Spicy Web Designer Interview with Silvia Victoria

Silvia Victoria is a web designer from Brookfield, Connecticut in the United States of America. She came online in 1999 under the domain name silviavictoria.com and has since then learned and revised her site design many times but her interest in web design has only grown. With her strong understanding of print media and image manipulation she has been able to apply traditional print and illustration concepts into her style of web design giving her the ability to breathe a natural flow of creativity into the sites that she crafts.

1. How did you first get involved in designing websites?

My first experience was in school, when I had to build a website for a project. I was so fascinated by the creative possibilities and challenges! This fascination has never ceased and the fact that there’s always something new to learn and to be used it’s to me one the best things about this profession. After that project in school I couldn’t wait to build a “real”, live website!

2. When did you design your first website?

The first website was for me, to show my paintings and drawings, www.silviavictoria.com in 1999. As you can guess, it has had many redesigns since then.

3. What is the most important technology that you use as a web designer?

CSS is always a very important one. For the new things, I’m lately enjoying a lot the use of MooTools and jQuery.

4. What is the biggest problem you find as a web designer?

Having to alter my code just so IE 6 doesn’t ruin the design is a nuisance. There’s a limit on how many hacks should be used and since I want my design to be shown correctly for everybody I have no choice but to spend the extra time adjusting things so IE doesn’t mess it up.

5. How did your education at New York University and the School of Visual Arts prepare you as a web designer?

Digital Design at School of Visual Arts made me start as a graphic designer and Multimedia Technology at New York University came later and it was what made me first put my hands on web design. It prepared me to start as it made me learn and experiment what was available at that time but because this technology and its trends keep changing all the time I have never stopped learning, looking every day on the web to find out what’s new so I can make my next project more exciting and interesting. So I consider the education at SVA and NYU solid starting points.

6. What did you do before you started designing websites as I see you’ve got a background in print design as well?

I worked with print design for 8 years and this experience is so helpful at any time a client needs a graphic to be ready for press. I worked a lot also with image manipulation and photo retouching at the time and this knowledge is very important to me on the work I perform now.

7. How do you price the work that you do for clients?

I have a set starting price for a website design and also for any extra function or additions. Clients can do additions later on if that would work better for them.