Spicy Web Designer Interview with Tony Xia

Tony Xia is a web designer from New Zealand. He started designing websites 2 years ago. He showcases some of his design skills at ShadowGem which is his portfolio and it also works with a web developer by the name of Alan Peng at MadeByCool, a web design studio based in New Zealand. Originally Tony went to university at the University of Auckland for Computer Science and later went on to study Digital Media with Merit from Media Design School. One of his latest projects is called “FeedWeaver”, an RSS service that allows you to create your own personalized RSS Feeds.

1. How did you get started in web design?

When I was a child I love drawing stuff and paint them with different colors which is why I took the media design course because I know that is the right thing for me to do. Before I become a web designer I was also a banking advisor, and a programmer.

2. When did you start designing websites?

2 years ago, was trying to do a website for my friend. That site I did was terrible by the way, but every time I look at it, it always makes me laugh.

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

Industry wise, I think getting new clients is the hardest job right now. I guess the recession really drags us down a bit; however the good thing is because we are small, and we need very little amount of money to run the company (made by cool).

Design wise, I think is how to get inspiration for your projects. Of course someone will tell you “go check these web galleries”, however I still think that is not good enough. I always believe you can get inspiration from anything anywhere, e.g. check your local art galley, go to the park you like, go out grab your camera and shoot at anything you like…

4. Do you code on any of your web design projects? And if so, do you consider yourself a “Front-End Coder”? Why or Why Not?

Yup, I do all the front-end coding and design; Alan is our developer who is responsible for all the back-end stuff.

“Front-end Coder” hmm, I guess you can say so. Here are my couple thoughts, a web designer these days should be able to do the design and coding, and personally I won’t do any PSD/FW to HTML sort stuff for someone else, I think this should be done by the same person (lots of people might disagree with me on this lol).

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

I went to Media Design School, it is one of the best design schools in New Zealand, the most expensive one for sure ^_^. I think the time I spent there was totally worth it, awesome tutor, great peers which really helped me grow and develop.

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?

Web design industry has changed a lot. We have experienced several different design approaches, from glossy button to grungy texture style, furthermore web 2.0 really shined, lots of awesome web based applications, social community based websites came out. We are certainly heading towards to a brighter future, and I still believe we only explored the 30% of the internet, there are still plenty room for us to explore. If you have an idea, do not be afraid to try, you site could be the next Digg or YouTube….

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

I use Fireworks for all my websites. I was a loyal Photoshop user before; however after I tried Fireworks I simply can not live without it anymore. It is great for web design.

First, fireworks is designed for web design, not like Photoshop; Second, much easier to control the size of different elements, and great for grid based layout; Third, smaller file size.

8. How have you found building a web studio called MadebyCool with the help of Alan Peng?  Do you hire outside talent or is it a two-man team?

It’s been great so far, we are very good friends in real life, and we work well together, I would say we are the perfect fit. Alan is very talented; I know he is the one when I first met him at university.

Yes, we do have couple others work as contractor with us.