Spicy Web Designer Interview with Leigh Taylor
Sat, Oct 11, 2008
Leigh Taylor is a Web Designer from the UK who’s been designing websites for the past 5 years. Before that he was a Royal Marines Commando and after leaving decided to head back to school to pursue an education at Sheffeild Hallam University and enrolled in a BA Degree in Multimedia and Communication. He has created some amazing designs and continues to develop and hone his style and portfolio which has been featured in Web Designer Magazine.
1. How did you first get started designing websites? How long have you been designing websites?
Well i got into the game relatively late. I was not one of these designers that have been doing websites since they were 12 or 13 years old. Kudos to them i just never had the opportunity. It started back when i was leaving the Marines and had a little uncertainty to which direction i wanted to take.
I finally decided to go back to education and enroll into a Ba Multimedia and Communication Degree at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Really just because it sounded like a really interesting and creative course. More important giving me that mental freedom unlike previously where it was all discipline and physical, maybe it was my little rebellion!
Like many designers i have always been creative and artistic but seemingly suppressed these skills through my adolescence. Luckily dropping on a fantastic course at University, more importantly the lecturers we had were amazingly passionate and supportive. A bit of advice, if you have someone you admire use them for everything they have, gain their knowledge, listen intently and more importantly learn how you can become better, my lecturer told me that and it does work unbelievably well. When you learning and you find your creativeness lacking, for a quick fix, find a new mentor to work with/from it really does work wonders lol.
Anyway, sorry i know i ramble lol, i fell in love with the course and new from the outset the web design was the direction i wanted to take and have constantly, for the past 5 years, been studying it ever since. It really has formed into a passion, my partner would say an obsession and probably rightly so, but doing something you love and with the possibility of getting paid to do it more and more is one of the best forms of satisfaction i can have.
2. What is the greatest technological advancement you’ve seen in web design since you first started?
One of the most amazing things i have seen is with the advancement of the internet is the social awareness and integration into everyday life it now has. Not too long ago people were not that aware of website, online systems and how beneficial they can have on a growing business or each individual life. The internet is now available in the most remote places with WIFI access all over allowing people and businesses to communicate easily, cheaply and more effectively. The world has got a heck of a lot smaller and more accommodating which i see as hugely beneficial for everyone but then again i would say that!
Technologically this has come in many forms; the whole web 2.0 trend of bringing information to them and more importantly what they want to see has been hugely successful either through RSS feeds, in built caption links (BBC are trialing these at the moment) and generally a more user orientated set up is fantastic. People now use things like Google, eBay and facebook daily to enhance quality of life, make things easier and simply make life a little more entertaining. These are the same people only a few years ago didn’t know how to switch on a computer, that advancement as a society is amazing.
One of the most surprising things when getting involved with online businesses and the people that impact the internet is just how open it is. The top companies like Google, Facebook, Mozilla, Apple etc all have developer sections that allow us as a community to improve the web we use today. People for W3C creating a common platform with standards for web development is a great starting point for everyone to build up from. Also as a community we are very open to being challenged and improving how things are done for everyone, it is actually one of the very few business sectors that do this as effectively; where the little man can impact the big men in a huge way.
Also the web is such a young business what i am more focused on now is what is in store for the future, CERN introduced ‘The Grid’ a few years ago where we are now seeing a impact on everyday life through technological advancement. Basically CERN offers ultra high speed broadband through fiber optic cable connections allowing people a vast amount of possibilities in the future. The run of the mill users are thinking, wow we can now download that move in 6 seconds which used to take 2 hours, web developers and designers are sitting there rubbing their hands because the download restrictions that are very evident today will be lifted. Flashers will be doing more amazing animation, Videographers are getting involved more and more, TV companies/networks have even started now allowing people to view shows online. Businesses can transfer more information more quickly, leading to more productivity and inevitably more profit. The possibilities are endless, it is very exciting!
3. Your style is very clean and polished. How much time do you spending editing and reworking an original design? Do you usually show the design as you are reworking it or do you wait until all changes are made?
Thank you i always like to think i go the extra mile with designs and do not feel guilty in spending that little bit extra time on finding the ‘right’ font, color palette, imagery or whatever is needed.
One aspect to web design is that it is so subjective that it can be hard to accurately put an average timeframe on one project. There are too many variables like how involved will the client be, how will it be managed, what assets are delivered before i start etc. I will try and break it down though for you lol.
An original design for me can take as little as a couple of hours to a couple of days depending on the complexity, purpose and usability aspects that need to be employed. Designing a personal portfolio is very different to designing for a national magazine homepage so these factors have to be taken into account early on and a huge advantage to take is by doing lots of research and planning before getting started, keeping up with the latest trends and technologies also make things easier as you gain that experience over the years.
This way jumping into the creative you gain a tacit knowledge of what things will or will not work. Every designer wants to go wild with design but with the technological and usability limitations you have to conform to a standard and build your creativity around that. As I work in Photoshop I subconsciously make decisions on what will work technologically, how I will be coding it and it having visual flow to aid usability. This can be a quick ten minutes of layout and an hour teetering or it can take a bit longer.
I also like to give the client a pretty much finished design from the outset, mainly because i am a little lazy and don’t want to do revision after revision. Mainly it is so the client can feel how it will work and get a very good impression of how it will look. The revisions then are often minor and less taxing making the finalization of the design more about the purpose and usability of the website and not about the ‘i want my logo bigger’ clients because they can see the visual does work.
4. How do you generate new clients? Networking, Word of Mouth, working with agencies, advertising, etc.?
To be truthful i have been relatively lucky, working in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people to get the nicer gigs.
After lots of discussions on this subject with many designers and developers i am probably in the minority of how i approach marketing myself. Lots of people say start locally and build up which is a very effective way but i think i might have done one or two local project the rest have been big international clients. I simply went in with the idea of who i would like to work for, who i admire and where i want to be and made them my target client. Simply working from the top clients down, when you start getting accepts on a gig you then can establish your ‘entry’ level and then continue to work up from there. The most important thing was establishing my value to ensure i was not overselling or underselling my services and, for me, it has worked a charm.
I alway try and be professional and approachable only, wherever that may be and really believe in giving back to the community. This helps with gaining the respect and name recognistion within the community to continue bringing in your ideal client. I also have never paid for any marketing methods at all, no google ads, no little ads in yellow pages, even no business cards, i know shock horror lol. If someone wants my details i simply create a business card there and then, make it somewhat more personal and more memorable. I once fit all my details and message within a crossword from a paper, cut it out, folded it up and gave it to a potential client - which phoned me the next day. I really believe you don’t need to spend money you just have to be creative!
5. Do you think a College or university education is important to a career in web design?
The problem for me is that University helped me realize my passion and i had unbelievable luck of having fantastic lecturers so i am definitely in the ‘For’ camp with University but i am also very aware that it is not suited to every individual. It definitely gave me the foundation to work from; the research skills, the academic background, the awareness of methods to design and different ways to approach your work. As i said for me personally that is just what i needed to get me going.
More importantly is finding your own personal method in improving your skills to make an impact in the design world. College or University is not for everyone that is a fact but what these people should do is realize and understand what are the most effective learning methods that apply to them personally. This could be something from travelling and seeing the world, taking in cultures and varying lifestyles to make their creativeness flourish. Some like to study fine art, read books, analyze pieces at museums. Others like to be shown the ropes with a great mentor and get straight into the action. There are no right and wrong answers to this. Simply find your method of learning as early as possible, use it and you will probably be making an impact without realizing.
As for the professional side, for example, having a degree on your CV when you go for job interview may get you the foot in the door a little sooner than those without but it is not a guarantee to the job. Your personality and passion will always, in my eyes, outweigh you educational qualifications.
6. Your designs are very creative and unique. What approach do you take in getting to know a company’s needs in terms of designing a web presence for their needs?
A lot of focus is on communication and understanding the part each person plays in the process. We have to accept that a lot of the time is the website or design work is personal to the client or company and they do have a right to input, it should definitely not just be a sense of the designer is right 100% of the time. Valued input is needed from both ends and compromise is a great word to describe the initial design process lol.
A lot of people do not realize the amount of research that can go into a web design, brainstorming, looking into competitors, looking into the clients business, weighing up pros and cons, targeted user testing, schematics, the list could go on. A good understanding of all aspects make a design look good and more importantly work. It can be hard sometimes moving away from what you creatively envisaged but always remember it is for the ‘greater good’ lol.
Although there is a flip side too, a lot of the clients i work with recently choose to have very little input on the design direction and focus more on the purpose and functionality of the website. Therefore, i simply get a brief, do a little research and then do a conceptual design for them which 90% of the time sticks. What is important here is that this process works for the client and me, the designer, adapts to it to make the process run smoothly.
One thing i must stress is that a lot of designers do not value their own opinion when working with a client, they succumb to the norm that they are paying the bill so what they say goes. Wrong, wrong, wrong, you as the designer are an expert in your field and voicing your opinion is part of the job and should be done throughout to ensure the most successful outcome. Do this in an educational way, do not simply say this way is right and the clients way is wrong, give the client all the facts and figures along with your expert opinion and back up this argument where needed for the good of the project. Listen to your client, accept their valued opinion on their company and compromise to an ideal solution. Like i said compromise is “key”!
7. What do you like to do when you aren’t building some of hottest websites around?
Buying some gloves so i can make some more scorching websites, lol.
In all seriousness i am a born workaholic (although not the right word, i just like being busy). I fill my time up with my, soon-to-be, one year old son and family activities, my full time job, my freelancing, being a care giver to my nan, being part of the local junior football club and helping kids get off the street, a bit of teaching when I can fit it in and the general participation in the design world online through forums, interviews like this and helping other budding web designers where I can. I simply don’t like to relax too much lol.
Tags: UK web designer, web designer
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