Spicy Web Designer Interview with Tim Resudek

Tim Resudek is a web designer / developer from California in the United States. He started designing websites back in 1999 using GoLive. He currently freelances on a full-time basis and has been for the past few years. He has become more involved in PHP scripting and programming and recently completed his first WordPress Plugin called “NewsTweet”

1. How did you first get started in web design?

In 1999 I started work at a small design studio that was mostly doing print work. That was in the days of the first dotcom boom so I started learning about web design so we could better serve our clients. I’ve come a long way in the past 10 years.

2. When did you first start designing websites?

I started designing sites in 1999 using GoLive… remember that software? Similar to Aaron Irizarry, I learned a lot while designing sites for my old band.

3. What did you study in school? Has it helped you to become a better web designer?

I studied commercial art, which involved illustration and typography, print design, identity design… A lot of the basics. Having a background in the traditional media arts definitely helps in all kinds of design. Knowing the basics has helped me to be more efficient as a designer, I think. I see a problem and have some idea of how to rectify it, I’m not just fumbling around until something falls in to place.

I learn a lot by testing myself to create things I know nothing about. This week I released my first WordPress Plugin, called NewsTweet (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/newstweet/), which uses the Twitter search API, Ajax, and PHP to make life better for WordPress users.

4. What is your favorite web technology to use and why?

I couldn’t live without PHP, Javascript/Ajax, jQuery, CSS.

5. Outside of freelancing do you also work full-time or is freelancing your full-time job these days?

I’ve been freelancing full-time for the last few years. No day jobs for this guy.

6. Do you do most of your web design work because of your relationship with agencies?  I see that you mention a few times that you “help agencies”.

Yeah, I rarely work directly with clients. Most times I have, I have regretted it. I’ve developed relationships with a bunch of great people and agencies and they provide me with more work than I can handle. If you look through my portfolio, you’ll see some of the names, Schok, Clear, Kissd….

7. As well as a web designer do you also consider yourself a “front-end coder”.  I ask because you list JavaScript, AJAX and PHP among your skills.

Yeah, different people use different terms. I can handle everything from design to programming and anything in-between. A lot of my best clients are great designers, so I lean more towards handling code right now. Over the past year or so I have been using a lot of PHP and I find that I enjoy programming more than I ever would’ve imagined.