Spicy Web Designer Interview with Daniel Oliver

Daniel Oliver is a web designer from Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. He has been designing websites since he had an internet connection back in 1999 and by 2002 he was learning the ins and outs of designing great sites. Daniel’s web design work has been featured in Web Designer Magazine.

How did you get started in web design?

It must have been back in 1999/2000 when my parents got an Internet connection that I was first unleashed on the web. I was fascinated by it all. It wasn’t long after that I found myself setting up my own free website with a service called freewebs. I started a bunch of websites so I could post pictures of motorbikes online and other bits about the sport of motorcycle trials. Eventually after a few years of pottering about with free templates and trying out services like geocities I realized I actually quite enjoyed it and took it upon myself to buy a couple of books to try and find out what was really going on behind the WYSIWYG interfaces these services provided you with.

It was a natural progression from there really and after a couple slow years of learning HTML in between school work I decided fairly early on in my life that this was something I enjoyed and that I wanted to do for a living. After plenty of playing and experimenting I started to land a few freelance gigs, and it all started from there really.

When did you start designing websites?

It was probably around 2002/2003 after I learnt html that I really started think about the design side of things. Once again I just started to play and experiment and it was once again a natural progression. I was reading up online more and more, learning about basic design principles and trying to apply them to my work.

How did Web Designer Magazine get a hold of you to feature you in their publication?

I used to buy the magazine quite regularly and once I felt confident enough with the quality of my work I just decided to email them my URL and that was it. I didn’t expect anything to come of it, but one month I just opened the magazine and flicked through and one page caught my eye as I thought I recognized a site screenshot. Turns out it was my site along with 3 or 4 others of mine on a 2 page spread with a really nice write up. It was great.

How has that experience helped you in your career as a web designers?

I had a few enquiries come through after that but not a great deal. Where I found it to be of benefit was when I was speaking with potential clients and employers. When you mention that you have had work featured in a magazine and show them the write up, it really seems to go down well.

What are the biggest challenges that you face in web design currently?

Tricky one! I think technically, there is the obvious challenge of dealing with IE6 and its numerous issues. From a design standpoint, if you’re having to come up with new designs quite frequently it can be a challenge to stay fresh and inspired and not get burnt out. There are so many others I don’t really know where to begin.

Do you refer to yourself as a Front-end developer or a web designer?  Do you code any of the web sites that you design currently?  If so, what language(s) do you code in?

I refer to myself as a web designer. It really depends on whether or not I code up my designs. If it’s a freelance gig I will always be the one coding up my own designs, however sometimes at the company I work for it will depend on our schedule and what we have lined up. Sometimes I will have to pass off a design to get coded up by someone else so that I can move on to work on another design. I just code using good old fashion xhtml/css.

Where did you go to school and has it helped you become a better web design professional?

I went to university for 18 months before realizing I didn’t need a degree to do what I wanted to do. I had plenty of freelance work on and I wasn’t learning anything at university. I eventually decided to leave and go into full time work and without question it was the best decision I have made. If I could give one bit of advice to aspiring designers, it’s pick up a book! Don’t rely on university courses to teach you the best practices and principles in this industry because it’s so fast and constantly evolving, by the time you turn up to your first lecture the material you are learning is out of date. For me the best way to learn was to get hands on experience. In the time I have had working full-time in the industry, I have learnt and experienced much more than any university course could have taught me.

Of course I’m not saying that university is a bad idea. It’s bound to vary for different people. For me personally however, I found it was just better to pick up and book and put what I learnt into practice. It’s really important you learn the basic design principles and theories and apply them to your work. It’s important to know why you are designing things the way you are designing them. If you’re just doing certain things because you think it looks pretty your doing something wrong.

Since you first started how has the web design industry changed? Has it changed for the better? If so, how? If not, please explain?

Firstly, web standards have become the norm. When I first started I had never heard of CSS. Then I saw the term web standards mentioned on a few blogs. Over the past few years I have seen it grow from web standards being used by a relatively small minority to now becoming the industry norm. Without question this is for the better.

Also there is was the emergence of the whole web 2.0 craze and the growth of the social web. Without question things have changed for the better. It’s opened up a whole new world of opportunity for people and I don’t think there’s ever been a more exciting time to be involved in the industry.

What are your favorite tools to use when designing a website? Why are they your favorite tools?

For designing websites and user interfaces my tool of choice has to be Adobe Fireworks. I just find that Fireworks suits my style and process a little better then the likes of Photoshop.

For coding I use TextMate religiously alongside CSSEdit. Sometimes I may dabble with Coda and I would quite like to give Mac Rabbit’s Espresso app a try soon. That’s it.