Spicy Web Designer Interview with Tim Potter

Tim Potter is a web designer from Belfast, Ireland in the United Kingdom. He has been designing for the past 10 years when he started playing around with FrontPage Express and Paint Shop Pro. Tim studied Interactive Multimedia Design at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Tim currently teaches on a part-time on web standards & professional practice to current Interactive Multimedia Design students and continues to develop his skills as a web designer.

1. How did you get started in web design?

My humble entry into the web design world began around 10 years ago when I started playing around with FrontPage Express & Paint Shop Pro. Armed with my new found knowledge of iframes, tables, animated gifs and marquees, I began to create some very primitive websites for personal learning.

2. When did you start designing websites?

After leaving school at 16 I went on to study Computing at college. One of the assignments involved designing, then coding a website for a fictional clothing company entirely in notepad. I really enjoyed learning HTML and I began to advance my skill set by building websites for several local Irish bands.

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

I would say ’standing out from the crowd’ is a continual challenge, i.e. the ability to be seen and stay competitive in an industry with an ever growing number of freelancers and design agencies, without grossly under-selling yourself. Some other challenges include keeping up-to-date with current technologies and practices whilst balancing daily commitments. Finally, convincing clients that the website they want you to make theirs look like is absolute rubbish!

4. Do you ever 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?

It really depends on who you are pitching yourself to but generally I find it easier to classify myself as a web designer because most people understand exactly what it is you do.

I generally prefer to carry the design process through to the implementation stage and build the web site, or as much of it as I can myself. I usually code in XHTML & CSS, but some sites incorporate dynamic elements that require additional programming in PHP, XML & Java Script.

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

I studied Interactive Multimedia Design at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. The course helped me improve my visual appreciation and ability to critically analyze and understand the important elements of successful design e.g. layout, color, typography etc.

I was able to develop my skills through the continual engagement with the broad range of applications, hardware, industry practices and trends relevant to the creation and development of websites

I am now a part-time lecturer on this course and I teach web standards & professional practice to current Interactive Multimedia Design students.

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

Flash was coming to the forefront as I became more heavily involved in web design. I’ve always found Flash to be a valuable resource, but have never enjoyed building or viewing websites made entirely with the software. I’m forever reminded of the seemingly never ending loading bars, inability to bookmark specific pages, terrible shape tweens and the accessibility issues. Of course the technology has advanced as have the designers using it and I feel today it is used in a much more refined application.

Social networking has exploded over the past few years and it is not uncommon for a request to design a skin for the likes of a Myspace or Bebo profile instead of designing and building the client their own website.

Finally, I think the favorably titled Web 2.0 trend has brought a lot of great, accessible websites to the forefront as well as advocating web standards.  Designers are taking pride in their work and delivering aesthetically pleasing, validating, HTML/CSS designs and long may it continue!

7. What are your favorite tools to use when designing a web project? Why are they your favorite tools?

I always like to start a new design by sketching out my ideas on paper. I find it a useful way to draw and note down thoughts that can often happen spontaneously, rather than jumping straight into Photoshop.

Once I am satisfied with a design, I construct a visual of it in Photoshop and refine it until I am happy. I have been using Photoshop since my days at university and think it is a valuable resource in web design as it aids your thought process in relation to the choice of fonts, typographic layout/hierarchy, colors, image size, placement, layout etc and it is a great way to send the client over a comprehensive visual before even coding a single page.

Development wise I use Dreamweaver/Notepad ++ and always find IE Tester useful to make sure it renders correctly across the multiple versions of the dreaded Internet Explorer.

8. You say on your site that you have “extensive experience in the planning, design and development of websites” and i wanted to ask how important is it for a company to know their strategy on the web as it pertains to the development of their website?

The development process is like a journey. More often than not you know exactly where you want to go, sometimes you have to stop and ask for directions, and other times you just want to see where it takes you. A company may only require a basic presence on the web that serves nothing more than their contact details and is not considered an important part of the day-to-day running, then again a business may rely solely on their website to make money, therefore I believe that it is important for a company who is relying on their website to deal or attract new business to know their intention from the outset so that the best strategy can be identified and implemented through the various stages of the design process. Others can just enjoy the ride.