnings and expenses, which I give him at the end of the year. Most of the ‘business’ side of things I have to deal with (apart from dealing with clients) revolves around booking in (and re-arranging) projects in Things and iCal. Never underestimate the time this takes!

7. Where do you get your inspiration and how do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?

I try to get as much inspiration from the offline world as possible, because I’m a firm believer in how getting your inspiration from only one place will make your designs stale. I’m taking more and more inspiration from print these days, but I also frequent a few ‘gallery’ sites for web-specific inspiration. Best Web Gallery and CSSBeauty for instance.

8. Can you please guide us through a typical project from start to finish.

The client gets in touch to say they’re interested in working together; I email them back with details about my availability, daily rate, and general process; they give me a bit more information about the project; I send them a series of questions to answer so that I can get a decent brief; we discuss and finalise the approach we’re going to take; I produce wireframes and get feedback (and modify where necessary); I produce designs and get feedback (and modify where necessary); I then either hand over my PSD files and a rough styleguide if it’s a design-only project, or I begin coding the site (and modify where necessary). Occasionally I’ll outsource some development stuff to a friend if it’s particularly heavy back-end code.

9. What are your top 3 websites / books and why?

Ooh, that’s a tough one! ‘I Love Typography‘ has done great things for promoting an interest in typography and it’s a great source of inspiration. There are sites I frequent (like the ones I described above) but I’m not sure if they’re my favourite. From a design point of view, I love visiting Jason Santa Maria’s personal site because of the way he ‘art directs’ each post. I’ll also happily pour over anything created by Miguel Ripoll, who’s my favourite designer. Oh, and Tim van Damme has done some superb work recently, like http://24ways.org

10. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out?

Work for ‘the man’ before going freelance straight out of university or college.

Jacob: Thank you Elliot for taking the time to fill out this interview… If you want to be featured as the next Designer In The Spotlight, please fill out this form.

Designer In The Spotlight: Colin Wright

Designer In The Spotlight (DITS) is a weekly feature that I run every Sunday (or more) to help particular individuals in the design community get their name ‘out there’ and to educate the community as a whole. It is a series of questions that asks the designer about themselves and their job as a designer. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming DITS post fill out the form here.

1. Please tell us more about yourself, your background, education and what you do as a designer.

I was born in Northern California, but was moved out to central-Missouri when I was 9.

For the longest time I wanted to be a comic book artist, but by high school, journalism and painting had become my passion.

After a semester of intro-level art classes in college, I decided to combine my passion for communication and aesthetics into a design major, which led me to get my BFA in Graphic Design and another in Illustration.

Upon graduating in 2007, I moved out to Los Angeles to take a job at a small design and production studio. A year later, I resigned and started up my own sole-proprietorship multidisciplinary studio, Colin Is My Name.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you become an artist / designer?

If comic books count, I’ve been designing since I could hold a crayon. I think it was the editorial cartoons I did for my high school newspaper that really redirected my attention toward design over art or journalism. I liked the idea of being able to communicate SOMETHING to just about anyone who looked at my work.

Something I say to people who ask about how I view art and design as different is this: art is like masturbation… it’s selfish and introverted and done for you and you alone. Design is like sex, in that there is someone else involved, their needs are just as important as your own, and if everything goes right, both parties are happy in the end.

3. Where do you work and what is your daily routine?

I work from my home office.

The day usually starts out with a visit to the office, check email, handle any emergencies or quick tasks, then downstairs for some breakfast and green tea.

Then back upstairs, work until I remember to eat lunch (usually mid-afternoon), back upstairs to work more.

Around dinner-time I try to work some personal time in with my girlfriend, then back to the office, likely until 1 or 2 am.

Oh, and that’s a weekend.

4. How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career and how has that differed to how you market yourself now?

I knew when I left my last job that I wanted to go a different route than the traditional studio. Working in a 9-to-6 office just seemed so clunky and unnecessarily expensive, not to mention the immorality that was bred and bad work that was created by the need to make lots of money on every project.

I decided to position myself as a young, reliable and multidisciplinary creative. What this entailed was taking on a lot of grunt-level Photoshop and website-editing work until a certain level of trust was built between myself and my clients. In a few months, these clients were using me for most or all of their design work, from conception to completion, all the while recommending me to all of their friends and associates.

From there I wanted to carve out a niche for myself, and fortunately I have always felt very strongly about the issue of sustainability. This allowed me to focus my attention toward jobs that required ‘green,’ eco-friendly practices, which is a sub-genre of design that most people are not familiar with.

I’m now working on carving out another niche, but this time in the blogosphere, discussing the economics of sustainable design, business and technology for my new project, Green Loves Gold.

5. What are your tools of the trade? This could include hardware, software and traditional tools.

Mac Pro (w/ 30″ monitor), MacBook Pro, iPhone 3G, old eMachines PC (to check browser compatibility), many external drives, Wacom Intuos tablet, CS3, Final Cut Pro Studio, Evernote, Lightroom2, Microsoft Word 2008, heavily-customized Firefox, X-acto knives, Micron pens, Indian ink, all kinds of paints and markers, a variety of DSLR and point-and-shoot cameras… the list goes on and on.

6. How do you manage the business side of design such as accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping?

I’ve had to learn the business side of things largely through trial and error, though I had to opportunity to run two businesses while in college (a studio and a culture magazine), so I was able to get a lot of the big mistakes out of the way then.

These days I keep it simple: make up a Confirmation of Engagement for every project, keep track of billable hours with On The Job app, write everything down in the Moleskine, complete project, invoice, keep check stubs or some other evidence of payment for taxes. Repeat.

7. Where do you get your inspiration and how do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?

I get my inspiration from anything and everything. I’m a voracious reader, and I’ve always got a half-dozen side-projects going at any given time, so fortunately I’m rarely at a loss for ideas.

I find it’s good to have a variety of hobbies and ambitions in related or completely unrelated fields of study.

For example, right now I’m working toward a degree in Marketing and a degree in Computer Science in my free time, I’m also setting up a secondary blog business and reading two books on Chaos Theory.

8. Can you please guide us through a typical project from start to finish.

When I first speak to a client, I try to get a feel for what they want to achieve. From there, I work up a few ideas for the direction and scope of the project, and then a Confirmation of Engagement so that we’re both on the same page as to what will be delivered, when and for how much.

At the outset of a project, I’ll take a look at the notes from the conversations with the client and then dive right into sketching, usually freehand on paper, but sometimes right in Photoshop or Illustrator (or InDesign or Motion, depending on the project). I’ll knock out three sketches and pass them to the client. We’ll have a conversation, get some feedback, and generally by then I’ll have a more solid direction.

From that point I’ll generally just work on finishing the project as quickly and professionally as possible, stopping periodically to check in the with client, make sure they like what I’m doing so that there’s no drama later on.

Upon completion I pass all the deliverables over to the client and go about finishing up the business side of things, making sure the final payment is on it’s way and that everyone is happy with the results.

9. What are your top 3 websites / books and why?

Sites:

Gmail/Google Calendar: without Google, I’m pretty sure I’d know nothing, get nothing done and most likely be bald, overweight and sad. Very sad.

Lifehacker: I swear I learn something new from this site every day.

QBN: I’m not the kind of designer that browses other people’s work day in and day out, but when I want to know what’s going on in the ‘design scene,’ QBN is pretty much the most straightforward and authoritative site I’ve found.

Books:

Atlas Shrugged: This book put words to many feelings and ideas that I’ve always had, plus it’s a damn good (and timely) story.

Guns, Germs and Steel: Another book that fundamentally changed the way I looked at the world. I’ve always been a history and sociology buff, so GGaS hit all the right nerves.

Tipping Point: Aside from being a book that was personally recommended to me by Milton Glaser, Tipping Point (and Blink) shifted my marketing world-view and allowed me to more concisely target my audience when communicating (through design or writing or anything else).

10. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out?

Stick to your guns. If you like your style, and other people like your style, who cares if other other people don’t like your style?

Be knowledgeable. About anything and everything. This will allow you to relate to more and make you a more effective communicator.

Don’t be above anything. Sometimes the small jobs can lead to big ones (though don’t take a job just because a larger one was dangled in front of you).

Jacob: Thank you Colin for taking the time to fill out this interview… If you want to be featured as the next Designer In The Spotlight, please fill out this form.

Designer In The Spotlight: Kai Chan Vong

Designer In The Spotlight (DITS) is a weekly feature that I run every Sunday (or more) to help particular individuals in the design community get their name ‘out there’ and to educate the community as a whole. It is a series of questions that asks the designer about themselves and their job as a designer. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming DITS post fill out the form here.

1. Please tell us more about yourself, your background, education and what you do as a designer.

Hi! I’m a 25 year old half Chinese/English guy, called Kai Chan Vong making his way through different mediums of design such as markup, design, photoshop, css and now jQuery.

I come from a background in computer games design, graphic design and working freelance as a web designer to pay the bills while in university. I’m a strong advocate in thinking about user experience, usability, accessibility, seo, mobile devices, layout and so much more.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you become an artist / designer?

As a lad I always used to wonder what made things tick. Not just from the visual aspect, but also the mechanics behind it. I was well known for taking things apart in my household and leaving them scattered on the sitting room floor for days before reassembling them.

My other hobbies growing up, included drawing, painting and sitting on the computer for hours playing with HTML (trying to figure out just why I could do everything but change colours) and learning Paint Shop Pro.

3. Where do you work and what is your daily routine?

I work for a London based company with around 6 million users, aiming to make donating and fundraising a breeze for charities and every day people. I’ve worked on sites for British Heart Foundation, Tesco, Cancer Research, BT and many more. Also working for our sister company based in Boston. It’s not easy being half Chinese!

I’ve been at Justgiving.com for a year and eight months, having previously worked at PartyGaming. A company with a fantastic team… despite working on banner adverts and posters which still haunt me to this day. Pop-up blocker ahoy!

I try to inspire and help the designers and developers. I also work on the brand and design guidelines whilst trying to get stuck in to designing and creating sites.

4. How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career and how has that differed to how you market yourself now?

In the beginning (it feels like so many moons ago), I would do websites and designs for anyone and everyone. Even the local council.

Once I’d finished studying I made it a real point of phoning people whilst working on my portfolio site. It’s absolutely nothing like it was back then.

Loads of people would phone me up and either say, “I really think you have talent.. but you need to change your portfolio. My client wont look at it seriously.” Others would phone up saying how it stood out from the crowd and was excellent, promising me a job with one of their ‘many’ clients.

It was extremely difficult at first. Some days my parents would come home from work and ask me what I doing with my life, hoping to become a web designer and not understanding what I was trying to achieve.

They didn’t believe I could do it and that I was just in my room messing about on my computer. It still makes me sad that they don’t really get how hard I worked. I believe that anyone with a dream can do anything if they put their mind to it.

5. What are your tools of the trade? This could include hardware, software and traditional tools.

I use a Wacom tablet for drawing and rendering, a variety of different mice (I honestly have a hell of a lot), an amazing dual monitor setup and a macbook pro for personal stuff at home.

In terms of software, it’s all the usual adobe things, my editor of choice is notepad++ customized beyond belief.

I also have a Canon D400, I believe any true designer should have one of these. You can learn and build wonderful designs, patterns and textures with a camera. I also carry around with me, everywhere I go a sketchbook and pen, it’s the foundation of ideas and notes.

6. How do you manage the business side of design such as accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping?

I don’t anymore! But when I did, my father used to help me out. It’s handy having someone in the family who is down with the numbers.

7. Where do you get your inspiration and how do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?

It would have to be using the delicious popular page twice every day to try and get an idea of what is popular and for new tricks with CSS, jQuery and other things.

Every two months I’ll pop into a shop and buy up to 5 different magazines, going through them with post-it notes (aren’t they wonderful things!) to keep track of cool layouts, designs and tricks. Oh and of course, take photos on with my camera of advertising all around me on my journey to work.

I do get some pretty funny looks when I’m frantically scribbling away on a magazine or taking photos of a bus that’s speeding away from me. That’s just the price you have to pay for being a designer though. People’s opinion of you, not your sanity!

Also listening to podcasts, talking to people and going to conferences / workshops help a lot too.

8. Can you please guide us through a typical project from start to finish.

I’ll normally have a read of the brief, chat more about what we’re trying to achieve and then sketch out some ideas from the top of my head.

Following that, looking through some of the pattern libraries on my Flickr, trying to get inspiration and seeing how other designers get around layout problems. We’ve started trying to use pattern libraries in our current design so should a page have X amount of copy and need to explain Y number of pages, we’ll use template Y.

Then following on from this, I’ll look at some of the previous pages to think about how to fit it in whilst taking the design forward and then the fun begins. Some of the time it can go through a psd treatment and others it will pretty much get created with old assets from recent projects (more for in-house design work).

I don’t work as much on client work as I did last year… however when I do, it’s normally under pretty strict design guidelines. My favourite is still reading the Noddy design guidelines for Leukemia Research whilst on the train to work. I can tell you I got some pretty funny looks from people that day.

9. What are your top 3 websites / books and why?

1. The little book of know it all: common sense for designers

Just a god like book, which is so handy to carry around in your bag. It also doubles as a weapon should a developer start center aligning 4 paragraphs without a thought for how someone will be able to read it.

2. Flickr.com - I get so annoyed with the design that I have lots of notes in a sketchbook about how I would improve it. But even so, I just love the community aspect of it and how it feels like a game with the stats. It’s a great site, there’s just some things which could be done better!

3. Last.Fm - I’m a huge fan of the design even if I hardly use the site that much. I use their radio app all the time and it’s amazing and I put this in as my 3rd because I think the designer of the site got a lot of unfair criticism for the redesign, even though it was a great improvement. Plus what they’re doing for the music industry is outstanding.

10. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out?

Don’t give up. But don’t expect it to be easy. If you want to be half decent, you should expect to work really hard and try to learn from others as much as possible. The Internet has made it so that if you want to be a great designer - you need to learn from others on a day to day basis. Whether that’s from friends, co-workers or other designers… you need to constantly have your mind open. Good luck! You can do it

Jacob: Thank you Kai Chan Vong for taking the time to fill out this interview… If you want to be featured as the next Designer In The Spotlight, please fill out this form.

Designer In The Spotlight: Mike Smith

Designer In The Spotlight (DITS) is a weekly feature that I run every Sunday (or more) to help particular individuals in the design community get their name ‘out there’ and to educate the community as a whole. It is a series of questions that asks the designer about themselves and their job as a designer. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming DITS post fill out the form here.

1. Please tell us more about yourself, your background, education and what you do as a designer.

My name is Mike Smith and I am a self taught website designer specialising in Wordpress designs. I also design for other CMS’ like Joomla and Drupal, but specialise in Wordpress layouts. I listen to a LOT of music while I work and have lately become a workaholic.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you become an artist / designer?

I’ve been designing for about 9 years or so. I started when I would post on online message boards back when I first got a computer and realised I wanted a custom signature image. From there, I just learned everything I could. I’ve always been a creative person, drawing since I was 4-5. I also spent some time doing graffiti, but the law stopped me from progressing in that avenue of art

3. Where do you work and what is your daily routine?

I work from home in the second bedroom of my town house which I turned into an office. My daily routine really depends. Some days I am only designing. Some days I am deep in code all day. Some days I spend the entire day studying different techniques and building my skill set. Some days I do all of them. I tend to be in front of the computer a LOT throughout the day though.

4. How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career and how has that differed to how you market yourself now?

I literally wrote 100 or more people every day. I just emailed and emailed and emailed. Blindly mind you; I knew nothing about the people I was writing. It worked somewhat (1 in 100 hired me maybe). I was also charging WAY too LITTLE so a lot of people thought I was a fly by night type.

Now, I spend the majority of my time networking through social media sites like twitter, stumble upon and commenting on the blogs I like. Networking is working MUCH better in my favour then the cold-emails.

5. What are your tools of the trade? This could include hardware, software and traditional tools.

I draw sketches on paper, I write ideas down for blog articles in my moleskine and I design with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I hand code all of my layouts in notepad. I use Wordpress as my CMS of choice and I have a nice 19 inch flat screen monitor with a P.O.S. computer (I need to upgrade).

6. How do you manage the business side of design such as accounting, invoicing and bookkeeping?

I invoice with paypal. I do my bookkeeping with gobootstrap.com which is AWESOME. I also keep track of projects on my trusty white board in my office. I have two; one HUGE one with my current work list (client name, type of project, amount paid, amount due) and then a smaller one I write the daily tasks on.

7. Where do you get your inspiration and how do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?

I visit a LOT of CSS galleries. I also have about 200 design and Wordpress related feeds in my feedreader. I read as much as I can to keep up with trends, what’s being overused (so I don’t do it) and to learn about any new tricks or developments with wordpress.

8. Can you please guide us through a typical project from start to finish.

A person will normally contact me through my websites contact form and I reply answering any questions they have, and also give them a few questions to get a better understanding of what they’re after.

From there, I’ll give them a price quote for the work they are after. If they accept, an invoice is sent for 50% to begin the project. From there I start the design process.

I initially sketch the layout out on paper. Then I create a wireframe in photoshop. I tend to leave it alone for a day or so after that (this is all done within 24 hours of the client sending the 50% deposit).

During the second day, I create the design from the wireframe and send it for approval/feedback. At this point if all is well, I code the design out and put it into Wordpress. If changes are required, I make the changes.

Once the design is up and running on my test server, the client can look the site over and make sure it’s functioning properly. Once the final ok is given, the final payment is required and the files are sent over, and/or uploaded to their website.

I keep in contact afterwards and always keep my lines of communication open no matter how far down the road my client has a question, they’re always welcome to write me.

9. What are your top 3 websites / books and why?

Think and Grow Rich - This book is the single reason I started a full on full time freelance career. I always “wanted” to do this for a living, but after reading that book, I had a new vision and was seeing things so clear, it was crazy.

Bootstrapping Your Business - Another GREAT book on building your business with little to no money. It’s what caused me to start Boot Strapping Blog to keep my thoughts and ideas on bootstrapping together in one place and to also spread the word about it.

Guerrilla Marketing - Jay Conrad Levinson is a GENIUS. That’s all I can really say. This book has me thinking so far outside the box about marketing, its spilling over into my designs as well.

10. What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out?

Never quit. No matter what gets in your way, or what hurdle you have to jump over, just keep going. I don’t care if you read zero websites and network with NOONE, just keep going. Push yourself and never give up. People will run their mouth and sometimes you might hit a dry spell in clients, but keep going. Use that time to design your own work or build something useful for other people. Progress every day. If you don’t take a step, you never move forward. Why sit still if you’re not happy in your current situation?

Jacob: Thank you Mike for taking the time to fill out this interview… If you want to be featured as the next Designer In The Spotlight, please fill out this form.