This is part 5 of the Design Toolbox Series where I interview top designers about what tools they use to help them create their art. This series was largely inspired by Grace Smith’s “Show Me Your Dock Series.” It’s my hope that you can gain insight into what other designer’s are using, and hopefully find some new apps/tools to check out.

About Matt Ward

Matt Ward is a digital artist who lances freely under the moniker Echo Enduring Media. He specializes in design, illustration and writing, and has several articles published here on MyInkBlog. He is also currently employed as the Creative Director for Highland Marketing, a direct marketing company based out of Waterloo, Ontario.

On a more personal note, Matt is married to his best friend and the love of his life, Kelly. Together, they have one beautiful daughter who is already showing signs of her own creative genius (at least from a parent’s perspective). Matt plays a little guitar, a few video games and is highly involved in his local church.

Matt Ward – Design Toolbox

Computer/OS

I have a 13” MacBook, running Leopard, which I use to do pretty much everything, from designing to writing, to general web surfing. I also have a Toshiba Satellite laptop and an Acer desktop, both running Vista, which I use for the few Windows-based things I still need to do – like testing sites in IE.

Browser

I use FireFox. Despite the fact that both Safari and Chrome are faster, I can’t seem to give up old Foxy. It’s like an old friend that I am the most comfortable with. I do open up Safari every once in a while though, usually when I want to work with a site as a logged in administrator and just a regular visitor.

Code Editor

Coda rocks my world. I used to use Dreamweaver for a while, just because it came packaged with CS4, and before that, when I was working on a PC, I used a program called HTML Kit. Those were both okay, but Coda is just more lightweight, and easier to use. It makes it a breeze to manage multiple websites, and I love the way they integrated Transmit, allowing me to move files to and from the server without having to open a separate FTP app.

Mail Client

The default Mail app that comes with OS X has been fine for me. It allows me to download my emails, read them and organize them (though I need to get better at the later). I don’t really need anything more than that. Plus, it integrates nicely with the rest of the operating system.

Billing App

I use Billings 3. Again, another beautiful Mac app that, though its lightweight, is still powerful enough to meet all my needs. I can manage my contacts and projects, create estimates and invoices, add payments and track everything through a wide range of built in reports.

FTP Client

I already mentioned the way I use Coda to transfer files when developing websites. However, if I need to upload or download other types of files – like artwork to a commercial printer – I use FileZilla. There’s nothing all that fancy about it, but I it has worked just fine for my needs.

Twitter App

On my computer, I use Tweetie. I used to use TweetDeck, and while I like some of the features it offered, I found that it was a real drain on my system. Tweetie isn’t quite as robust, but it’s prettier, and much more lightweight.

RSS Reader

It seems like I’ve gone through a number of different RSS readers over the years, but right now I am using NetNewsWire, and am relatively happy with it.

Task Organizer

Again tried a few different apps before finally settling on Things, which I absolutely love, especially with the ability to synch it to the app for my iPhone. Now I can take my to do list with me wherever I go, and sometimes even knock a few items of while I’m on the move. So far it’s been the perfect solution for me.

Photo/Design Editor

Photoshop for sure. I know it can be bloated and buggy and is prone to crashing, but as far as I’m concerned it is still the defacto application when it comes to image editing, photo manipulations and so on. I’m constantly being amazed at the new things I am figuring out how to do. I also love the smooth integration that I have experienced with Illustrator.

Vector/Illustration Program

Definitely Illustrator these days. I actually started out with vector art in Corel Draw 6, way back in high school and used a copy of Corel Draw 8 for years. When I first made the switch to Illustrator, it took me a while to get used to it, but now I use it on an almost daily basis, for various forms of illustration, icon design and so on.

Any other apps you’d like to share

There are really only two other apps on my Dock that I use a lot. The first is Evernote, which is a slick little application that allows me to throw together. I can write notes, include websites and all kinds of other information. Even better, I can also synch it all to my iPhone through my Evernote account, allowing me to keep all my notes right at my fingertips.

The other application that I use is MAMP, which basically simulates a local apache server running both PHP and mySQL. This has allowed me to install a local version of WordPress, so that I can easily develop themes even without an internet connection.

Connect With Matt

• Echo Enduring Media
• Echo Enduring Blog
• Highland Marketing
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Related posts:

1. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 1 Grace Smith
2. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 2 Timothy Smith
3. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 3: Kyle Steed

Hey Jeff, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions here on MyInkBlog! Please speak a little bit about yourself, and your background? How did you get started in web development?

I’m basically just a creative guy who is completely addicted to web design and the creative process. I’ve been developing websites and writing tutorials for about six years. My background includes a lot of drawing, print and graphic design. I have been exploring art and creativity most of my life. Iíve worked quite a bit with desktop publishing and audio/video mixing. In college, I studied biochemistry, psychology, and math in an attempt to get into medical school. After that fell through, I dove wholeheartedly into web and graphic design, and have been here ever since. I initially got into web design and development as a career move, and now pursue it as more of a lifestyle.

Your book “Digging Into WordPress” that you co-wrote with Chis Coyier has already been a big success. What separates this book from the host of other WordPress books that are available?

I think mostly because we did it 100% our own way. At first we looked into going with an established publisher, but after really thinking about it, decided to “roll our own” and go the self-publishing/DIY route. The one thing we didn’t want to do was just another book about WordPress. It had to be 100% genuine, with “real-life” code and authentic dialogue. Plus, we include stuff like free themes and free lifetime updates, which is something I’ve never seen for other WordPress books. I see Digging into WordPress as a living, breathing project as opposed to a typical, static tech book. We’re both right down there in the trenches working with WordPress every day. It’s the real deal.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while putting together a project of this magnitude?

Overall, I think the biggest challenge is doing everything ourselves. When you go with an established publisher, you’ve got other people doing all of the design, editing, testing, printing, distribution, accounting, and so on. We’re doing all of this ourselves, so there is much more work involved throughout the entire process. The upside is that we maintain full control over every detail of the project. For myself, that’s a beneficial equation, and overall itís been an incredible experience. Working with Chris Coyier is just plain awesome :)

In addition to the book and Perishable Press you also find the time to manage Monzilla Media, jQuery Mix, MindFeed amongst others. I have no idea how you do it! What sort of time management skills can you share?

Balance is key. I try to avoid spending too much time on any one project. I also try to maximize my time, always thinking of better and more efficient ways of doing things. I’ve been refining my practice for many years. I’m now at the point where I can do some pretty serious multitasking. With a family of four, full-time offline job, part-time web-design business, ongoing book project, and seven production sites, time-management is critical, but I actually spend very little time thinking about it. Instead I just get things done as spontaneously and efficiently as possible, running on intuition while focusing on the present moment. It’s all by the grace of God, really — I only work with what I am given.

I find many of your blog posts on Perishable Press refreshingly honest. Your recent post “A Few Steps Back” really caught my attention. Can you briefly speak about some of the negative trends you’ve been observing lately in the design community.

I think it feels good to be honest and cut loose once in awhile, but it’s not always met with enthusiasm. Getting tons of stuff done means that you don’t often get the chance to step back and ponder the deeper things in life, like where you’re at, what you’re doing, and where you’re going. That’s important stuff, but sadly not enough of us are taking the time to actually live our lives offline, in the “real” world. This is having a detrimental effect throughout the community, I think, as designers get hung up in the game, trolling for followers, and focused only on short-term self-promotion, monetization and opportunism. As a result, everything is getting way too impersonal, shallow, and insincere. Everyone is so concerned with cranking out content, designs, and tutorials that they’re missing all the incredible stuff that other people are doing. There is so much amazing work out there, but unfortunately the trend seems to be in the direction of everyone being their own producer, publisher, and audience.

What new technologies and design trends interest you the most right now?

I’m stoked about the increasing use of CSS3 and HTML5. I love clean, well-formatted code, and CSS3/HTML5 enable designers to create better, even more amazing sites than ever before. I’m also hooked on Ajax and jQuery, and how they can transform the ordinary web page into a highly interactive user experience. I also enjoy working with the Twitter and Facebook APIs, and think it would be fun to develop an app or two for the iPhone. Certainly, with all the amazing new technologies it can be difficult to stay focused. And then there’s the Web itself, which seems to be evolving into this omniscient, all-defying presence. What will the Web look like in another 10 years? 50? Will it remain free and open, or will some political force try locking it down? There’s sort of a mystical energy to working online that keeps everything very exciting and inspiring.

What are some of your favorite blogs that you read?

I read a wide variety of topics in a futile attempt to stay current. I read everything from mainstream design/development sites to some great “in-the-trenches”-type personal sites. I also subscribe to various niche sites on different programming languages, hacking, security, networking, and software/apps. I also enjoy reading a few key SEO sites, WordPress sites, and plenty of non-tech-related stuff. Needless to say, I spend waay too much time in Google Reader! But I’m working on it ;)

What tools do you use daily to help you develop your websites? Software, apps, hardware, books or otherwise?

When it comes to software, apps, and other tools, I like to keep things simple. I love working with Notepad on the PC, and TextEdit on the Mac. Likewise, I use either Dreamweaver or Coda for file synchronization, syntax highlighting, and FTP. Other essentials include Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Firefox, and Thunderbird. Nothing too glamorous, but they’re all great programs that continue to serve me well. I also use a ton of online apps like Google Reader, Google Docs, Gmail, Dropbox, smush.it, plus all sorts of validators, code compressors and the like. There’s a million of ‘em!

Mac or PC, why?

I’ve been a PC guy from the start, but have been using a MacBook Pro on the side for several years now. It used to feel like cheating, but not anymore. My next machine is going to be a Mac. I have my glass eye on a new Mac Pro, but plan on waiting until they roll out with the 2010 updates, hopefully any day now. ;)

Thanks a bunch for doing this interview. In closing, what sort of advice would you give someone who is just getting started in web development?

One word: search. Possessing strong search skills is fundamental to success. Beyond that, just give it everything you’ve got. Practice like mad, learn ’til it hurts, and never say die. You are only limited by yourself!

That’s A Wrap

Thanks again to Jeff for agreeing to this interview. Please feel free to drop Jeff a line using the comment form below.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Liam McKay
2. An Interview with Web Developer, Aaron Carlino
3. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 4: Jeff Finley

This is part 4 of the Design Toolbox Series where I interview top designers about what tools they use to help them create their art. This series was largely inspired by Grace Smith’s “Show Me Your Dock Series.” It’s my hope that you can gain insight into what other designer’s are using, and hopefully find some new apps/tools to check out.

About Jeff Finley

Jeff Finley is an artist, designer, and creative entrepreneur. He is part owner of the creative agency Go Media and lives in Cleveland, OH with his wife Kim and their bunny Cocoa. He plays drums in Parachute Journalists with Adam Wagner, also of Go Media. He’s also founder of the art, film, and music festival Weapons of Mass Creation Fest taking place in Cleveland this year on May 22 and 23.

Jeff Finley – Design Toolbox

Computer/OS

Windows XP, but I’ve been using Windows 7 and I love it. Once I can, I plan to switch all my machines over to Windows 7. People might be surprised I don’t use a Mac, and frankly I don’t have a very good reason other than they cost a lot and I already get my work accomplished on a PC. I don’t really care for the whole debate, I’ll work on whatever!

Printer

Xerox Phaser 7750 is our big color printer at Go Media. We also use a few Brother laser printers for black and white documents.

Browser

Firefox, but lately I’ve been using Google Chrome a lot more mostly because it’s just faster. My firefox has too many addons going on and I like the simplicity of Chrome.

Code Editor

Notepad2 and Dreamweaver. I like using Dreamweaver because of the shortcuts and it’s faster to write HTML and CSS. But Notepad2 is better when I don’t feel like opening up yet another bulky Adobe app.

Mail Client

Microsoft Exchange. I use Outlook 2007, but will be delighted when I can use 2010. I like Exchange because I can easily access all my emails from anywhere. I used to use Thunderbird with POP3/Imap years ago and I would have issues when working at the office and then at home. Exchange makes this easier, and it works on my PalmPre.

Billing App

We use Quickbooks Pro 2009, although I personally don’t work in it. My wife Kim does Go Media’s bookkeeping and our project manager Heather uses it for invoicing clients.

FTP Client

Filezilla and/or WinSCP. I actually used FireFTP quite a bit, but I’ve found these other two are much faster. WinSCP is kinda old school, but it’s great for editing files directly on the server w/ Notepad 2.

Twitter App

I’ve been using HootSuite quite a bit lately, but I’m still a fan of DestroyTwitter. I love the DT interface, but lately I’ve been managing quite a bit of Twitter Accounts and Facebook Pages. I love how HootSuite lets me do all of that. I’ve got Facebook pages for Go Media, The Arsenal, ShirtMockup, Parachute Journalists, Myself, and a few random others. Same with Twitter. It gets overwhelming, HootSuite is the only way to keep it organized.

RSS Reader

Google Reader. I used to subscribe via email, but my inbox just would get cluttered and overloaded and I spent more time deleting posts than reading them. Google Reader is much nicer for this. However, I find myself not logging in and honestly it’s been like a month since I last logged in. I’ve been swamped so it’s easy to forget about keeping up with your favorite sites.

Task Organizer

We’ve got an in-house project management app called Prooflab that we built to run the ins and outs of Go Media. We’re actually working on a complete overhaul and will release it to the general public. But I also use Basecamp, Highrise, and somtimes Outlook for task management.

Photo/Design Editor

Photoshop, it’s just the standard. I’m good at it and wouldn’t use anything else.

Vector/Illustration Program

Illustrator. Same as above.

Any Other Apps You’d Like to Share?

My fellow Go Media colleague Adam Wagner has turned me onto a few neat apps like YadaByte Subtext for text replacement. For example, I can fill a text block w/ Lorum Ipsum just by typing “lorum2” for two paragraphs. It recognizes what you type and replaces it with whatever text you want. If you say the same things to people in emails, this is handy. He also pointed me to a handy app called “FolderMenu” which adds middle mouse button functionality to access your frequently used folders and files. It has saved me tons of time navigating through client folders and directories. I also like using “FolderSizes” for seeing how much disc space particular projects are taking up on our server. When we’re reaching capacity, this app shows me what clients are the biggest disc space hogs. Like “oh wow, this client is taking up 22% of our entire server, better back it up and delete it). When you have tons of files, this stuff can get out of control.

Connect With Jeff

• Go Media
• Arsenal
• GoMediaZine
• Shirt Mockup
• WMC Fest
• Parachute Journalists
• Portfolio Site
• Twitter
• Tumblr

That’s A Wrap

Feel free to comment and add your tools of choice for any or all of the categories above.

Related posts:

1. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 5: Matt Ward
2. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 3: Kyle Steed
3. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 1 Grace Smith

About Kyle Steed

Kyle Steed is an awesomely talented designer from in Dallas, Texas. He is refreshingly open, honest and humble. He’s the guy behind kylesteed.com (naturally) and works a full-time 9-5 job doing web + graphic design as well as work in his free time doing illustrations + web design.

Computer/OS

Computer/OS – iMac/Macbook running OS X 10.5 (Waiting to upgrade to Snow Leopard)

Printer

Epson Stylus Photo RX620 (I use it more for scanning than I do printing)

Browser

Safari is really my browser of choice

Code Editor

A mixture of Dreamweaver (Code view only) and CODA

Mail Client

Using Google Apps to manage my personal email through my domain

Billing App

FreshBooks (Still using the free version since I’m not full-time freelance)

FTP Client

Transmit (hands down the best)

Twitter App

Tweetie (I love the shortcut keys to switch from the main timeline to my @ replies and DM’s to search)

RSS Reader

Google Reader (As of just a couple months ago. Before then I didn’t really use RSS)

Task Organizer

My moleskin (Does that count?) ;)

Any Other Apps You’d Like To Share?

Cornerstone by Zennaware is my favorite Version Control software. Fluid is another personal favorite.

Connect With Kyle

• Website
• Flickr
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Vimeo

Feel free to comment add your tools of choice for any or all of the categories above.

Related posts:

1. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 1 Grace Smith
2. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 2 Timothy Smith
3. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 4: Jeff Finley

About Tim Smith

Tim Smith is the editor of Fuel Your Blogging. He has a passion for writing and loves to share his thoughts and experiences for the benefit of others. Here are the tools that he uses to design and create.

Computer/OS

I use an Apple 17″ iMac. My computer is ancient though. I’m always joking around that it’s going straight to a museum when I’m done! It’s still running Tiger! I’ll hopefuly be upgrading soon.

Printer

Actually, I just bought a new printer. I’m using a Brother MFC 6490. I love it. It does everything. It scans, copies and prints. I definitely recommend it.

Browser

I use the latest version of Firefox. Version 3.5, right? One of my favorite features of Firefox is Personas. You can have a different skin for the browser everyday if you want.

Code Editor

I’m more of a graphic designer than a web designer but I love to get my hands dirty with code. I use a very simple app called Smultron. It doesn’t have a lot of features like Coda or Espresso but… it works for me.

Mail Client

I use Postbox. I love Postbox. I started using it when it was still in beta and I just love the features and UI. Even though it’s features are sophisticated, I like that the user experience is simple.

Billing App

I use Billings. I love apps that are simple to use and Billings saves me of a lot of work and headaches.

FTP Client

I use CyberDuck. Again, I love simple apps and CyberDuck lets me setup my FTP information quickly and without hassle.

Twitter App

I’m using TweetDeck. I love using it. I can have my various groups, accounts and I can also update Facebook from it. However, what I don’t like is that it hogs a lot of my RAM and it limits the apps I can have open at once. As soon as I upgrade to a new Mac, I most certainly will begin to use Tweetie if TweetDeck doesn’t make some major changes.

RSS Reader

I don’t use an RSS reader right now. But, I do think that I should start using one. I usually send all my feeds to my inbox. It makes a mess because I’ll wake up to over 80 messages; only counting the feeds. Starting the day with the number 110 on the Postbox icon isn’t really great.

Task Organizer

I love Things!! I recently wrote a review on their app and I gave it 5 out of 5. Again, the app is simple to use and I love that. I was able to learn all of the features of Things in like five minutes. That’s great! It has helped me be a lot more productive.

Photo/Design Editor

Photoshop of course! I use Photoshop everyday for Fuel Your Blogging. I make thumbnails, lead images for our articles and recently I’ve been doing some photo retouching.

Vector/Illustration Program

Illustrator. I make sure I use it everyday. I’m usually working on a logo, some text for a wallpaper or just messing around. I love it!

Parting Shots

Feel free to add your tools of choice for any or all of the categories above. I’d also love to hear your suggestions for genres that I should add to the next designer’s toolbox.

Related posts:

1. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 1 Grace Smith
2. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 3: Kyle Steed
3. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 5: Matt Ward

About Grace Smith

Grace Smith is a talented blogger, designer and the owner of Postscript5. She was kind enough to take the time to share some of the tools she uses and some insight into why she’s chosen them. Check out her thoughtful responses below.

Browser

At the moment it would be Safari 4, however I’ve been testing out Google Chrome over the last few days (having downloaded the developer preview for OSX) and I think once it’s in Beta I will be switching. While I appreciate how useful Firefox can be, I switched to Safari because of the stability problems I was experiencing with Firefox, It was just one crash too many!

Code Editor

I’ve used both CSSEdit and Espresso but always come back to Coda. It integrates everything that I need; namely a code editor, css editor, preview pane, SSH Terminal, website management and an FTP client.

Mail Client

I run all my mail accounts through Google Apps as a desktop app using Fluid, with all my accounts streaming into a single inbox. Previously I used the native Mail app, however I switched to Google to better streamline my email and process.

Billing App

I was a Freshbooks user for several years but recently switched to Curdbee as I needed a simpler, more cost effective solution. Curdbee is an excellent service, offering the necessary functionality and features which suit my needs perfectly.

FTP Client

Coda, although I had been using Transmit for some time before getting into Coda. I do love it’s simplicity and functionality, a great standalone FTP app. I still make use of the ‘droplets’ which are great for recurring uploads.

Twitter App

I use Tweetie because of it’s speed and slick interface although I long for it to add the ability to create groups as that’s the feature I miss most since switching from Tweetdeck earlier this year.

RSS Reader

Google Reader
as a standalone app using Fluid and styled with the exquisite Helvetireader. It’s simply a beautiful and useful piece of kit.

Task Organizer

After longing for a super simple, ‘get your stuff done’ to-do list app, I knew my search was over once I found TaskPaper. No bloated complex software, just a fast, simple app that makes sure I keep up to date with my tasks.

Photo/Design Editor

Photoshop – I’ve been using it since the days of Photoshop 6 and can’t see myself usng any other app. It’s where every design I work on is created and polished.

Vector/Illustration Program

Admittedly I don’t use Illustrator all that often, but when I work on a logo or illustration, it’s my app of choice.

Final Thoughts

Feel free to add your tools of choice for any of the categories above. Also, I’d love to hear your suggestions for the categories I should add to the next designer’s toolbox series (I already have a couple of ideas).

Related posts:

1. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 2 Timothy Smith
2. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 3: Kyle Steed
3. What’s In Your Design Toolbox? Part 5: Matt Ward

Brian Hoff is a one of those folks in the design community that make logo design look effortless. His logos are sleek and elegant. A fantastic acid test for a logo is how well it displays in black and white. Given that Brian’s logo gallery is entirely in black and white, yet looks stunning, I’d say he gets an ‘A’ on that test. Oh yeah, he is also a very good web designer and blogger. Brian was kind enough to answer some questions here on MyInkBlog, check out the insight he shares in the answers that follow.

Hi Brian, thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions for MyInkBlog readers. Please start by telling us a little about yourself, and how you got started in design? Are you self-taught or did you go to college for design?

I love the style of the logos you create. Can you talk a little about your design process?

There is a big gap between amateur and professional looking logo design. What would you say are the biggest factors that can take a logo design from good to great?

Sometimes it’s difficult to get started on a project, and brainstorm design ideas. How do you get inspired and stay motivated?

I’ve been very interested lately in gaining some insight from other designers about how they manage their time. With all the projects that you do, how do you manage to find time for everything? Do you utilize any apps/software to help organize and prioritize your to-do list?

What are some of your favorite design blogs that you read?

What tools are in your designer’s toolbox that would be tough to live without? Software, apps, hardware, books or otherwise?

Mac or PC, why?

When you are not blogging, designing or otherwise behind the computer, what do you enjoy doing to step away for a while?

Thanks again, for doing this interview. In closing, what sort of advice would you give someone who is just getting started in design?

Brian Around the Web

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Vimeo

Final Thoughts

You’ve reached the end of this interview, but if you have a question, comment, or just want to say hi to Brian, please drop a comment below.

Related posts:

1. Interview With Jacob Cass
2. An Interview with Liam McKay
3. An Interview With Adelle Charles

Introduction

Aaron Irizarry is a hard-working, fun-loving, and super helpful member of the design community. He runs This is Aaron’s Life and a host of other design related sites. I’ve been privileged to get to know him a little better the last couple weeks. The other day, he was kind enough to agree to this interview, check out his thoughtful responses.

Hi Aaron, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with MyInkBlog. Please tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in design.

I always enjoy reading your posts because of their original flair and perspective. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

You are consistently helping to better the design community with sites like This is Aaron’s Life, One CSS and One Up. Do you have any future plans for those sites or a new one that you’d like to share?

Your sites are beautifully designed with a minimalistic approach. Can you discuss a little about your design process and why this style appeals to you?

Design theory and trends are constantly shifting and evolving. What do you think we’ll see more of in 2010?

Good designers learn and improve over time. What are some of the important lessons you’ve learned along the way?

What are some of your favorite sites that you visit for inspiration, learning, and otherwise?

Mac or a PC, why?

When you’re not behind the computer designing and blogging, what do you enjoy doing to get away from it all?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer some questions here. In closing is there any advice you’d like to give an aspiring designer?

Connect with Aaron

If you’d like to connect with Aaron or check out some of his sites, here is where you can find him.

• This is Aaron’s Life
• One CSS
• One Up
• eLocal Listing Blog
• Twimailer

Final Thoughts

Aaron is one of my favorite people in the design community. If you have a question or comment for him, drop him a line below.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Web Developer, Aaron Carlino
2. An Interview with Grant Friedman
3. Interview With Jacob Cass

Aaron Carlino is one of those developers that make writing code look completely effortless. Which is something most of us designers, by our very nature, struggle with all the time. On many occasions I’ve picked his brain for some help where my logic falls short and he’s always willing to lend a hand.

Aaron is a strong advocate for Silverstripe and has contributed to its community with a number of awesome modules. Recently I got a chance to send him the questions that follow. His responses are thoughtful and witty. Enjoy!

MIB: Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for MyInkBlog Readers. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in web development.

AC: When I was growing up in New Hampshire, my talents were spread all over the map. I was really good at a lot of things, but not excellent at any specific one. I was a great writer, musician, French speaker (believe it or not), and of course a seasoned computer dork, having been one of the first kids in my class to get a personal computer in 1986 (a blazing 8 mhz processor paired with a dazzling 4-color monitor). When I went to college at St. Michael’s College in Vermont, I had no idea what I wanted to do and ended up being ushered into a journalism/music double major to even further carry out my indecision. Interestingly, the journalism program included a class called “New Media,” which was basically a 15-week exposure to the latest techniques in web development, using Microsoft Frontpage. I decided then that I would never be interested in web work. Could you have blamed me?

After school, I spun my wheels for several years, not able to figure out how to harness all the things I was interested in. I was taking a graduate class in Education at the time, and someone mentioned that another local college, Champlain College, had great multimedia programs. It intrigued me. When I spoke to an advisor with questions about where I might fit in, she said openly, “If you want to get a job, choose web. There are ten web jobs for every one graphics job right now.”

I had flashbacks to my college class in that dank computer lab, dragging around cheesy clipart and testing in IE 4.0, and told her I had, well, been there, done that. She told me about Dreamweaver, and that it was a markedly better than Frontpage, and I agreed to take a class, provided I didn’t have to write any code.

I think I knew within six weeks of taking that class that web development was the perfect marriage of all my interests. I could design and I could write, all while stimulating my quirky obsession with following rules and conventions. When I learned about XHTML and CSS, and the “right” way to do build a web page, I lit up with excitement, and I was pretty much a goner from there.

I had an internship months after I finished that program, which I leveraged into a full time job at Bluehouse Group. It’s a small firm of 10 people. I mostly do programming and any heavy lifting for our Silverstripe sites. We’ve got a great team, and I’m lucky to work with such a talented group of people.

Sometimes I have a hard time believing I’ve made a livelihood of something I never imagined I’d enjoy doing or even be capable of doing . I’ve become a really good programmer, and a proficient systems administrator, and I’m really proud of that. My eye for design gets better with every site I build, which is shocking because I was always that kid in art class who would rather eat his crayons than put them on paper.

MIB: You are an advocate of the SilverStripe CMS. Talk a little about how you first got started with SilverStripe and what advantages it has over some of the more popular CMS projects out there.

AC: Back in the fall of 2007, Bluehouse Group was very actively seeking an open source alternative to a proprietary CMS that was in an advanced state of technological decay during the tide of Web 2.0 trends. I had been tasked with evaluating our options, and was quite overwhelmed. After all, there are thousands to choose from. One of the other developers at Bluehouse Group caught wind of Google’s endorsement of Silverstripe for its Summer of Code and recommended I give it an evaluation.

I followed the tutorials and was not only impressed, but also relieved. Finally, I thought, developer freedom in a CMS. I knew other CMSes allowed custom code and templating, but Silverstripe was just so much more inviting to both PHP coders, databasers, and XHTML developers. The Sapphire PHP framework is really well-engineered and easy to use. The community is active. The documentation is ample. They just did a lot of things right, and it was an easy decision from there. Today, Bluehouse Group has launched about a dozen Silverstripe sites, and has contributed its own EventCalendar module to the community.

MIB: You’ve written and are working on a bunch of modules/extensions for SilverStripe. The image gallery extension is an awesome and very welcome addition. What additions, changes, and new modules do you have planned for the future?

AC: Right now more than anything, I really just need a break. I find that I’m really good at starting projects, but not very good at finishing them. The amount of time I spend supporting my modules is on the verge of exceeding my capacity. For now I plan to maintain what I have, and keep pushing the SS development team to showcase my work, and maybe even adopt it as part of the Silverstripe core. That would be a huge achievement, and would make all my efforts worthwhile.

If I were to embark upon a new project, though, it would probably be design related. One of the few pain points for me in Silverstripe is its arrant lack modern design aesthetic. It makes the product look a lot less competitive than it really is. I’ve always flirted with the idea of writing a new set of stylesheets for the Silverstripe CMS to give it a cleaner, sharper, less-Windows-98 look-and-feel.

MIB: You get a lot accomplished in a day. What sort of time management techniques can you share?

AC: The funny thing is, I’m actually quite horrible at managing my time. Most of my work gets accomplished in binges, rather than scheduled bite-sized chunks of time, which isn’t very healthy. My goal is to rein in the runaway hours I spend on Silverstripe and other web development and get them into a contained block of time every night or every other night, so that it’s still part of my life, but it’s balanced.

I have a lot of other things in my life that need to work in harmony with my obsession with web development. I’m still a newlywed and very much enjoying spending time with my lovely new wife, who is incredibly supportive of everything I do. She says she’s very impressed by my work with Silverstripe when I show it to her. I’m not sure if she completely gets it — probably not — but it doesn’t matter. The point is that I’m fortunate to have such an appreciative audience at home. I’m also now playing lead guitar in two different musical projects, which is a great outlet for me, but it also demands a lot more of my time, especially when the summer gigging season picks up. So like I said, it’s all about balance. I think personal fulfillment is a function of breadth, not depth.

MIB: What are some of your favorite sites that you have in your rss feed?

AC: Most of it ends up in my Trash because I can’t keep up with it all, but here’s the list:

• Authentic Boredom (Cameron Moll)
• A List Apart (duh…)
• Silverstripe Forums (major duh..)
• Clusterf*** Nation, a blog by irreverent social critic James Howard Kunstler
• Peak Oil News

I also love, but am not subscribed to: Coding Horrors, Smashing Magazine, and Garfield Minus Garfield.

MIB: Which technologies are you not proficient at; that you’d like to improve on?

AC: Design, design, design. I think of myself as really a well-rounded developer, but design has always been a point of friction for me. I can usually get something decent eventually, but I go through so many iterations and mental blocks that I sink far too many hours into the design phase of a project. I’d love to learn more about the mechanics of good design — the grid, color scheming, and especially typography. If I had the time, I would audit a graphic design 101 class at Champlain, but I’m not sure where I’d fit that in at this point.

One of the most impressive skills to me is the ability to create a clear, usable, friction-free web interface. It’s something I really love doing myself, too, when I’m actually good at doing it, that is. Some of my favorite web interfaces include CampaignMonitor, Mint.com, and Basecamp.

MIB: What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring web developer just starting out?

AC: Start building stuff. Now. There is no course or book that is going to teach you as much as you’ll learn just building a site. You just have to do it. As much as I value my experience at Champlain College for getting me started in web development, I haven’t used a single thing I learned in any of those courses, and no employer has expressed any value for my formal web education, only my portfolio. In school they taught us to use tables and font tags in the Web Development course, and that was in 2006. The server-side scripting course was Perl. They still, not even in 2006, had recognized PHP as a viable server side language. I later got a D on a client-side scripting project because I insisted on using jQuery, which the professor adamantly believed was “cheating.”

The problem is that no curriculum or book can realistically keep up with the forces of change in the web. All you’ll get is a snapshot of what was happening at the time it was engendered.

So my advice is to find a friend or relative that needs a website and offer to do it for free. Use resources on the web like webmasterworld.com, htmlforums.com, and graphicdesignforums.com to get experienced eyes on your work and revise, revise, revise. Keep at it, and never let yourself become a “heads down” developer. Part of your job every day is to be attentive and interactive with what is going on in the trends of web design and development.

MIB: What other developers have helped you along the way?

AC: The most pivotal point in my growth as a web developer I owe to my best friend since kindergarten. He is a very skilled and experienced programmer, and has been coding since he was in diapers. When I started to get more into web stuff, he offered to help me out with learning PHP, even though he had never seen or written a single line of it. He haughtily told me he could teach it while concurrently learning it, so I agreed to spend a weekend down at his place in Boston, taking a crash course in PHP from someone who was as new to it as I was.

I remember that weekend well — sitting in a dimly lit room on a thrift store sofa, huddled around a 13″ Macbook, surrounded by PHP books stacked as high as the empty take-out containers. The following day, I boarded the subway, squinting beneath the first rays of sunshine I had seen in 48 hours, with my laptop in tow, chock full of partially-working scripts for a homegrown website administration panel. When I got back home, I took it from there.

I still communicate with him almost every day. We have an almost eerily perfect intellectual barter system arranged. He helps me with some of the more advanced principles of object-oriented programming and database queries, and I get him out of a jam when his company calls on him to build a web interface, and he’s stymied by menial pixel-pushing tasks. It works really well, and I’m lucky to have such a great resource at my disposal.

MIB: Mac or PC, why?

Mac, and I ain’t goin’ back.

One of my favorite quotes came from a critical comment in the blogosphere during the peak of iPhone hype. It said, “Apple is the world’s only publicly traded religion.”

So as a mindful Apple disciple, it behooves me to give the requisite response to your question — “Because it just works.”

Now that that’s out of the way, I think there’s much more to it than that. Apple is simply transcendent in their ability to innovate and design at the same time. I think the OSX interface, for example, is just a triumph of usability and sets exactly the sort of example we need in a world where the envelope between man and machine is becoming increasingly transparent. Apple products accommodate every detail. They anticipate every need. They always have the user in mind. I think the major difference between an Apple and Microsoft is that Apple /designs/ their products while Microsoft /evolves/ their products. Their ability to stay on the leading edge and raise the bar is what I find most inspiring as a developer.

Final Thoughts

That wraps up this interview. If you want to drop Aaron a line, please do so using the comment form below.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Aaron Irizarry
2. An Interview with Jeff Starr
3. An Interview With Adelle Charles

Adelle Charles is the talented individual behind Fuel Your Creativity, and the principal creative director for the Fuel Brand Group. I’m convinced Adelle has found a way to get more than 24 hours out of a day. In this interview I’ve attempted to uncover just how she may go about that. Have a look!

MIB: Please tell the readers a little about yourself. Where you’re from and what you do?

AC: I was born in Central NY and moved to Rochester, NY to attend college at Rochester Institute of Technology. There I studied Graphic Design and graduated with a BFA in 2001. My girlfriend Sarah and I enjoy photography, watching movies and entertaining friends at our house. We have 2 adorable little dogs, Chino and Jameson, who control the household and know when the most inappropriate time is to find the squeaky toys we constantly hide from them. I also enjoy renovating our house when I have the time which hasn’t been very often lately! I am the Creative Director at Fuel Brand Group where I am responsible for all of the design and the general creative direction of the Fuel Brand Group and its network of sites.

MIB: You have a bunch of projects you’re working on right now. The Fuel Brand continues to grow and expand, tell us a little about what you have in the works.

AC: I have many projects going on right now-there is no shortage in ideas! In fact, it’s pretty hard to keep up! Last week we launched the Fuel Brand Network site which gives you a little insight on our upcoming plans. One of the most important sites in the network is the Fuel Brand Group company site. You can check it out, get to know a little bit more about the team behind these awesome ideas.

MIB: With all the sites you work on, how do you find the time?

AC: It’s true I have a bunch of Fuel Sites in development as well as my own personal freelance clients that I tend to – along with Fresh ID work. The good thing is I have help on most of these projects whether it’s one of my partners at Fuel or even outsourcing some freelance work. I spend the most time writing for Fuel Your Creativity, keeping up-to-date on emails and networking.

MIB: Do you have any time management tips you’d like to share?

AC: Hmm…don’t sleep? I’m kidding! Make sure you keep a tight schedule with tasks clearly outlined as it’s easy to get off task and surf around not getting your work done!

MIB: Readers of Fuel Your Creativity can always find awesome inspiration on your site. Where do you go to get your inspiration from?

AC: It really varies from day to day. Many times it’s by chance that I find a great link on Twitter and other days I check out Pattern Tap and various CSS galleries.

MIB: What are some of your favorite design blogs that you have in your feed?

AC: There are so many! I’ve *tried* to shorten the list: CSS Tricks, Woork, Spyre Mag, Web Designer Wall, Web Design Ledger, Six Revisions, Tutorial 9, GoMediaZine, The Design Cubicle & MIB.

MIB: What web apps and software (other than the Adobe Suite) help make your life as a designer a little easier?

AC: Yammer, Skype, Paparazzi, Textmate, Firefox, CSSEdit, Transmit, Twitter, Curdbee, Freshbooks, Backboard, Things, NetNewsWire & Mint. Again, I’ve *tried* to just name a few but…

MIB: You’ve recently redesigned FYC (which looks great!). Tell us a little about the design process, and the steps involved in a re-launch like that.

AC: Thanks! The process started with redesigning the Fuel Brand Logo. I knew there were more sites to come in the network and it needed to be flexible enough to swap out to other sites, colors & text. I also needed a mark that would stand out more than the previous “F”, and then the Flame was born. I decided to stick with the same typeface as previous logo which is Futura. I wanted to keep some of the same similarities and not deviate too far from the style. The logo was the hardest part. I picked a grid layout, started sketching & wire framing the main details then designed Fuel Your Creativity’s new blog theme in Photoshop. A couple a sleep deprived days later the new layout was complete!

MIB: Which technologies are you not proficient at; that you’d like to improve on?

AC: I’m not the best at slicing & coding and would like to improve on that. For me it’s faster to outsource to someone I trust – but I am trying to improve my skills when I have down time. I believe it’s important to know how the process works when developing/designing a website but for me it’s like 2 Different Brains.

MIB: What words of advice would you give to an aspiring designer just starting out?

AC: Sketch, sketch sketch. Also try different creative activities that you haven’t tried before such as photography or painting. You never know what you will be good at and you may pick up some really unique design ideas and methods you’ve never thought of before that you can apply to your work.

MIB: What other designers have influenced you the most along the way?

Jason Santa Maria has been a huge inspiration. I love his magazine style layout…the simplicity & grid. Yes, I heart the grid. Other fave designers include, Scott Hanson, Elliot Jay Stocks, James White & Chuck Anderson.

Places to Connect with Adelle

Twitter (Personal)
Twitter (Fuel Your Creativity)
Twitter (Fuel Brand Group)
Flickr
Behance
Linked In
Delicious
Veer
Facebook

Final Thoughts

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this interview and have gained some insight from it. Feel free to leave your thoughts or just say a quick hi to Adelle below.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with Grant Friedman
2. An Interview with Aaron Irizarry
3. An Interview with Graphic Designer, Brian Hoff