Toronto, Ontario Canada is becoming a pretty great hotbed of startups and top-tier creative agencies—one of my favorites being, Jet Cooper. One of the things that I became enamored with about them, from back-in-the-day, was that they didn’t have a website; merely a placeholder saying “We know we need a website, but we know that you need one more…” followed by some contact information. They have come a long way from those days and now have their own website that beams with style, personality, and quality!

The Jet Cooper Team

We had the pleasure of spending some time with one of their awesome designers, Chris Appleton (@chris_appleton). Striving to stray away from the typical “Designer Interview” online these days, we opted for more of a rapid fire sit down.

(Queue goofy mug shot)

Tell us about yourself and design background:

• From Curtis, Ontario – currently living in Toronto
• York-Sheridan Design Program
• Artwork in highschool, design in post-secondary (since 2004)

Favorite thing about working at Jet Cooper:

• The team, great people, and they make all the difference
• The types of projects I get to work on (early-stage tech, digital products in larger companies)

Least favorite thing about working at Jet Cooper (we won’t tell, promise):

• The team…people make all the difference
• Too close to too many great coffee shops, not helping my addiction

Design heroes / Websites that you tend to draw inspiration from:

• ffffound.com
• Geoff Mcfetridge
• Mike Giant
• Frank Chimero
• Dieter Rams
• Michael Bierut
• Christopher Alexander
• Always With Honour
• Charley Harper
• Jeff Canham
• Doublenaut
• Milton Glaser

Your ‘go-to’ visual effect or signature move:

• Trying to kill off all of those because when I notice myself doing something too often, it becomes too much
• Good to have people around you that call you out, our team is great for that…

What we’ll find in a flask you’re hiding in your JC desk:

• First of all, we don’t need to hide anything in a flask at Jet Cooper, but you’ll find scotch

One thing that the other JC team members talk about behind your back (this is investigative journalism at its best):

• Coming into the office sweaty from riding my bike in the morning

Glad to talk with Chris and experience a little bit of Jet Cooper (why do I keep thinking Sterling Cooper, Mad Men?) and hope you did too. Creative agencies like this are full of creative who simply love what they do and who they work with—JC and Chris are no different. Thanks for sharing.

Ever since I was young I drew quite a lot, but I didn’t know where this would lead me.  However, I knew I wanted to be in an art-based program and I thought fine arts was the only solution until I stumbled upon a Graphic Design program in college. Despite not knowing what it was, I still chose to pursue it, and I absolutely loved it (and still do)—that’s why I feel like I was destined to be a graphic designer.

Where do you look for sources of inspiration?

It really depends on the project I’m working on, but I use any visual input such as nature, magazines or others’ design work. The internet still provides me with a good selection of visual imagery for my inspiration. Some sites I often visit are ffffound.com, dribbble.com and designspiration.net

What is your favourite aspect of  Graphic Design?

One of the things I get a kick most out of Graphic Design is the diversity of the field.

There’s always something new to learn, always new influences that will change either my working habits or my design choices. You can position yourself to be stronger in typography, page layout, web design, concepts for advertising or UI/app design all with their own challenges and interesting aspects. You also learn about all the different industries when doing the necessary research prior to working on a project for a client. Few professions today get to experience that.

What are your top 5 favourite websites?

1. dribbble.com,
2. twitter.com
3. welovetypography.com
4. jcrew.com
5. designspiration.net

Who do you look up to in your field?

Tyler Galpin, Mark Weaver, Morgan Allan Knutson, Matt Stevens and Janna Hagan. All for different reasons, but they are amazing at their craft.

Can you take us through your creative process from start to finish?

My creative process transcends a strict graphic design process, but it definitely works best for me. Design Brief—Ask your client for as much information as possible up front to help you in the long run. Conducting a questionnaire can help you dig deeper than what the client thought you needed to know. Research—Do research on the industry itself, on its history, and its competitors. Inspiration—I usually use this time stage to collect images with interesting colour palettes. Sketching—Many people skip this stage (I do too on tighter budget projects), but it definitely helps me focus when I use Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator. Core work—This is the step where I actually  implement the ideas into a design. Reflection—This allows my ideas to mature and to look at my design from a functional and aesthetic point of view. I try to get feedback. I tear the design apart if need be. It’s a good idea to wait at least until the morning after to start this process. Finishing touches—I continue to make adjustments on the project. Presentation—I choose to show my best work in the most realistic scenario. For example, if I’m designing a website, I do a bit of coding and I set my design mockup so it can be viewed in a browser.

What sort of social media tools do you use and find the most successful?

I only really need 3 sites that have become extremely useful to me. Twitter, Forrst and Dribbble. Forrst was actually the first site where people liked my work enough to contact me to do work for them.

Can you tell us more about your recent Kick Starter project? How did it get started? What were some of the challenges you faced?

For those of you who aren’t aware, my project named Beyond Earth is in its final few days before it stops being funded and goes into production, which I’m extremely excited about!

The project is a series of posters of each planet (Mercury to Neptune) designed as if we lived in 1965. Oddly enough it started off in my windowless basement, when I found a box full of old OMNI (science fiction) magazines. There were a few issues that touched upon a few planets like Mars and Jupiter, but it was really the printing techniques and style that inspired me.

After I saw a vision for the project and decided to use Kickstarter; I faced a lot of hurdles. My biggest wall that I faced that I thought I would never climb over, was the fact that I needed to be a U.S. resident (with a whole bunch of other requirements) to host a project. After a bit of venting to some close friends, I decided to “team up” with a business partner and a close friend out in New York.

What would be your perfect dream project?

Beyond Earth was a good step towards my dream project, but it would have to be a long term project that I can devote most of my time to and earn a comfortable living from. I’m still looking for inspiration.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the design industry?

As hard as it may be to pursue what you want to do in the global economy, it’s all about working hard and standing out from the crowd. Nobody these days wants a designer (of any kind) who does enough work just to get by. They want someone passionate about what they do and eager to keep learning. A couple of ways I’ve seen designers be successful is either by creating their own project or, if they’re good at writing, by dedicating their time to writing original articles in a blog.

Looking into a crystal ball, what do you think will be the next design trend?

It almost feels like everything has been done already; large type, full screen photographic images, vintage, etc. In typography, perhaps drop cap letters in more content-heavy websites?

What can we expect from Stephen in the upcoming year?

I plan on doing more personal projects, one of which is an iPad app based on my Beyond Earth project, a new personal website and blog.

We’re happy Stephen had a chance to talk with us. His work is unique and loads of fun. Have a look at his stuff and check out the kickstarter project. Find Stephen on his website, Dribbble, Twitter, Google+.

A friend of mine who was a designer at the time asked if I wanted to try designing a site for some company. I don’t remember what the design ended up looking like (I’m pretty sure it was quite ugly), but since then, web design has been what I do for a living.

Where do you look for sources of inspiration?

I try to look for inspiration everywhere. As I once read in a book, you need to maximize your intake to get creative ideas. The more you pay attention to the things around you, the better your chances of finding interesting ideas. You just always need to be prepared, because it can hit you when you least expect it. At least for me, it happens all the time. I can get an idea or solution for a project or problem I’m working on when I’m walking down the street, watching a movie or doing something else. So, for me, it’s a matter of being curious and staying focused.

What is your favourite aspect of web design?

I just love the entire creative process. Creating something out of nothing is so much fun. I believe it’s the same feeling of excitement that every writer or artist gets when they start with a blank canvas and eventually create something new, something that has never existed before.

What are your top 5 favourite websites?

• http://www.behance.net – Amazing site with a lot of talented people.
• http://css-tricks.com – I’m sure everyone knows CSS-Tricks and Chris Coyier by now, but for those who don’t, CSS-Tricks is one of the most useful websites on the Internet for web professionals.
• http://www.smashingmagazine.com – Another well-known website with loads of useful information.
• http://www.thecssawards.com – My favourite CSS gallery.
• http://500px.com/photos – Great photo community. There are plenty of fantastic photos, and while I’m not a photographer myself, I find the website very inspiring.

Who do you look up to in your field?

I’ve always been amazed by Dylan Cole’s work. He is a matte painter and concept artist, and even though matte painting has little to do with web design, it’s simply amazing how Dylan can take a regular photo and turn it into a fantasy scene. Check out the work he’s done for The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Riddick, and see for yourself. I’m also a big fan of CSS-Tricks and Chris Coyier. I learned everything I know today about front-end development from Chris.

What sort of social media tools have you found most successful?

That would definitely be Twitter. Even though I’ve been using Twitter for only about two months, I absolutely love it. It’s an awesome tool to connect with other creative people, get inspiration and promote yourself as a professional.

Where did you get your inspiration from when designing your website?

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to have some sort of illustration on the home page, but I wasn’t sure what kind. I wanted it to be something design-related, yet a bit futuristic. As I recall, I was listening to the audio book for H.G. Wells’ Time Machine while working on the design. So I guess it affected my thinking–whether consciously or subconsciously–and I came up with the illustration that you see there.

What would be your perfect dream project?

I like to create unique environments by blending multiple images together. And I’ve always liked these graphic-rich official movie and video-game websites, so trying a project like that would definitely be fun.

What piece of work are you most proud of and why?

I think the piece of work I am most proud of is my portfolio website itself. For me, a portfolio is not only a place to showcase your work, it’s also a vantage point from where you can look back on your designs and see how your views have changed, what things you’ve learned and maybe even how your perception of the world has evolved. Redesigning your own portfolio is probably one of the hardest projects to do. But it’s definitely a great place to try out new skills and ideas and perhaps learn something new.

What advice would you give to someone starting out online?

I don’t really have much to add to the ton of information available on the Internet about this, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to reiterate the most important advice, which in my opinion is, never stop learning. If you persist and keep learning and practicing all the time, then nothing should keep you from succeeding.

What’s your biggest design/internet pet peeve?

I’m sorry, I can’t think of one.

Looking into a crystal ball, what do you think will be the next design trend?

That’s a tough one… I was never good at predicting the future, but I think the next design trend (well, more of a coding trend that might affect design) will be somehow connected to the rapidly growing popularity of CSS3 and HTML5. People will use CSS3 and HTML5 features more and more in place of traditional graphics. Also, current trends such as rich typography, subtle textures and use of infographics are still very strong, and I think we’ll be seeing only more of these, but used more deliberately and for purpose, not just because they’re trendy.

What can we expect from Serj in the upcoming year?

A lot of things! I’m currently working on quite a few interesting concept designs, which I’ll add to my portfolio once they’re done. You can also expect more retouching and photo-manipulation tutorials, as well as some quick Photoshop tips. Also, I’ll release my first free PSD layout in the near future. So, stay tuned and (here comes some shameless self-promotion) follow me on Twitter to make sure you don’t miss any updates.

About Serj

Twitter

Website

Where do you look for sources of inspiration?

Well if you’d asked me this a few years ago I probably would’ve given the standard answer of “CSS Galleries” and similar resources on the web, however these days I try to stay well clear of them. The problem with finding inspiration on the web is that it’s very hard not to make whatever you’re doing look exactly like whatever it is you’re being “inspired” by. These days I spend a lot of time looking at print and packaging design in particular, with a few bits of product design thrown in for good measure. I find it much more interesting to try to take a really good idea from outside your own industry and try to adapt it and apply it to the web.

What is your favourite aspect of web design?

I think my favourite part would have to be when you have that great idea for a small change which is really going to make the whole site, and it all just comes together. At the start of this year I was building the new blog for vtravelled, Virgin’s new travel website, and we went through quite a few design iterations that were getting closer and closer to the end product. At one meeting I spontaneously came up with the idea to run a live twitter feed up the left hand side of the blog using some beautiful icons which they had already created for the main site. This was really one of those moments, and I think the scrolling feed and colourful icons are now what makes that site most memorable.

What are your top 5 favourite websites?

This is pretty much impossible for me to answer I’m afraid, I don’t think I could even pick one? Let’s go with Twitter, because Twitter leads me to all other websites!

Who do you look up to in your field?

Oh so many: Cameron Moll, Jason Santa Maria and Mark Boulton for their unprecedented understanding of design that just leaves all of the rest of us rolling around in the gutter wondering which way is up. Ryan Carson and Andy Budd for founding amazing agencies and conferences. Tim Van Damme for his attention to detail, and Adii Pienaar for his raw business acumen.

How has using Twitter helped the popularity of your online brand?

Twitter has pretty much been the cornerstone of everything for me. Without it, I would be nowhere. Every big client I’ve ever had, every opportunity and every break has come through Twitter. If they started charging $100 a month just to use it – I would probably do it. It’s connected me with thousands of new people and I couldn’t live without it now.

What do you think are the main benefits for offering free advice online? (Whether it’s a tutorial, quick snippet of code, advanced tutorial)

I think the main benefit has got to be that it establishes you as someone who knows what they’re talking about. Building up that sort of reputation is hugely beneficial because (if you do it right) then people will think of your name first when they need xxx bit of work done, so it all comes back. Like karma.

What inspires you to create and maintain a blog?

I’m not sure if there’s anything that inspires me as such. I like the idea that by publishing my own mistakes (which is what makes up 80% of my posts), other people can learn from them and not fall into the same holes. It’s also partially for myself, I like being able to look back at where I was and compare it to where I am now and just how much has changed.

What would be your perfect dream project?

It would comprise of several factors: The client would give me free reign, have no revisions, pay immediately (like within an hour of being invoiced), and the project itself would be something significant. I’ve experienced all of these individually, but so far I’ve never had them all together in a single client.

What advice would you give to someone looking to specialize in web design?

From a business point of view I would say focus on branding. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of really really bad web designers out there who make a very healthy income purely because they’ve made a name for themselves. If you can make a name for yourself and you’re actually a good designer… well then that’s all you need really.

From a design point of view you just have to keep on pushing. Never allow yourself to settle for average, to just repeat the same old tired full width header that you used on your last ten designs. This is probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do, and if you’re a good designer, you’ll never be happy or satisfied with any of your work.

Looking into a crystal ball, what do you think will be the next design trend?

Honestly? Whatever Elliot Jay Stocks does next. That guy has an uncanny knack for doing new and awesome things, but I think he’s also probably one of the most influential designers in the world because no matter what he does: a week after it launches the CSS Galleries are full of sites using whatever his latest style is.

What can we expect from John O’Nolan in the upcoming year?

Loads. I’ve pretty much been feeling my way along since leaving full time employment and in the next year I really want to go places now. I have huge ambitions to do great things and I won’t stop until I get there.

In the immediate future, I’m writing a book, editing another book, working on a startup… and I’ll be making one other big move in the next couple of weeks that I can’t talk about yet, so watch this space!

Want more John?

http://john.onolan.org/
http://twitter.com/johnonolan

SEE HOW TO WIN AN INVITE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!

What is Forrst?!

Forrst: Where Designers Who Code meet Developers Who Design
For those of you who haven’t been exposed to Forrst yet here is the basic rundown:
Forrst is an online community made up of Designers and Developers. As the above tag-line suggests this environment brings together designers and developers into one big posting arena. Users are able to post their new designs, snippets of code (to share, or get help with), share links or initiate discussions within the community. Other members are then allowed to ‘Like’ a post or comment on it.
The community has been built on a ‘by invite only’ platform so far. So the quality of the content is very high and the level of discussion is great!

Who Planted the Forrst?

One of the most active members of the community is Kyle Bragger, the creator of Forrst! Once I got in and started using Forrst I was surprised to see that Kyle himself actually participates in the discussions and adds to the community.
We were lucky enough to hit up Kyle with a few questions:

If I was to sign up to Forrst today, when could I expect an invite? What does it depend on?

Good question. Honest answer: not totally sure! The interest in the site has been overwhelming, especially since the relaunch, so we’re trying to wade through the applications to bring new people in. Definitely trying to bring in a balance of devs and designers, and I’d say your chances are greater if you submit a complete application (name, Twitter username if you’ve got it, URL of something you made and are proud of, email address). My hope is to have every single developer and designer who is passionate about what they do want to become a part of the Forrst community. What we’re also doing right now is awarding current members with invites from time to time, based on how active they are within the community, how much they interact and contribute, and so forth. That happens every Tuesday morning.

When [if ever] to you expect to go fully public with Forrst?

It’s not in the cards anytime soon, if ever.

What is the best enhancement made to Forrst since it’s launch?

The relaunch of Forrst brings with it a brand new user interface, numerous user experience improvements, as well as much-needed new and improved functionality — a new type of post: questions, a people directory, filterable by developer/designer, newest users, Rangers, and so forth, totally overhauled activity streams: stuff from friends, stuff done to you or your posts, as well as new ways to drill down into posts: by tag, by type (code, question, etc.), posts from you/friends/everyone. The amount of love we tried to give the product hopefully shines through with the new site. We’re insanely proud of it and it’s only going to get better.

If a tree falls in Forrst and no one is around to hear it, did design really happen?

Nope. There would be no receiver.

How to Win!

Want your chance to interact within this elite group of designers and developers? Well here’s your chance!
There’s 2 ways to win!. Comment to this post with either something you could bring to the Forrst community, OR Retweet the below tweet on your Twitter account. And YES you can absolutely enter BOTH ways!

RT to win an invite into @forrst via inspiredology.com

Good luck to all, and we hope to talk to you soon, in the Forrst

Specializing in building innovative iPhone applications, Red Piston‘s skills not only lie in clean interface design for iPhone, but range the full gamut of multimedia design. With over 30 years of combined multimedia and interactive design and development under their belts, Red Piston has already created Apps in the Medical and Gaming categories that have achieved top downloads around the world. Located in Windsor, Ontario, their experience and innovation has Red Piston ready to launch into the next generation of devices and gadgets as they’re released.

Please introduce yourself, give us a brief bio, and how you started Red Piston?

There are three partners: Andy Kale, Jakub Koter, and Ali Al-Aasm

Andy Kale – 13 years of web development experience and 3 years of iPhone design / development.

Ali Al-Aasm – 10 years of Web/Flash development experience and 3 years of iPhone development

Jakub Koter – 10 years of web design & Flash experience and 3 years of iPhone design / development

Prior to forming Red Piston, each of us developed and released apps on the side.

All three of us worked at BBDO Windsor, working on Interactive projects for Chrysler Jeep and Dodge Canada.  In November 2009, Chrysler announced that they were ending their relationship with BBDO in the US and Canada as of the end of January. After a day or so of wondering what we were going to do, the three of us decided that we would partner up and form Red Piston.

We were fortunate that out of the gate we had established strong contacts at Universal Music Group and had a few projects lined up so that we could hit the ground running.

Where do you look for sources of inspiration?

Inspiration is everywhere – not only from technology, but also from nature and products in other industries. The iPhone platform digitizes so many elements of every day life, but the one thing it excels at is making things easier. We focus on clean, simple, easy-to-use interfaces. Apps and products that make complicated tasks easy are our passion. Companies that share a similar philosophy – Braun, Ikea, Apple (obviously) – are a huge inspiration for us.

What is your favourite aspect of your iPhone application design and development?

It’s the challenge of making something extremely useful yet easy to use. This platform introduces so many possibilities. You’re walking around with a powerful computer that is constantly connected to the web – but layered on top of that is this incredibly simple user experience. Whenever we start a new project, we want to tie in the appropriate technology to satisfy the user’s need, but we want to do it in a way that makes it simple. If that means stripping out interface items, or removing functionality that most people won’t use, we’ll do it.

What are your top 3 favourite websites / apps?

Besides our own, of course? Probably easier to list by person:

Andy

Convertbot – It’s takes something pretty mundane – simple calculations – and turns it into just a great user experience. Sounds, animations, style – it’s bang-on.

Facebook – They’ve made some great choices in terms of interface – the app looks nothing like the built-in interface elements in the SDK, but feels perfectly familiar.

Shazam – Every time I tag a song, I am still blown away at how well it works, and how quickly. It’s amazing.

Jakub

Urbanspoon – I love food!

kijiji – I have a lot of stuff that i am always selling, this app lets me walk around my house and post things for sale really fast.

Dropbox – gives me easy access to important files wherever I go.

Ali

Fring – especially now that you can Skype over 3G

Jungle Crash – because it’s so addictive and fun to play while waiting

APNews – it’s a great way to keep on top of the latest news quickly and easily.

What piece of work are you most proud of and why?

Speed and Strength for so many reasons. 1) because it was a total team effort – we each took a chunk of the app and the pieces fit together perfectly, 2) because it pushed our limits and built our capabilities: we had never done a 3D game before, we had to model textures and work with sound and video in ways that we had not done in the past, plus we had an extremely tight timeline. 3) because it was extremely successful for our client and we were able to deliver a very low cost per impression, which gave our clients a great ROI. In addition, their web traffic skyrocketed following the release of the app, they won an award for it, and we helped expose their brand to markets that they could not cost effectively target (like Japan, where the app was the #1 Free Downloaded Game for the first week following release).

What advice would you give to someone starting out in application development for iPhone, or any smartphone?

Keep developing, even if it is just on your own projects. No idea is a stupid idea. Not every project is going to be a best seller, but every project you work on can lead to something else – whether it’s the use of a different component (e.g. multi-touch, accelerometer, compass, etc.), or a unique user-interface element, each project has something that you can take a piece of and use in another project down the road. You have to build your portfolio of technology, designs, etc. that you can grow and evolve into the next project.

What Social Media tool have you found to be most beneficial to you, as a designer/developer?

Twitter. Twitter gets a bit of a bad rep by being only about what people you don’t care about had for lunch. But really, if you follow people in the industry, it’s a great tool for learning about new apps, new technology, new designs, etc. And it’s a fantastic tool for research. If a company does something that people don’t like, they’ll Tweet about it, and it can quickly become a trending topic.

What would a dream job for you be?

Without sounding cheesy, Red Piston is our dream job. We’re our own bosses, we work with people we enjoy being around, and we’re working on technology in an industry that’s very exciting. In terms of dream clients – we have a few companies and brands that we’d love to work with, and we’re working our way down our list through contacts that we’ve established.

Are you totally stoked about the iPad?

Absolutely! When it first came out, we were trying to see where it would fit into people’s lives, but in the lead-up from the announcement to launch day, the more we read about it, the more we began to see the possibilities. We’ve already built one application (CoachPad – a virtual whiteboard for coaches to diagram plays for their teams), and have a few more in development. We were in line on opening day, and so far in the first few days, we’re realizing it’s an amazing device.

I eventually worked my way up to Vice President of Atlantic Records and had the chance to be a part of the careers of Aaliyah, Lil’ Kim, Brandy, Fat Joe, Trick Daddy and T.I. But I never lost my craving to create art. I purchased Photoshop and taught myself by reading every book I could get me hands on. I built my first, absolutely horrendous website using GoLive (before Adobe purchased it) and was hooked ever since.

Once I left the music business in 2006, I decided to finally do what I was always meant to do… I became a graphic designer. With zero experience and a lot to learn in a short period of time, I soaked up everything around me and exhausted every single online resource I could. I taught myself to hand code and began learning the fundamentals of graphic design. All of this while unemployed and no clients to speak of. SCARY! I finally convinced some friends to allow me to create sites for them (more atrocious work that I am sincerely sorry for) that gave me real world experience. This lead to more work, more experience and finally paying clients.

I would live the life of a starving freelancer for three years until I, with lifelong friend, David Belgrave, decided to pool our talents together and form we are pixel8 in June 2009. Now I just live the life of a starving small business owner.

Where do you look for sources of inspiration?

I would be a liar if I said I don’t check out a couple of website design galleries on a regular basis. This keeps me on my toes. And not because I see something that I want to emulate, but because I always see something that makes me say, “Damn! That was perfectly executed! I need to step my game up!”. LOL.

But, inspiration for any given project can come from anywhere really. It can be a magazine I am thumbing through, the music I am listening to, a television program I am watching or a visual I get from a book I am reading. As cliched as it sounds, inspiration is all around you. The only place I haven’t figured out how to harness inspiration from is when my newborn daughter is shrieking at the top of her lungs!

What is your favourite aspect of  web design, graphic design, logo design, jquery, css, wordpress?

Web design: It’s like the Wild West for me. Almost anything is possible if you think it through and it applies to what you are working on. It’s also fast paced and constantly evolving. I mean, think back to 1996 and look how far we’ve come in less than 2 decades. I can only imagine what it will be like for my son and daughter when they are in their teens. It gives me goose bumps.

Graphic design: I love everything about it. I really do. I love the wide spectrum of talent that I am privileged to enjoy every single day. I love being a part of it. Feeling connected to this thriving community.

Logo design: I will be honest with you on this one. Not my fave at all! I have respect for many of the greats that came before me, as well as cats like David Airey, Jeff Fisher, Calvin Lee and Jacob Cass. Those are the artisans. I am here with a guest pass. I tend to shy away from logo design work because, to be frank, I’m not good at it and am OK with that. I think any designer worth their salt should find their lane and tear it up. We all can’t be a Renaissance Man like Leonardo da Vinci.

jQuery: I am definitely a newbie here, but love the relatively easy learning curve and the power, if wielded properly, it gives to designers. I have made a pact with myself to sit with a master this year and siphon some knowledge off of them. Any volunteers? LOL.

CSS: How easy it is to learn. Plain and simple. There is much more for me to master, but it isn’t daunting or intimidating. I love that.

WordPress: For the same reason I love CSS. The relatively easy learning curve. Right now, I know enough to be dangerous but constantly am learning something new everyday that makes me fall in love with the app all over again.

What are your top 5 favourite websites?

I can only list 5? There are so many websites I like to breeze through regularly that it is hard for me to pare down the list to 5, but I will try. In no particular order, I spend the most time on the following:

NFL.com
I Love Typography
Font Shop
Apple.com
COLOURlovers

Who do you look up to in your field?

That’s a good, yet tricky question for me. There are so many creatives out there that literally blow me away on a regular basis with everything that they do. But I tend to look up to those who are forging a path for themselves within their own voice. Does that make sense? I guess what I am trying to say is that the artists that inspire me are doing shit that I am not doing, but still absolutely love, in their own style and not necessarily following any given trend. This is a daily reminder for me to try to find what my voice is and embrace it.

Chuck Anderson aka No Pattern – I first got hip to Chuck’s work while I was working at Atlantic Records. He designed the album cover for Lupe Fiasco’s debut record and I have had a digital crush on his work ever since.

Radim Malinic aka Brand Nu – I think I first saw Radim’s work about 3 years ago in a magazine (can’t remember which one) and was floored by his artistic signature. I mean, he creates some gorgeous digital art on a consistent basis. And, I guess imitation is the best form of flattery because you can see his influences in a lot of other people’s digital artwork.

Futura 2000 – If you are like me and grew up in New York City in the 1980s, you should be aware of Futura’s street art. He pioneered a style of graffiti that is now called “abstract” and has been copied a million times over worldwide. He is also one of a very few who were able to make the transition from illegal street art to legal art with numerous gallery showings. He’s even made a name for himself designing various album covers and record sleeves, over the past 30 years, from The Clash’s “This is Radio Clash” to U.N.K.L.E.’s Psyence Fiction. I love the fact that you can’t put him in a box with a label on it! I hope to get to that point some day in my own work.

There are also comic book artists like Frank Miller and Eduardo Risso whose work really speaks to me. I guess you can say I am all over the place with this one.

What sort of social media tools have you found most successful?

For me, the jury is still out on this one. I will say that I have met, and engaged with, a host of  wonderful people through Twitter lately. Did I emphasize “engaged with” enough? I’m not into the game of “How many followers do you have?”. That is the equivalent of a penis measuring contest that has never appealed to me. (I know there is a self deprecating joke in there somewhere.) What does it really mean if you are following thousands of people or vice versa? Right now, the studio has about 200 followers and we are following roughly the same amount of people (which I think is too much to the chagrin of my partner).
And lately, I am finding it necessary to shut off my Growl notification from Tweetie because I will get 15 tweets simultaneously of some list, somewhere, of the “The 75 Most Awesome Websites designed for People who Like to Stand on their Heads”. I know that this is an over exaggeration, but I think you get what I mean. I think that is why there are days that I don’t even look at the stream or send anything out.

What do you think are the main benefits for offering free advice online? (Whether it’s a tutorial, quick snippet of code, advanced tutorial)

I know, for me, it is a great way to share some pitfalls I’ve encountered or a new trick or tip I might’ve stumbled upon that may eventually help someone else. Paying it forward, you know? I also found it to be a great way for me to get feedback as well. Learn something I didn’t know before. I like to do it for the exchange of ideas and knowledge. I don’t know how effective I’m being, but I am enjoying the journey so far.

What piece of work are you most proud of and why?

None! LOL! At least, that is what my girlfriend would say. I am my own worst critic. Whenever I complete and deliver a piece of work I am notorious for going back to it and seeing where I think improvements could’ve been made. I like to tell myself that this helps me get better as a designer. It’s either that or a neurosis that will become debilitating in the future. LMAO.

Seriously speaking though, it tends to be my latest work that brings me the highest form of pride. As of right now, I am really digging on the one page website we designed and developed for super talented fashion photographer, Dallas J. Logan. He gave us a tremendous amount of free range in terms of presentation and functionality, so I got to experiment with some concepts (bold colors and large typography) that I wouldn’t normally incorporate with other clients. His work is so visually energetic that I wanted the site to be a compliment to that and not the focal point, you know what I mean? I hope we were able to deliver on that. I know the client is happy, but I still look at it and say, “Shit! I should have done this!”.

What would be your perfect dream project?

I honestly don’t know that I have a dream project. I used to think that I wanted to work with well establish brands, but that leaves little room for creative input. I think a dream scenario for me would be contributing to something absolutely brand new and watching it grow, similar to what I would do when I was in the music biz, but way more worthwhile.

What advice would you give to someone starting out online?

Aspire to be a guru, but always remain a student. Never abandon your thirst for knowledge and your quest to get better every single day. Hell, when I look at something I did 6 months ago, I am appalled at just how little I know and how much more I have to learn.

Also open yourself up to criticism. Don’t get me wrong, it will sting, but if you trust the people critiquing your work, and they are doing so from an objective place, then it is going to make you better. I know I tend to become overly attached to my work and often miss the “forest for the trees”. I’ve actually gotten to a point where I crave the criticism and don’t want people just telling me something looks good. That doesn’t help me get better and I don’t believe it will help you.

What’s your biggest design/internet pet peeve?

I honestly don’t know that I have one. I might have to think about that one for a while.

Looking into a crystal ball, what do you think will be the next design trend?

I hope we can all get back to the basics. The fundamentals. You know? Gradients and textures are cool and I love them as much as the next designer, but I think we are witnessing a movement back to minimalism, to coin an overused and often misunderstood term. I think we are going to see more use of typography and white space as art versus blending modes and beautifully designed backgrounds.

I mean, look at Sushi & Robots by Jina Bolton, Chuck Spidell’s Illusio Design, Twisted Intellect’s beautiful portfolio or Simon Collison’s new site to see what I am talking about. Look at what they were able to do with layout and typography to push the boundaries. WOW! I absolutely love it. And I think once we are able to use type on the web the same way we can in print, watch out!

What can we expect from pixel8 in the upcoming year?

We plan on taking over the world and ransoming it for… 1 million dollars! LOL. I’ve always wanted to say that. Seriously, we are very excited in our little corner of the universe. And, not to let any cats out of the bag, we are presently having discussions about being part of some really cool shit in both the film and music arena (notice I didn’t say business as I am quite done with that phase of my life) as well as working with some startup companies to help them formulate their brand identities both on and offline. These things are getting me jazzed.

We are also going to be redesigning our site from the ground up to better reflect who we are and what we do. I think I drank way too many cups of coffee the last time around and threw in every little thing I love into our current iteration which, to me, feels a bit schizophrenic. We also plan on blogging more this year and using that as a platform to share what we know.

Follow Erik and pixel8;

pixel8 | blog | twitter

Thanks to all the awesome bloggers that teamed up for this killer post. All of the participants and myself included would love to get your diggs, retweets and help to spread the word.

Grand Friedman – colorburned.com

I spent quite a bit of time coming up with the name for Colorburned. Originally, my site was GrantFriedman.com but after some thought I decided I wanted something a bit more marketable. I must have thought up 1,000 names before I landed on Colorburned. In fact, I was just about to give up when I decided to go through the menus in Photoshop to see if anything caught my eye. While browsing through the blending modes in the layers palette I saw the word Color burn, I added an “ed” to it and the rest is history.

Andy Sowards – AndySowards.com

Well, Obviously my blog name is MY name, very clever eh? AndySowards.com was born after several months of debating if I should just use my name as my brand, or if I should brainstorm and think up the ultimate, most cleverest, end all brand name that made hipsters cry because they didn’t think of it first. Well, I never found the time to choose a name like that yet haha. So I decided to go with AndySowards.com for a few reasons. First off, Everyone should have their name reserved as a .com – thats just good to have. Second, Since I wanted to get my name out there as fast as I could without wasting any time, It worked well in making my name ‘recognizable’ to some – especially on twitter (@andysowards). Third, If your name is easily recognizable, it will be easier in the future to gain traction on new business ideas and brands, so when I decide on that uber kickass design/development/programming brand name, I can transition into it easier than switching brand names completely because one that I ‘Prematurely Picked’ sucked. Last but not least, I wanted to get my Family name out there as there are hardly any Sowards out there that I know of, and Hopefully I can accomplish some great things and make the Sowards family (wherever they are) Proud lol.

Franz Jeitz – fudgegraphics.com

Fudgegraphics not only is the name of my blog, but also of my freelance business. Hence I decided early on to find a name which is incorporates my personality while making clear that it is about design. The other premise for the name choice was that I wanted it to start with an “F” to relate to my name. I accidentally stumbled upon the name when I watched an episode of “How I met your mother” where one of the characters says: What the fudge? I thought it was hilarious and liked the sound of Fudgegraphics instantly. A quick google search later I discovered that the name was still up for grabs and registered the name. I’m glad I did, cause after almost 2 years I’m still happy with the name.

Jacob Cass – Justcreativedesign.com

“My blog name, Just Creative Design, actually came from the initials of my name “Jacob Cass”. I did a lot of brainstorming trying to find a name that used my initials and this is what I came up with after several weeks – as a bonus it also includes two high ranking keywords. I actually wrote about the process in full over on my blog for those interested.

Walter Apai – WebDesignerDepot.com

I wanted a domain name that reflected diversity in design. The word ‘depot’ symbolized that concept, as well as a ‘storage’ space for all things design related. I was also interested in the word ‘webdesigner’ for obvious reasons since WDD is about web design, so it just made sense for one of the words to be either webdesign or webdesigner.

Chris Spooner – Line25.com

Simply because my Line25 blog has a slightly more interesting story than Blog.SpoonGraphics, I’ll focus a little more on that! When I was laying out plans for my Line25 web design blog, I went through stacks and stacks of name possibilities. My first choice was WebLounge, which linked in to the idea of being a place to come and hang out, and discover all things web related. Unfortunately this domain was taken, as were a gerzillion other names I’d decided on!
Eventually I decided to combine a word that related to the web design industry, then just stick a number on the end, both for the higher chance of finding a unique domain, and to allow it to roll off the tongue a little easier. The word Line seemed to tailor into web design pretty well, as we’re all familiar with line numbers in out code. Originally I picked out the number 45, giving the name Line45.com – It sounded pretty cool, so I went to buy the domain… It was taken. By this time I was tearing out my hair after checking over 50+ domains. Fortunately the idea of using a number gave another 98 possibilities to try, and my second attempt with the domain Line25.com came out as a winner!

Daniel Scocco – DailyBlogTips.com

I guess I am not a creative type, so the name of virtually all my blogs is rather descriptive. DailyBlogTips.com being one of them. I remember what encouraged me to go with that name back in the day though. I was brainstorming ideas for a blogging related website when I came across a site that offered “daily quotes.” The site was huge, so I figured that the “daily” aspect had something to do with it. That is how I decided to go with DailyBlogTips.com.

Danny Outlaw – OutlawDesignBlog.com

I came up with the name for Outlaw Design Blog when I was thinking about branding ideas. I wanted a brand that I could associate with myself as well (@DannyOutlaw). The thing is, I was so tired of seeing people brand themselves as “rockstars” or “ninjas.” Both of those terms had been run into the ground, so I wanted to stay away from them. Plus, I’m a lot more of a rebel than I am a rock star or ninja. Thus, the “Outlaw” brand was born and so was Outlaw Design Blog.

Aran Down – Studio7Designs.com/blog | ecoki.com | AppleReviews.com | TheSwishLife.com

Studio 7 Designs came about back in the days when windows xp theming and icon designs on DeviantArt and Neowin had a great design community. Well before any thought to branding a proper business name was on the radar. My friends Kol and Maria (studiotwentyeight.net, and iconica/marvilla.us) were huge inspirations, and at the time, Studio 7 Designs seemed ‘cool’. My advice for any young person who is wanting to go into design, make sure you pick a short, descriptive, and unique name before you start out, because you never know where you will end up. And rebranding your business in the future can be a daunting task. Its an honour to be included on this post, alongside designers who I am so inspired by on a daily basis and look up to.

I work with some really great, kind, and smart writers on Ecoki.com, AppleReviews.com, and TheSwishLife.com. The names were chosen very carefully this time around. Eco + Ki (Ki is an old Japanese word for tree, and the logo is a tree made up of the world map). AppleReviews was chosen because it describes specifically what the site does, reviews of Everything Apple. The Swish Life was chosen because ‘Swish’ is an old english word for fashionable and cultured, and that generally sum up the focus on The Swish Life. I must thank Liam Mckay for his amazing help with those designs.

James White – SignalNoise.com

Signalnoise means duality. Good and evil, dark and light, positive and negative, signal and noise.

The signal to noise ratio is defined by the ratio of signal power to the noise power corrupting that signal. When I was thinking of a domain name back in 1999 I wanted something that encompassed my organic process of creating, how things start with a pure idea (signal) that inevitably shifts and changes as I experiment with the pencil or computer (noise). Mistakes happen along the way that may bring with them results that are superior to my original idea, and I always try to embrace that method of working.

By combining the signal and noise elements into one word, it perfectly culminated the artistic idea I wanted to stay prevalent in my work.

David Airey – davidairey.com | logodesignlove.com

David Airey stands for raw Irish passion, a love of potatoes, Guinness, pub brawls, and chasing rainbows for crocks of gold.

Logo Design Love stands for raw Irish passion, a love of potatoes, Guinness, pub brawls, and chasing rainbows for crocks of gold.

Andrew Houle – MyInkBlog.com

MyInkBlog is just a play on words with Ink Blot and Ink Blog. So it’s suggesting that many times good design is in the eye of the beholder. However, I can’t take credit for the name, my wife actually thought of it

Niki Brown – thedesignoblog.com

The title of my blog came from a spelling mistake on my part! I studied abroad in Italy when I was in college. The Italian word for design is “Disegno” which I mispelled at “Designo”. I went ahead and installed wordpress in a directory I named designoblog or design blog. After realizing my mistake I thought about fixing the directory name but after some thought reconsidered it. The name remains today wiht a few capitol letters and apostrophes thrown in for good measure – The Design O’Blog. http://thedesignoblog.com

Nick La – webdesignerwall.com

Why Web Designer Wall? As a designer, I often have a lot of ideas that flow in my mind; usually I draw them on my sketch pad and then paste them on the wall. This is how the name was created — a wall of ideas.

Fabio Sasso – abduzeedo.com

Abduzeedo comes from the portuguese word “Abduzido” that means abducted. As the name of my company is ZEE and I was always playing with words that had the “zee” sound, so I had quite a few names such as “crazee”, “deduzeendo”, “brazeel”. I chose Abduzeedo because it was available and it was related to space and aliens. Besides that, when my office was robbed I thought the name would fit more in my reality. The blog was supposed to show that I had been “abducted by design”

Catalin Zorzini – inspiredM.com

Well Inspired is kind of Wired for inspiration and Mag… as in Smashing Mag. That’s it – these two outstanding publishing outlets inspired me so much for so long that I started this website as a tribute for both of them. So the credit for the blog name should go to Vitaly Friedman and Chris Anderson

Jon Phillips – spyrestudios.com

When I was looking for a name for my business/blog I wanted something that had to do with ‘inspiration’ but that would be different and general enough so that I could use it in different contexts. So I came up with the name ‘SpyreStudios’. At first I wanted to do all sorts of play on words, things like InSpyre or InSpyred. But I never got around to it and simply kept SpyreStudios.

Brian Hoff – thedesigncubicle.com

Around my 2nd year of high school I began to take graphic design more serious and consider it as my career path. I continued working at it, improving my skills and continued my education at Temple University. Taking my very first ‘introduction to design’ class, I remember there was no better feeling than sitting behind the computers with my headphones on… designing, creating, thinking — in my own little world.

My career path led me to various design studios directly out of college and found myself sitting behind cubicles with my headphones on, once again designing — freeing myself from everything else. While most dislike the dreaded cubicle, I oddly enough found myself enjoying it. For me, it served as my own world. A place to create, interact with other designers, learn and forget about everything else in my life — my own design community.

Now working mostly from home as an independent graphic designer, I wanted my blog to reflect the same sense of community that the workspace and “cubicle-life” provided me — A place to create, interact and learn — The Design Cubicle.

David Leggett – tutorial9.net

Tutorial9 is a play on “Cloud 9″. We try to offer “Tutorial Bliss” to our readers, so the name and cloud logo all play together in that fashion!

Where do you look for sources of inspiration?

I find inspiration everywhere so it’s difficult to really narrow it down. My childhood, definitely. I’m a really nostalgic guy cursed with a really clear memory of my childhood, so I remember all of the toys, movies, cartoons . . . basically everything I was into back in the day. Being a child of the late 70s and 80s I’m convinced we had all the best stuff back then, so when I search for inspiration online it’s typically retro design that I look for. I look at toy packages, movie titles, album covers, television network IDs, etc. I also do a lot of research into design history, looking at the works of people like Saul Bass, Paul Rand, Josef Muller-Brockmann, Roger Dean, Drew Struzan, etc. I enjoy taking the fun and ridiculous items from my childhood mixed with the guys who made the design industry what it is today. But when it comes to searching online, I start everyday with a cup of coffee and Ffffound.com, Flickr, the Canadian Design Resource, Abduzeedo and many other great websites who keep the inspiration flowing.

What is your favourite aspect of graphic design?

Having fun, man. That’s what it’s all about. A design that simply obeys the rules will be a good piece, no question, but I like it when people put some life and love into their work. You can really notice when people are excited about what they do because it resonates in what they create. I guess my favorite aspect is the journey. When it comes to art and design you have to work with the knowledge that there’s no destination, you have to work so there is no end.

What are your top 5 favourite websites?

Oh man, so many. I’ll try to narrow it down for you.
Ffffound.com – As I said earlier, nothing tops this awesomely curated stream of art and design inspiration. It’s relentless.
Flickr - Nothing tops the artistic network that Flickr has built. It’s a portfolio, inspirational stream, and fantastic way to keep in touch with like-minded creative types.
ISO50.com – Scott Hansen’s blog is a beast. The work he creates is wonderful, the inspiration he posts is top shelf, and the informational content he offers up is second to none.
Abduzeedo.com – Fabio Sasso has built a monster, and it’s stunning how much content he and his team release everyday. He’s an important part of the online design community, for sure.
Canadian Design Resource – The name says it all. Great design content from home, that’s what it’s all about.

Who do you look up to in your field?

Joshua Davis (joshuadavis.com) – The dude has been a hero of mine for over a decade. I started watching his work way back in the Praystation days when I was still in school, and his personal body of work kept inspiring me to do more. Hell of a nice guy, too.
Scott Hansen (iso50.com) – Aside from his design work, Scott’s ambition as an artist is enough to inspire anyone. He’s an artist, musician, blogger, etc. He really opened my eyes to looking into the past for inspiration.
Milton Glaser (miltonglaser.com) – The soft-spoken design master. Here’s a guy I would love to sit down and have a coffee with.
Chuck Anderson (nopattern.com) – Sharp as hell. I’ve been a fan of Chuck’s work for a couple of years now and it’s wonderful watching his personal progression.
I also very much enjoy the works of Mike Orduna (fatoe.com), Robert Hodgin (flight404.com), Shepard Fairey (obeygiant.com), Roger Dean (rogerdean.com) and the mighty Drew Struzan (drewstruzan.com).

What piece of work are you most proud of and why?

I think I’m most proud of my Network poster (http://blog.signalnoise.com/?p=725). The majority of my works tend to be very straightforward in their idea and execution, with bright colors and clear typography. However the Network piece is 100% sarcasm, and is based on the 1976 film of the same name. The idea behind this poster was how television always shows the perfect world, and spoon feeds the audience messages . . . if they buy this kind of toothpaste or that brand of stereo their life will be much better. It really is madness, so I created the poster with that idea in mind.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the design field?

Never stop. If you have a 9 to 5 design job, don’t stop creating once the clock hits 5pm. You can be Clark Kent during the day because the Daily Planet is paying you to be, but when you’re off it’s time to be Superman. Start exploring, start experimenting, start researching. Play around with the tools you know to master them, and start playing with other tools you know nothing about. The more work you do the more powerful you will become, and the larger and more diverse your portfolio will be. You don’t need a client in order to create something, do it for yourself.

What Social Media tool have you found to be most beneficial to you, as a designer?

Twitter, no question. Being able to reach so many people in one shot has been a godsend. But it’s not only a great tool for announcing news and things, it’s been an excellent way of connecting with other artists, and getting some dialogue going about projects, collaborations, etc. I also love hearing about what my favorite artists are up to, whether it’s new work, what movie they liked, or what music they are currently spinning.

Being from Halifax Nova Scotia Canada, do you feel that not being in a big metropolitan city holds you back at all in your freelance career?

In terms of freelance, not really. The power of the internet is that we are all an email away which won’t hold anyone back. Now, other artists in Halifax might disagree with me on that note, but I scoff at it. If you are excited about what you do and make an effort to get yourself out there using the proper channels, there are no limits. I didn’t leave Halifax yet have worked with Toyota, MTV, VH1 Latin America, Wired Magazine, Google and was recently contacted by Nike.
The only area I feel a little left out of are art shows. I would love to have access to the caliber of shows a place like NYC or San Francisco would have, or even Toronto. I read about so many stellar shows where I say “Damn, there is nowhere on earth I would rather be then at THAT.”

Is there any specific music you’re listening to right now?

I’m really digging the new release by Baroness, ‘Blue Record’. Being a big fan of Metalocalypse, I’m really into the newest Dethklok album as well. Outside of those highlights, I’m always spinning bands like At the Gates, Mastodon, Iron Maiden, Converge, Isis, Goblin Cock, Emperor, Judas Priest, Opeth, Queens of the Stone Age, The Sword. I recently got into Motley Crue, so who knows where this new-found love of 80s hair metal might lead.

What would a dream job for you be?

Aside from the unofficial poster I created, it would be amazing to design an official poster for the upcoming Tron Legacy movie. I simply love the aesthetics they are shooting for with the black gloss and neon lighting. Outside of that, I would love to somehow work with some of my favorite bands, such as Mastodon or Iron Maiden.

What does the name “Signal Noise” mean to you?

Signalnoise is all about duality. Dark vs. light, good vs. evil, signal vs. noise. I chose the name because I start each project with a general idea of what I want to achieve, but tend to stray from the path as I experiment with different elements, techniques, effects, etc. So the idea is the signal, and the happy mistakes are the noise. I like embracing both sides of the process as I work on a design, yielding results I didn’t initially intend.

Would you ever one day open your own design studio, or go freelance full time?

That is yet to be seen. I currently work 9 to 5 at a website firm here in Halifax, which allows me to be selective about what I work on after hours. If I were working Signalnoise fulltime, I think the worry of ‘finding work’ would factor into the creative process, which I see as a delicate balance. So right now I have time to work on my personal art projects without worry, which is ideal. When freelance comes up, I can be pick which ones I would like to be part of rather then taking on everything to make profit. Y’dig?

Want more James?

http://www.signalnoise.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/signalnoiseart/
http://www.behance.net/signalnoise
http://twitter.com/signalnoiseart

Where do you look for sources of inspiration?

Inspiration is everywhere these days. You can’t step foot outside of your house (hell, you don’t even have to leave your house) without being inspired by something (if you don’t see inspiration, your not looking close enough).

What is your favourite aspect of blogging?

My favorite aspect of Blogging (I have been blogging more and more lately and have been loving it) is that I can help other aspiring designers, developers, or programmers on their journey to improve their skills. I believe that anyone and everyone that is in the position to teach someone else something of value, that took them a while to figure out, should do it! This is how everyone grows. Everybody at some point in their career needs help in an area, or subject. I feel that bloggers are changing the world by helping others succeed, and I am honored to be able to take part in helping someone achieve their goals faster.

What are your top 5 favourite websites?

oh this one is easy. My favorite websites that I visit daily are:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com
http://www.engadget.com
http://www.noupe.com
http://www.nettuts.com
http://www.twitter.com

Who do you look up to in your field?

There are so many talented designers out there, so this is a tough question. If I could only pick one right now, it would probably be Collis Ta’eed the founder of the envato network. He is just such an inspiration to everyone in the design community. Just because he took his talents, and his ideas, and made an empire out of them. I think that anyone that can do that is a success in any right.

How has using Twitter helped the popularity of you?

Definitely!! I really doubt anyone would know me yet if it wasn’t for twitter. Twitter helped me gain credibility, and clients, fairly quickly. It gave me the exposure that would have otherwise taken a long time to build up through google search, digg, etc. It also gives me a platform to engage with friends, designers, developers, clients on a regular basis, and really create lasting relationships with them. Twitter is fantastic, I urge everyone to give it a try, and build your brand. Twitter is too good of an opportunity to pass up, oh, btw, follow me @andysowards.

What sort of social media tools have you found most successful?

Twitter would be #1 on this list. Followed by Digg, Design Float, Design Moo, Design Bump, and Facebook. They are all really good at what they do, especially the niche design sites, because the community really cares about the content, and it shows. Although, if your content or service is reliable and consists of high quality (which it should be if you want it to succeed) then it should do just fine no matter what you use!

What piece of work are you most proud of and why?

My most prized piece of work so far is definitely my blog/portfolio site – http://www.andysowards.com . The reason for this is simply because it was my launching pad to what I am today, its my constant piece of ongoing work. It will never be perfect but with each revision (it was recently/currently redesigned and is now almost officially on version 2.0) it gets a little closer to what I want it to be. Although there are a few personal projects im working on now that im quite fond of, but they aren’t quite done yet .

What would be your perfect dream project?

A Dream project for me would be to work with a large, well respected company on a social marketing campaign site to showcase a new product, or work on a really high profile web application that is going to be *big*. I really enjoy working on highly creative projects that have a large scale and vision, that I get to basically take the horns on from the beginning, and help the client drive their vision home while making it the best it could be. Other than that, my dream project would probably be working on a Social Marketing Campaign that integrated some sort of gaming mechanism. I have always wanted to create a really amazing flash game that tied into a social media campaign, always thought that would be great fun (and experience!).

What advice would you give to someone looking to specialize in web design?

When I was trying to get into Web Design, I wish someone had an answer to that question!
My advice to someone trying to get into the web design/development industry is this:
find someone that already does it with passion, and work for them or apprentice with them, whatever you do just LEARN from them. There is no better, or faster way to learn the industry, than getting tips/tricks from someone who does it day in, day out, for a living, and loves it. Even if they are not the best, they are doing what they love, and that is the goal isn’t it?
Some quick guidelines for the journey are: 1) Get used to learning, a lot. 2) Don’t give up, it gets hard sometimes. 3) Have fun.

Looking into a crystal ball, what do you think will be the next design trend?

This is a tough question, as trends change pretty rapidly, and more than one trend are usually appearing around the net at the same time.
Typography has been getting a lot of attention this year, and I think that we will be seeing a lot more of that, especially with serif type. It looks hot on web pages that are well designed, and I don’t think that it will go away anytime soon. So start typo’ing up your site with serifs! its our future!

What can we expect from Andy Sowards in the upcoming year?

Great things. Great things. 2010 is going to be a big year, I already have a ton of things planned both project wise and blogging wise. Project wise I will finally get some of my startups and website ideas out of ‘idea stage’ and into the public so you guys can use them (and hopefully benefit from them!). So definitely keep an eye out on AndySowards.com for those when they are launched. Also, speaking of my blog (andysowards.com) I will be posting more and more content as I already have some great guest bloggers that are contributing, but next year I plan to finally be able to launch a paid authoring program, so that my authors can get exposure and some bling at the same time. Also going to be adding a lot more interactivity to andysowards.com so that we can get the design community in there and collaborate! Stay tuned, its going to be a fun ride. Thanks so much for your time and thanks to the visitors for reading!