SpicyWebDesigners.com by Luc Arnold

Sara Tusar Suhadolc is a web designer and developer living and working in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  She has been involved in designing and developing websites since she was 14.  Back then she was trying to figure out how everything works on the web and today her curiosity has only grown.

She graduated from the University of Maribor in Slovenia back in December 2008 after completing a degree in Interactive Graphic Communications.  Since graduating, she’s been working full-time for a design agency in Slovenia and in the future plans to possibly pursue freelance web design.

I had a chance to ask Sara some questions about her experiences in web design, her knowledge of front-end development and her educational experiences and this is what she had to say…

Luc asks: Sara, how did you first get into web design and why do you still enjoy designing for the web?

Sara says: I started checking source codes and playing around in Photoshop at the age of 14. I have always been interested in how stuff works and websites definitely intrigued me the most. Eleven years later, things haven’t changed much. I am still this curious kid who loves learning about design and creative use of technology on a daily basis. I think that when you acquire enough knowledge the real fun starts. I know that there’s just so much to discover, so many great websites to build so I’m already looking forward to it!

Luc asks: I see that you call yourself a “front-end developer” besides just being a web designer. What have you learned that really makes you a great front end developer?

Sara says: Well, I learned that just being a good front-end developer or just a good web designer isn’t enough. In order to become great you need to be a bit of both – a savvy front-end developer as well as a creative and resourceful web designer. We all know that the Internet is a very specific medium in terms of its possibilities and limitations. Knowing all of them well and having different solutions at hand is almost mandatory if you want your work to stand out.

Luc asks: Do you currently freelance on a full-time or part-time basis and are you selective about the projects you take on?

Sara says: The fact that I have a full time job at the moment keeps me from freelancing on a regular basis. That might change in the future if I manage to attract enough clients. I’m not particularly picky about what projects I take on as long as they represent enough of a challenge and let me express my creativity at the same time. I am at the moment busy designing a web site for this very exciting new start-up called Dog-walker Central, which will be ready for a release with the ability for the public to search profiles in the next 4-5 weeks. After that, we will continue to add features and hopefully the project will be fully up and running in June, so keep your eyes open

Luc asks: I also read on your portfolio site that you have a degree in Interactive Graphic Communications and i just wanted to ask where did you study? Have you graduated and if you have when did you graduate and also how has your education helped you in becoming a design professional?

Sara says: That is correct, I studied Interactive Graphic Communications at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (University of Maribor, Slovenia), graduated in 2008 and was even given the Best Graduate of the Year Award . Having the particular formal educational is of course an important element – it broadens one’s horizons, gives one basic knowledge, but isn’t enough in my experience. If you want to become a real player you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of free time. You have to literally eat, breathe and dream web design.

Luc asks: You say that you do your best to push the limits when it comes to front-end development and design, how do you go about doing this on your projects?

Luc asks: Extensive knowledge of front-end development helps me in being a better web designer. So, when designing I know exactly how a certain part will be executed and can therefore push the limits of design to the maximum of what is technological possible. I am particularly good at bringing nice fonts to the screen by using methods such as Cufón, Font embedding (Font Squirrel, Typekit) and sIFR.

Australian web designer, David Jonsson comes to us from Byron Bay where he crafts websites with branding and amazing graphic designs.  He got his start in designing for the web when he was living and working in London, England and got hired by a web design agency called “Pod1” and learned a lot of his skills on the job.

David has been designing websites since 2005 and more recently, in the past 3 years, he has been freelancing full-time as a web designer.  David uses typography and his graphic design skills to rework designs for the web and end up looking amazing.

Talking to David, it’s easy to see why he is so passionate about web design, his freelance career and the fact that he has never missed a deadline.  Read on to see what David had to say…

Luc asks: David how did you originally start designing website and what got you interested in web design?

David says: It all started when I left Australia to live in London for 12 months. Luckily enough when I arrived and was looking for a job, my brother mentioned that he had a friend who worked at a design agency that was looking for somebody for a couple of days to do data entry.  Fortunately for me, I learned to touch type at school and got the job. What I didn’t realize though was that I was walking into an amazing web design agency called Pod1. They had some amazing designers who I got the opportunity to sit next to and watch them create some stunning websites from scratch.  I decided then and there that this is what I wanted to do. Thankfully Pod1 kept me around for a bit and my love for design and web design just grew from there. They were all extremely passionate about what they did and the designers would settle for nothing but their best – I think that’s the most important thing that they taught me, be proud of what you do and do it as well as you possibly can.

Luc asks: Do you think in the web design profession it’s possible to become uninspired and bored of your job?

David says: If you don’t love web design or design in general it would be very easy to become uninspired and bored of your job. I on the other hand absolutely love what I do and can’t imagine myself doing anything else, web design brings in a lot more challenges as it’s more of an ever changing monster than say print design – I think this is why I love it the most, it’s challenging and is always changing. That’s not to say I don’t have days where I feel bored, uninspired and overwhelmed, but those days are very few and far between.

Luc asks: I see that your portfolio consists of a lot of graphic design work and i wanted to ask do you code any of the projects that you work on and if so what languages do you primarily work in?

David says: I code a few of the projects that I work on, it is a skill that I’m constantly learning and improving. Primarily the languages I work in are xHTML and CSS. My CMS of choice is WordPress which I’m comfortable with but when it comes to the bigger, more technical websites and e-commerce jobs I work with a highly skilled development team based in Brisbane, Australia and their work is nothing but exceptional.

Luc asks: Do you currently freelance on a full-time or part-time basis and how do you juggle the work that you do with your life in general being that you are under deadlines at times?

David says: I’ve been freelancing full time for the past 3 years. The work vs. life balance is something you learn over time. Deadlines really shouldn’t be an issue if you’ve accounted for your time correctly and set milestones that are achievable. That’s not to say I’m not extremely stressed 24hrs before launching a new site or submitting logo designs to my clients but I’m proud to say that I’ve never missed a deadline.

Luc asks: When people who become your clients what is your usually process for gathering information about the project you are going to become involved in? Also, what part does the “Questionnaire” play for your clients and potential clients?

David says: I have certain questionnaires for my clients depending on the project.  The questionnaires take care of the essential information and it’s a great way for the client to really think about their project and gives me a breakdown of what they’re hoping to achieve. I like to meet with my clients, either face to face, over the phone or a video call on Skype, this takes care of a lot of questions that they might have and I can also give advice on certain things that they either don’t understand or are not too sure about.  It’s nice to have a personal touch, I think a lot of clients appreciate that and expect it when dealing with a freelancer directly.

Editha Fuentes is a graphic and web designer who is originally from Chile now living in California in the United States.  Her first experience with the web and web design came in 2003 when she decided to do an internship at a graphic design studio and her curiosity grew from there.

Editha received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia in Chile in 2004 from the University of Arts and Communications (UNIACC).  When she starts in on any design project Editha turns to pencil and paper to generate her ideas for a project.  She had the following to say when I asked her about her experiences in design and how she tackles projects.

Luc asks: How did you get started in web design?  How long have you been designing websites professionally?

Editha says: This is actually an interesting question. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t very interested in web design until I moved to the States. In Chile, while I was in college, I was more into print design and animation. Off course I had to create web sites for several courses but that was pretty much it. I had my first real experience in web design when I came to California for the first time in 2003 to do an internship at a graphic design studio in Costa Mesa. I was exposed to the web design boom in the U.S as web presence started becoming important for businesses; in Chile, there wasn’t a need for websites yet. When I came back in 2006, after receiving my degree, and already knowing the importance of web design and corporate identity, I started looking into the possibility of using my talent as a graphic designer in building effective websites for small businesses. That’s how it all got started. At first, I wanted to build all my websites in Flash, but soon my curiosity took me to find other options to offer my clients. For example, I got to an advanced level in XHTML and CSS.

Luc asks:  I see that you received your education in Graphic Design and Multimedia and I wanted to ask do you think that your education has helped you become a better web designer?  Please explain

Editha says: Yes, I received my degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia in Chile in 2004. Although there are some designers out there that are amazing and have never been to college, in my case, college was of invaluable help. College gave me the foundations for everything that I do today. For example, I had to take classes that perhaps didn’t have anything to do with graphic design let alone web design, but, ultimately, these classes had the purpose of opening my mind and making me think outside the box. They taught me how to use art to express different concepts or to communicate specific things. Also, being in a University inclined towards communications, I was required to take courses that had to do with installation art, photography, creating and editing TV commercials, etc. I use all the knowledge acquired at college, most likely unconsciously, in every project that I work on. Nonetheless, I regret the fact that I was not exposed to the business side of the graphic design industry. I truly think that designers should be prepared in college to manage a business, considering that it is a career where you can easily start doing projects on your own. Lastly, our career, specifically when it comes to web design, is continuously evolving as new trends take over and new technologies become available. It is crucial that we keep on learning on our own, either by taking courses or by teaching ourselves by reading articles or books, etc. Otherwise, you become a dinosaur.

Luc asks:  What tools and inspiration do you use when you first start designing a website project?

Editha says: Although it may sound simple, all my projects start with two basic tools: pencil and paper. This is crucial because it allows me to get involved hands-on and focus on the concept rather than spending hours on the computer without a specific direction. Once I’m done with this part and I have a clear idea of what I want to create, I either use Photoshop or Illustrator, depending on the project. To hand-code a website, I use Dreamweaver. Oh, and most definitely, I use a Mac. In regards to inspiration, I believe you’re always getting it from everything around you. But, my biggest inspiration is the web. I have hundreds of websites that I visit on a daily basis, many of them by very talented designers known worldwide. There are also many CSS showcase galleries out there where I keep up-to-date with the latest trends. Besides these, music is also a great source of inspiration.  I can’t create if I don’t have music playing.

Luc asks:  What is the hardest website project you’ve ever been involved in and why was it difficult?

Editha says: One of the biggest challenges I had on a project was the lack of communication with a client. This one client was extremely busy and did not have enough time to get fully involved with the development of his website. He did not respond to e-mails on time and did not return phone calls, sometimes even for weeks. Ultimately, the completion of the project was drastically delayed and it became very frustrating for me. I usually make an extra effort in establishing good communication with clients, especially due to the fact that English is not my first language and I have put a lot of effort in improving it quickly enough to the point where I can communicate fluently (and professionally) with them. Thus, this lack of communication was the hardest thing I had to deal with.

Luc asks:  What advice do you give clients looking for help with search engine optimization or is that something you don’t get involved with?

Editha says: I get involved in the way that I advise my clients regarding the best options out there. I try to do everything that is humanly possible when hand-coding in order to accomplish search engine optimization, but I inform the client about companies that specialize in this type of service. It is also important to talk to the client about creating good content for the website. Identifying target markets or defining goals that they want to accomplish with their site, for example, will help in the wording and in using keywords within the content. Hiring a copywriter might help.

Luc asks:  What are some things you want people to know about you as a creative professional?

Editha says: I take pride in delivering great customer service and in always developing strong relationship with my clients. I take the time to do research before starting a new project in order to get to know the business and its competitors with the objective of understanding what the client wants to communicate. I also work hard until the client is satisfied with the end result. I never over look details and I feel extremely passionate for what I do. It’s interesting that I always get the same question when people find out that I’m a graphic designer: “Oh, so you build websites?” – umm, yes, but that’s not the only thing I do. I would like to take this opportunity to say that clients will find, at Unuidesign, effective design solutions in any type of design project they might need: logos, business cards, brochures, menus, animations, etc., and of course, websites!

Blair Williams from Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States has gone by many titles including “Software Engineer”, “Internet Marketer” and “New Media Consultant” and he is the guy behind Pretty Link and Pretty Link Pro, a WordPress plug-in that allows you to “Shrink, track and share any URL on the Internet from your WordPress website.”

He began to work in internet marketing in 2007 when he made the jump from his technical background into running an internet business.  Before he was a software engineer, internet marketer or a new media consultant, Blair, graduated from Southern Utah University where he received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and ever since then he has been diving into code, consulting and engineering solutions in one way or another.

His latest project “Mingle” is a social networking plug-in that you can use on a WordPress website.  Blair was able to recently take some time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about his career, how he works and markets what he does.

Luc asks: Blair, I see that you have a wide array of talents including being a Software Engineer, an Internet Marketer and a New Media Consultant.  How do you feel that your skills complement one another?

Blair says: I feel like Internet Marketers (and consultants) are much more effective when they well versed in the technology of the web — and that Software Engineers are better when they understand Internet Marketing. I feel like these skill sets have really played off of each other for me — I really didn’t start doing much Internet Marketing until 2007 but because of my technical background, diving into the world of SEO, PPC, and Internet Business made a lot of sense and I think was much easier to grasp than it would be had I not already been a Software Engineer. At times though, the Software Engineer in me has been somewhat of a liability  (I always have this tendency to dive into the code instead of hiring it out) but now that I’m marketing software that I create, I feel like I’ve finally achieved some balance — I don’t feel guilty for writing code anymore, that’s for sure …

Luc asks: I personally found out about you after downloading your Pretty Link WordPress Plug-in like most people who know you online.  What other projects are you working on currently?

Blair says: Well, the main project I’m working on is another plug-in called Mingle. Mingle is a social networking plug-in for a standard WordPress installation with a standard theme … I’ve been doing some other work for clients as well but Mingle has really been keeping me busy lately.
Luc asks: How much do you make online monthly currently (if you don’t mind me asking) and why did you make the choice to generate a living online?

Blair says: It’s always scary to launch a new product because you never know how much revenue to expect from it. Pretty Link Pro was no exception to that rule — but it has been performing nicely … Pretty Link Pro was built from the ground up from user generated ideas — I’ve found these kinds of products give users more value and perform better. While I’m still not making enough from PLP for me to retire to the Caribbean — it has been a really nice stream of consistent income.

There is no better way to make a living in the modern world than working online. Especially within the last few years the Internet has given a new class of Internet Entrepreneurs the opportunity to work on their own terms. These entrepreneurs can work from home or from wherever they want, they can automate a ton of their business tasks easily and can make a decent living from it … It’s my passion to not only do this for myself but to make it easier for other Internet Entrepreneurs to make a living online.

Luc asks: Blair, do you currently work from home exclusively?

Blair says: I still do quite a bit of client work and one of them has been kind enough to loan me some space — I do most of my work there — but I do work from home a 1 to 2 days a week.

Luc asks: Do you consider yourself an entrepreneur or do the titles of “software engineer”, “internet marketer” and “new media consultant” frame what you do and where your interests lay better?

Blair says: All of the above — it’s really hard to classify a title. I write and market software to people that hopefully provides value to them and makes their lives easier … it’s the same model that thousands of 1-3 person programming shops are now employing to create iPhone, Twitter, Facebook and, like me, WordPress apps. These platforms have made it much easier for developer software out to wide audiences — its exiting to me that this trend is only showing signs of growing.

If you are interested in downloading Blair Williams “Pretty Link” WordPress Plug-in click here and if you are interested in grabbing his Mingle plug-in click here.

With well over a decade of web development experience, Simon Young, a front-end web developer from Chester, England in the United Kingdom has a lot to say about his experiences to date in web design.

Even though he is selective at times with the work that he takes on he is highly skilled in WordPress, Magento and Ruby on Rails development and goes by the title of “Front-end web developer”.  Because of his experience he works on a number of projects with varying scopes from planning the build of an ecommerce site to doing layouts in CSS and XHTML.

Simon mentions how much the average project he is willing to take on which clears up a lot confusion when it comes to pricing out his services in this excerpt from his site…

“To set your expectations accordingly, in most circumstances (i.e. unless you are a charity or other volunteer project) I’m usually unable to work on projects with a budget of lower than £2000.”

Whether you are interested in working with him on your next web design project or you are interested to know more about what he does and how he got to where he is today feel free to read on and learn more about this well-versed web design professional…

Luc asks: Simon, since you first started about 12 years ago what are your favorite things that have happened in web design?

Simon says: I think the most significant development during this period has been the advancement of web standards and continued exploration as to what is possible in the browser. From a personal point of view, after many years of working on Microsoft technologies, in 2006 I moved to working on a Mac and mainly using open source web technologies such as WordPress, Rails and Magento.  In retrospect, I wish I’d done this a lot sooner as I’ve found the flexibility of open source and the ease of use of Mac are the perfect combination for web development.

Luc asks: I see that you do a fair amount of web development using Ruby, Magento Commerce and WordPress and I wanted to ask what is your favorite platform/framework to work with and why is it your favorite?

Simon says: The three all have very different strengths and weaknesses and so I go through phases of which I prefer although I would say now that 90%+ of my work is done on one of the three.  I love WordPress because it is the ideal content management solution for many small businesses and it’s incredibly feature rich these days.  Whilst there are lots of more complex CMS products on the market few are as instantly accessible and flexible and for many small businesses it’s likely to be all they will ever need to create a really solid online presence.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Magento.  The feature set is phenomenal for an open source ecommerce project and there is very little that it can’t do out of the box or with an extension and the template system, while initially daunting, is incredibly powerful.  On the downside, the extensive feature set and powerful template system means there is a huge amount of lines of code within the project and so if something goes wrong or you really need to alter a small piece of functionality it can be tough to track down what you are looking for.

I think my favorite platform is Ruby on Rails and I use this for all of the web application builds I am involved in.  The concept of convention over configuration works really well for me and the in-built functionality is supplemented by so much great code in the community too.  I’m still really a beginner in many aspects of Rails but I just love the fact that every day you spend with it you come out at the end of the day with real progress and new knowledge.  Very few frameworks can offer you that!

Luc asks: As a front-end web developer fill in the blank about this sentence “_______ is the most important technology that i use as a front-end developer”

Simon says: “XHTML/CSS” is the most important technology that i use as a front-end developer.

Luc asks: I ask this of all front-end developers, do you prefer designing or developing (coding) websites and do you have any experience developing in the back-end or is your experience solely front-end development?

Simon says: I started off mainly on the design side as most sites were static when I first got in to the industry however now I find myself spending most of my time either coding layouts and integrating with WordPress/Magento or doing back-end development such as Rails.  I’d still class myself primarily as a front-end developer but I’m definitely picking up more back-end development experience at the moment.

Luc asks: Being a professional with more than 10 years of experience in the areas of web design and development are you more selective of which clients you take on or is anyone welcome?

Simon says: I’m selective to an extent.  I generally look out for clients who are going to be rewarding to work with and are keen to benefit from my expertise and with whom I can get along.  I like clients who pay on time too!

Luc asks: How much do you charge for an average project currently and what does this normally include?

Simon says: I don’t know that there is such a thing as an average project!  The charges will vary depending on whether I’m working through a larger digital agency in Manchester or London (where typically I’ll charge a day rate) or whether I’m doing a fixed price project for a small local business.  My involvement can be anything from just bringing PSD files to life as XHTML/CSS layouts right through to a full e-commerce plan, design and build.