SpicyWebDesigners.com by Luc Arnold

Sascha Eggenberger is a web designer and developer from Uster, a city near Zurich in Switzerland who currently works for Bachmann Support. He has developed web sites for more than 6 years now. Sascha is loves all things design including MAC computers and has been lucky enough to turn his passion into his career.

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

Since I could draw with crayons I have had a passion for design. When I grew up my passion for computers was born. I was first interested by computer hardware but after that (let me call it a “stage”) I first started designing a small website for my own. It was not that good, but I had so fun to create some digital content. I was so impressed by nice looking websites that I decided to start creating my own website. The first version of saschaeggenberger.com (formerly eggenbergermedia.com) was born.

It was a website with poor HTML and some CSS code, but it was my first own website so I was really proud of it. Then from time to time I made some little sites and grew up (e.g. for my father’s company and other family members).

2. When did you start designing websites?

I was about 16 years old when I started to create small websites.

3. How has your education helped you in your career as a web designer?

My education helped me a lot in programming, but not in designing websites. I’m am a computer scientist and so I’ve learned much about programming. But the greatest part of designing sites I’ve learned myself. I first started developing sites on Windows machines, but I’ve left this path and went over to the MAC world. I’m working with a MAC for 3 years now and I can say that the statement “Once you go to MAC – you never go back” for me is a real truth. Actually I can’t live without tools like Coda, Smultron and Transmit.

4. What web technologies do you regularly use in projects and why do you choose to use them?

I programming websites in PHP because it’s a strong language based on C. In my education I’ve learned C and after that some PHP. So I prefer PHP as my primary language for technical programming. I’m also a huge fan of JavaScript and Ajax Effects. I’m an absolutely hater of flash content.

5. How do you normally price your web design projects for clients?

It’s every time difficult to price a website for me. I think you can price the programming part very exactly (in hours) but you can’t price the work for a design in hours. For me, I don’t only create a design that my client likes, I create it that I like it also and I’m always much more sophisticated than my clients are. So I have a fixed price for a design.

6. What is the biggest challenge that you currently face in web design?

I’m currently developing some web apps with a direct connection to a filemaker database instead of a mySQL database. This gives us the usability to publish content directly to the web from our desktop application called FlexBuero. (I do this for my employer, Bachmann Support)

7. What inspires you to design sites the way that you do?

I can find my inspiration in the music I hear, in the nature, in buildings, in products and of course in the web itself.