Kean Richmond from North Yorkshire credits university with getting him into web design

Kean Richmond is a web designer and developer from North Yorkshire, England in the United Kingdom. He first started designing websites using FrontPage and quickly moved up from there. Today his work in web design, web development and front end development is very professional largely in thanks to the education and his drive to learn more about web design. In 5 years from now, Kean wants to be doing what he does currently but better and that’s not to say his websites are bad or not high quality because they are. When asked about how he started web design and how it feels like to work in a company where he is the only designer here is what he had to say.

Luc @ SWD: How did you first discover web design?

Kean says: I don’t quite think this is when I discovered web design but the first site I ever built was one I’d built as part of my ICT course at college. We had to build a site using FrontPage; I think it had something to do with Pirates or Treasure. Of course being a newbie I covered the website in loud colors and odd DHTML animations.

Luc @ SWD: When did you first charge for your services as a web designer?  What was the web design project all about?

Kean says: I was on placement at IBM, which I did as part of my University course. My then manager’s son was part of a band and he asked me to build them a website. The site was a fairly simple one, though it did push my Photoshop skills. Half way through the process one of the band members left so had to be removed from the group photos they have professionally done. Luckily for me the site has since disappeared, and unfortunately I think so has the band.

Luc @ SWD: Kean how has your educational experience at Teesside University helped you to become a better and more confident web designer?

Kean says: Before going to University I didn’t know enough about Web Design to go straight into a job and lacked the drive to learn at home so University was where I felt I had to start. I’m don’t think University made me a better designer but without going to Uni I don’t think I’d be a Web Designer at all. In fact if it wasn’t for Teesside offering a full web course I could have gone on to do any IT related course, as at the time I was certain I was going to University but not sure about what to study.

Luc @ SWD: Where do you want to be in 5 years? Still in web design? Why or why not?

Kean says: Definitely. In 5 years I hope to be doing pretty much doing what I do now just hopefully better. I love the work I do so all I would want to happen is to do more stuff that compliments that. I’ve always liked the idea of getting more involved with clients as well as involved in the larger web design community. I like the idea of being able to pass on the stuff I’ve learnt to others just starting out.

Luc @ SWD: In terms of tools that you love to use, what are your favorites?

Kean says: I don’t tend to use that many different tools, mainly because I don’t work on a Mac where most fun apps live. Instead I tend to just use Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Firefox. These are pretty much all I need and they compliment how I work.

I started using Photoshop and Dreamweaver as they seemed the industry standard at the time. Changing from these would just make simple jobs harder to do as I learnt new software. Firefox I use mainly for the plug-ins, I have stuff like Firebug, Echofon, ColorZilla, MeasureIt and more all installed that make building sites a lot easier.

Luc @ SWD: In your work experience as the lone designer at a company do you find it hard to talk about what it is you do with other colleagues?

Kean says: Probably Yes. Though the people I work with are awesome and really know their stuff I can’t imagine having conversations over border-radius or the 960 Grid System. I don’t think it affects my work though, being the only designer forces me to push my own skills as I’m responsible for ensuring all the design work we do is usable and is a high standard.