Many thanks to Chris Spooner of blog.spoongraphics for taking the time to answer some of my questions. Chris is the creative and unique mind behind blog.spoongraphics. His site is renowned in the design community for having high quality tutorials, freebies and articles. His most recent tutorial on “How to Create a Vector Safari Compass in Illustrator” is yet another gem and certainly worth looking through.
Here’s the interview…
How and when did you get started in graphic/web design?
Strangely as far as I can remember I’ve always wanted to be a Graphic Designer, forget being a Firefighter or an Astronaut - design was my thing! Therefore throughout education I always went down the creative route, finalising in a degree in Art & Design.
Back when I was studying for my degree I also worked alongside a friend at his design studio undertaking various web and print jobs which was a great help to build up my experience in real-world commercial projects.
Tell us a little more about blog.spoongraphics and how you got started?
Blog.SpoonGraphics is my personal website that I use as a digital playground where I present design tutorials, articles and free giveaways. I feel the site allows me to develop and practice my skills without limitation whilst building additional experience of social media, search engine optimization and establishing relationships with fellow designers from around the world. The SpoonGraphics website started as my personal portfolio and a base for my freelance work, after seeing various design blogs on the web I decided to give blogging a go myself, I setup the subdomain Blog.SpoonGraphics, installed Wordpress and began posting tutorials. Soon some of my posts gained pretty good traffic and the blog slowly developed to what it is today.
What other websites are you involved with?
I am currently working on a new project with a developer friend named myNiteLife, which is an online night life planner for my local city of Sheffield. The site will allow users to rate and review the local venues, upload photos and plan their nights out. It’s an exciting project that allows me to concentrate on the visuals while my experienced friend works his magic with Ruby on Rails. I also maintain my girlfriend’s driving instruction website; Revolution Driving Tuition, and have a small pligg based social news website called MTBvibe which collates Mountain Biking articles from across the web.
What’s the best part about working for yourself?
Although I haven’t taken the full plunge into freelance work, the main benefits I find are more freedom in terms of time and how many projects are managed, as well as the leisures of working from home.
Did you go to school for graphic/web design, or are you self-taught?
I studied through Hull University for a BA in Art and Design but I find self teaching to give the best results by researching topics and following the tutorials of others. Finding solutions to problems through experimentation for me, is the best way to pick up new skills and techniques.
What technologies do you know the least about, that you’d like to learn more?
I have been looking to learn Javascript recently and have just decided that jQuery will be my tool of choice, after following a couple of basic tutorials I seem to be able to pickup the syntax pretty well with it being similar to CSS. I’m now my quest to learn how to create a custom pieces of script to create a specific effects or functions rather than have to rely on ready made solutions!
What does a typical day look like?
I am currently under full time employment at a small Sheffield based design studio which means I undertake the daily 9-5 routine. A typical day involves working on various projects for both print and web such as leaflet designs, brochures, exhibition graphics and website design. Throughout the day I also enjoy browsing the internet, keeping up to date on various design related news and looking through my feed reader for updates on my favorite design blogs.
What was your favorite project that you’ve gotten to work on and why?
My favorite project so far would be the work created for Revolution Driving Tuition, being my girlfriend’s business it gave me (almost!) creative freedom. What was even better was the project entailed a huge range of design work ranging from the initial logo design and branding, through to advertising leaflets and posters, on to the vehicle graphics and finally the complete website design and promotion.
What software could you not make it through the day without?
I am constantly using the Adobe Creative Suite on a daily basis, particularly Illustrator, Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Without these programs my daily work would be much more difficult. However, more importantly without my web browser I wouldn’t be able to keep up to date with the design world!
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
I don’t have any individual person as inspiration, rather the design community as a whole. I regularly enjoy browsing inspirational lists found on design blogs which roundup various styles of illustration, digital art and website design. I have also been a long time subscriber to Computer Arts Projects magazine, which also presents plenty of great designers and artists in their articles.
What social media sites do you spend the most time at? What one’s have been the most effective for helping with your site’s traffic?
StumbleUpon has by far been the best source of traffic for Blog.SpoonGraphics, and would also be the one I tend to spend the longest browsing simply because it is never ending! However I do tend to find a lot of new and interesting content through the design specific sites of Design Float and Design Bump.
What sites are at the top of your feed reader?
I have many sites I enjoy reading on various topics of design, but the ones I find myself visiting on a regular basis are CSS Tricks, PSDTUTS , Web Designer Wall, GoMedia, Veerle’s Blog, Vandelay and Just Creative Design.
When you’re not on the computer, what do you like to do?
Myself and my girlfriend often enjoy checking out the latest movie releases at the cinema and I occassionally head out on my mountain bike for some offroad, downhill action!
What advice would you give, someone in your field who is just starting out?
The best piece of advice I could give would be to gain experience in the industry, gaining the knowledge of how projects are managed by established design studios can really help when it comes to taking on projects yourself. Having this initial experience is also a big bonues on your CV or Resume. It is also crucial to keep up to date on the latest news and technologies to keep your employability topped up, for example still being a completely table based web designer in these modern times would probably not get you very far in the web industry.
What methods do you use to get most of your projects?
Although I haven’t been promoting myself for freelance projects my personal website has attracted some useful business, having a selection of work presented in the form of an online portfolio gives potential clients the chance to check out what I have to offer. Having the blog is also highly beneficial in terms of traffic and the increased visibility of the whole site to the search engines.
What are your future plans/goals?
In the short term I am looking forward to working on some personal projects and maintaining Blog.SpoonGraphics with new tutorials and articles. In the long term my plans are to take the complete plunge as a freelancer.
That’s a wrap. Thanks again to Chris for doing this interview, I hope you’ve enjoyed it! If you have any comments, or additional questions for Chris, don’t hesitate to drop a comment using the form below.
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July 15th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thanks once again for the opportunity
July 15th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Great interview Andrew! I have been a huge fan of blog.spoongraphics.co.uk for a while now and it was a great surprise/honor to read designbump mentioned! Keep up the great work Chris!
Regards,
John
July 15th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Nice interview! Great insight.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I have enjoyed reading your blog Chris. I really liked that two parter you did a while back with the snowboarder and mountain.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:30 am
some good information there and useful links. thanks
July 16th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Great interview, enjoyed reading each and every line. I’ve always enjoyed browsing your site & some of the works you’ve created are truly amazing, I love the one you did for your girlfriend. Nice work, keep it up!
July 17th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Awesome interview - quite surprised to see the list of blogs he reads both in terms of variety and how short the list is. I guess there’s only so much that a top-brass designer needs to know
July 17th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Thanks for all the kind comments, my head is a good 4 inches wider now!
Sumesh, I have a quite a long list of blogs that I read, almost all on the topic of design. Those mentioned are just a small selection of the blogs I find myself visiting on a daily basis
July 21st, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I liked this! It’s nice to get a little more insight into your favorite bloggers (and thanks Andrew for asking those questions!).
I agree with you, Chris, about self teaching vs. formal education. In this industry you just can’t stop learning, which is why blogging is so great. There’s such opportunity to learn from and connect with other designers that are farther along in their careers, as well as the ones who aren’t even out of school yet (they are so energetic and full of ideas!). And being a part of the global online design community is awesome!
I’m amazed that you are working full time and manage to do freelance and a fantastic blog on the side. I work full time, too, and I don’t think I could manage freelance work!
July 21st, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Lauren Marie,
I agree, I think Chris has found a way to get more than 24 hours out of a day!
August 21st, 2008 at 6:50 am
Hi!
The interview was simply great. Even a novice can easily get an idea of the web/ graphic design without any difficulty. For new beginners, this post is very beneficial.
Payel
Payel’s last post was… Privacy Policy of Greenarch, a HIP Solution provider in UK
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 am
Great information! Thanks for writing this. It is an honor to participate in the discussion.