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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

]]> http://www.myinkblog.com/2009/03/18/an-interview-with-web-developer-aaron-carlino/feed/ 6 http://www.myinkblog.com/2009/02/12/an-interview-with-adelle-charles/ http://www.myinkblog.com/2009/02/12/an-interview-with-adelle-charles/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:37:31 +0000 Andrew Houle http://www.myinkblog.com/?p=3285

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!

]]> Introduction

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.

]]> http://www.myinkblog.com/2009/02/12/an-interview-with-adelle-charles/feed/ 18 http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/11/17/an-interview-with-liam-mckay/ http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/11/17/an-interview-with-liam-mckay/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:26:00 +0000 Andrew Houle http://www.myinkblog.com/?p=2167 Liam McKay is a designer that is constantly growing and improving. Every design he creates seems to top the one prior. That's impressive; and it's something I always strive for in my own work. I'm stoked Liam agreed to this interview.
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I’ve gotten to know Liam McKay of Function through the web over the last couple of months, and I’m always impressed with him. He is a designer that is constantly growing and improving. Every design he creates seems to top the one prior. That’s impressive; and it’s something I always strive for in my own work.

I’m stoked Liam agreed to this interview. Check out his responses below, enjoy!

First off, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for MyInkBlog readers! Tell us a little about your background; where your from and how you got started in design?

Hey, thanks for the opportunity appreciate being asked! I’m from a small city in the middle of England called Coventry, I’ve always been interested in all things design related. Art was always my favourite subject at school as it was more hands on and practical, and from an early age I knew I wanted to do something related to art.

I’d always been familiar with Photoshop as it’s a tool my dad had on his PC, so I’d always play around with it and grew to do more and more until I was making (some very bad) websites. After school I decided to go to College and study Multimedia for two years. It was there where I really decided I wanted to be a Web Designer.

A lot of your newer projects are centered around WordPress themes. What is the big draw of this blogging platform? What are the advantages and disadvantages in comparison to some of the other major alternatives?



WordPress has always been something I wanted to get involved in. The first CMS I’d used was Mambo (now Joomla) which I learned to make my own themes for, but I would always come across WordPress powered sites, and was impressed with them. It was hard to ignore the growing presence of WordPress in the web world. So when it came to building function I decided it was time to properly explore WordPress. A decision that has proved since to be the right one for me, and I now love it.

Your designs are always original and brilliant, where do you get most of your inspiration from?

My ways of getting inspired always change. I’m always interested in looking at other methods of design, I love watching motion graphics, and browsing digital art. And a lot of this work is successful because the artists tend to be very experimental and explore with different styles, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But you always take things away from experimenting, so even if it doesn’t work out it’s not been a waste of time. For more traditional inspiration I always look for quality sites and two of my all time favourites are Best Web Gallery and Pattern Tap as the quality of work on these are always top notch.

As a designer it can be nearly impossible to balance all the tasks that you want to accomplish at once. How do you try to do it? What does your typical day look like?

Again, I never really have a set method or way of dealing with things, but I try and keep on top of tasks by getting them sorted as soon as possible, for example answering emails as they come in, keeping record of invoices and payments as soon as they come in, that way you never have to ask yourself “have I sent that yet?” – A bit like when you get homework in and you do it on the first night rather than leaving it to the last day :)

As for a typical day, I tend to work quite late – I get up in the morning and get myself a nice mug of coffee, then catch up on my RSS feeds, twitter and emails. Then I have to take my sister to work, so I tend not to start any design work until after I’m back. But once I’m back I pretty much work from midday to midnight. Obviously I take breaks and eat! And this allows for the occasional TV viewing and XBOX360 Session! But I spend most of the day at my desk, working on client work or personal projects and experiments.

Other than Adobe Suite and the internet, what software, hardware, books, etc make your design jobs much easier to accomplish?

FreshBooks is really the only app I use, everything else I either write down, or record using OpenOffice for spreadsheets etc. I’m really not one for books, I can honestly say I’ve never read a full book in my life, I just don’t have the patience. But I do enjoy reading blogs, and I really do thing that reading blogs helps me get through and keeps me inspired and focused on my job. I’ve learned a lot, especially in the last few months and it’s all from various websites and blogs. I have a graphics tablet which I use from time to time, I really love it but don’t use it as much as I want to, but when I do use it it is a real life saver and time saver!

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

Well, I really got into XHTML and CSS at my last job, I’m not amazing, but I think it wouldn’t take too much work for me to perfect it, and I’ve learned a lot from working with my Developer at function, Spencer. But really I’d like to get more involved in the development side of things, as at the moment I focus purely on design. And while I’m now familiar with WordPress I’ve yet to design and code a full theme myself, but I’m hoping at some point this year I’m going to change all that!

What’s the best advice someone has given you?

I remember reading an article long before I decided to go freelance which basically focused on the idea that if you know you can make something work, it doesn’t matter what other people say. I was really in two minds as whether or not to go freelance, I was in a okay job which paid well for me at the time, but I just didn’t feel I was being able to do work that I was proud of. But there seemed to be too many complications and worries involved in going freelance, and a lot of people advised against it. It was frustrating, because I knew I could make it work, I had so many ideas, but I put it off for a long time. But after reading the article I finally decided that yes it’s not going to be easy, but I knew I had the dedication to make it work. I wish I knew the link to the article as that would be great here, but I don’t sorry!

Mac or a PC, why?

Mac! I’d been growing tired of my PC for some time. I’ve always used a PC, but I would always have problems, especially with viruses. And your PC crashing when you’re working on design work is the last thing you need. And only the other day I decided it was time to make the move to Mac, so I’ve only have a Mac for about 3 days now – But as soon as I got it home and started it up, it just felt right, and straight away felt like it was money well spent.

It’s early days, so I don’t want to say too much, but I can see why Mac’s are growing in popularity. And I used to be a bit of a Apple hater, but I’ve now got myself a iPhone and a iMac, which is a big change from a couple of years ago when I had a Zune and a PC. I think I’m more happy with my apple stuff!

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

Well, I’m only 19, so I’m still very much into enjoying myself. I like to try and keep the weekends free from design work if possible. I have a great bunch of friends who I love spending time with, so I try to spend as much time as I can with them. I really like driving and road trips, and having friends spread all over the country at university it means I get a chance to go on quite a few road trips and spend weekends in all sorts of places. Something I want to do more of I think! Other than that I quite enjoy playing games, although they have to be quite realistic games, I don’t like games with monsters and aliens, I much prefer more “real life” situations, GTA4 and sports games etc. Yeah I’m a little weird like that.

What are your biggest struggles when designing for a client?

I think the main thing I worry about when working for a client is that time where you send off the designs and are waiting for feedback. I get really restless at that point, checking my email every 4 seconds. It plays on my mind a lot. Thankfully people generally have great things to say, but I can never get used to that feeling when you first send your ideas over!

What blogs/websites have you been reading the most lately?

Usability Post is a site I’ve been reading a lot of recently. I think that Dmitry is a wise and talented guy and I love reading his tips and pointers on usability. One of my true favourites of the moment.

Design Shard. I’ve loved watching Max build up his blog, and go through a stunning redesign. His posts really are a real joy to go through. And I urge everyone to stick his site in your RSS reader.

We Are Not Freelancers. I’m really interested in what these guys are up to at the moment and I check them out as often as I can. And I find their recent project, From The Couch quite interesting. They’re great guys and I look forward to seeing more from them.

There’s a bunch more blogs, you can see some of my top picks here. And you’ll find MyInkBlog there of course!

What projects are you working on right now? What’s in the works for Function?

We’re actually looking on building up a network of sites. But we’re not rushing into anything just yet. We have some ideas, and even a cool program / app that we will be launching in the coming weeks hopefully. But right now our main focus really is on our client work and keeping the blog going as much as we can on the side.



Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, It’s been a pleasure, I always enjoy speaking to you and reading what you have to say, so keep up the hard work and I hope your readers enjoyed this little insight!

Have a question for Liam or MyInkBlog? Drop us a comment below.

]]> http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/11/17/an-interview-with-liam-mckay/feed/ 12 http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/08/28/interview-with-jacob-cass/ http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/08/28/interview-with-jacob-cass/#comments Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:49:21 +0000 Andrew Houle http://www.myinkblog.com/?p=1213

One of the biggest perks of writing this blog is networking with some of the incredibly gifted designers. It’s through my blog and other social networks that I’ve had a chance to meet fellow designers like Jacob Cass of Just Creative Design. Jacob’s unique designs and creative process intrigue me the most. He was kind enough to answer a few of my questions, I hope you enjoy the interview.

Hi Jacob, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Please tell the readers a little about yourself. Where you’re from and what you do?

No worries, glad to be a part! Anyway onto what I do… I am a freelance graphic & web designer based from Newcastle/Sydney, Australia and I also run a popular graphic design blog which focuses on offering free graphic design tips, articles & resources on all subjects of design. Topics range include logo design, web design, print design, branding, typography, social media, advertising & more! It also showcases my graphic design portfolio, which allows me to get freelance work through the use of my blog.

How has running a successful design community blog helped you land more freelance work?

By having the blog that I mentioned above, it has brought me higher search engine rankings and it has put my name out there in the design community which in turn means more visibility… My work is 40% local, 10% national and 50% international which shows just how varied the work is.

What are the design tools that you couldn’t live without?

Maybe not all design skills but these things are what I couldn’t live without…my research skills, my creativity, my scanner, my graphics tablet, Photoshop, Illustrator and Firefox.

What websites do you visit the most for design inspiration and knowledge?

I always visit my Google Feed Reader which has about 100+ feeds in it which always provides a good source of inspiration … I always use Delicious for my searches when trying to find stock and inspiration too – it is more accurate than Google in that area.

What factors influence your design (creative process) the most?

The main influence is finding out what the client wants and then giving them what they actually need… this is probably the most challenging part about being a designer.

You’ve had a lot of career success at a very young age, how have you done so much already?

In short… A lot of reading and practicing. A good starting point for those just starting out would be this article I wrote on How and where to get paid freelance work while you are still a design student – something which would appeal to young up and coming designers.

You are self-employed. What are some of the biggest day-to-day challenges that you face?

Fitting everything in! Emails, Blogging, University work, Client work, Gym, Sport, Social Life, etc. The business side of things are finally catching up to me also as I am getting more and more work so I am also trying to streamline that process as well.

What was your favorite project that you’ve worked on and why?

I think the most challenging project I worked on was the logo / branding for myself and my blog. I actually wrote about it in length… Logo Design Process for Just Creative Design’s Award Winning Logo

You love to travel, where are some of your favorite places that you’ve visited? What, if any, are the biggest challenges of keeping up with your work while traveling so often?

So far I have traveled to about 30 different countries around the Pacific and Western Europe but I would have to say Western Europe is my favorite as you can travel to so many places in such a short space of time and have a totally different culture change from each place. Every country has its own gems. The biggest challenge of traveling so much of course is keeping up with clients, work, emails and maintaining the blog however the best way around it is to plan ahead. For example, I set up email auto responders, got people to manage my blog and got guest articles to be posted on my time away etc.

What is the best piece of advice you would give someone just starting out in design?

Keep at it and don’t undercharge. Remember that there will always be someone better than you… and someone worse than you so don’t let that keep you from trying.

When you’re not behind the computer designing and blogging, what do you like to do to get away?

I am very much into the club/pub scene. I also love music, dance festivals, travelling and in the summer, going to the beach. These activities keep me busy.

What are your future goals/plans?

In the short future? Keeping at what I am doing, growing & learning. I also want to go to Canada to work on the slopes sometime next year. In the long term? Possibly working for a large design studio, while doing some freelance on the side and in the long long term, opening my own.

Jacob, I really appreciate you doing this interview! Is their anything
else you’d like to add?

Is this a hint? Hehe. Thanks for the opportunity for this interview Andrew and I hope your readers enjoyed it too! You can read more about me on my blog and you can also check out my portfolio too. http://justcreativedesign.com

That’s a wrap

Jacob, of course that last question was a hint, you know I have to promote my own blog sometimes, jk.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, or relay your questions for Jacob, drop me a comment using the form below.

]]> http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/08/28/interview-with-jacob-cass/feed/ 8 http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/07/15/an-interview-with-chris-spooner/ http://www.myinkblog.com/2008/07/15/an-interview-with-chris-spooner/#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:14:45 +0000 Andrew Houle http://www.myinkblog.com/?p=495

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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