Preeti at Web Hosting Search: Tell us, how did you start web designing?
Chris Spooner: As most people I started out with web design through experimentation, I think one of my first web creations was something terrible on GeoCities! Through my education for my degree I gained an insight into web design which I then continued into my career, it wasn't until I progressed onto the more modern XHMTL and CSS technologies that I really started to develop in web design. Website design is now my most popular service as a designer, producing a range of website creations and being lucky enough to receive a few features on the way!
WHS: When and how did you decide to start your blog?
CS: I remember seeing blogs springing up on other designer's websites so I decided to give it a go myself, I didn't have any plans for its progression at all. I soon realized a few of my tutorials and articles were gaining pretty good exposure, I continued posting, redesigned the blog and eventually Blog.SpoonGraphics has grown to what it is today.
WHS: How do you come up with some of the posts like the 58 Wonderfully Cute Illustrated Monster Characters?
CS: One useful aspect of my blog is the motivation it gives me to research and experiment into styles that I usually wouldn't generally get the chance to use. Posts and tutorials on such as the monster characters allows me to try out anything I fancy without limitations, expanding my own skills whilst helping out others.
WHS: With regards to your website, how did you decide on the color scheme, design, and layout?
CS: Everyone has their own preferences, when designing for my own site I can tailor the design directly to my own tastes. Colour scheme, design and layout of the SpoonGraphics website are all directly related to my own personal preferences - Unfortunately as with many designers I can never leave a design alone and always end up tweaking and changing!
On the other hand, designing for a client employs much more creativeness to tailor a design to their own requirements which is sometimes much more challenging.
WHS: What's your take on Twitter, Facebook, mySpace, and the likes in the social media gamut?
(Is social media going to rule our lives?)
CS: I feel Twitter and the other social media sites such as StumbleUpon have been a great resource for my personal development, I've discovered many new people and websites through social media. Design specific sites such as Design Float and Design Bump are particularly useful.
I don't think social media is going to rule our lives, although it does take some discipline to avoid spending the whole day on Twitter, Facebook or StumbleUpon etc! They are definitely a great help and make our lives on the web much easier and much more interesting.
WHS: Some people consider themselves programmers first then designers, others designers first then programmers. What do you think of yourself as?
CS: I'm definitely a designer first then programmer, although my programming doesn't go very far into the server side world of web development. I originally started only concentrating on the visuals but have become really interested in the coding behind websites and now tend to hand-code all my web designs.
WHS: So, have you achieved your career dreams? Or are there plans to take over the world?
CS: Right now I've just taken a big change in my career direction by leaving my job as a Graphic / Web Designer to work as a full-time freelancer. At the moment I am pretty settled but there will always be aspirations I strive to work towards.
WHS: And lastly, where do you see the Spoongraphics blog in the next year?
CS: I hope to see the blog continue developing, over the past year it has really surprised me how quickly and largely it has grown. The hard part is coming up with new content, but I'm sure I can put some thought into pulling out some interesting posts in the future! I have no set plans on where I'd like it to be in a years time, but I'll be sure to work hard on its promotion and see how far I can take it.
Thank you Chris for this awesome interview. Please check him out at: http://blog.spoongraphics.com
Commented by: Ben Hurtisson, 4 January, 2010
Thanks for useful tips and information. It can help any web designers also.