Designer Showcase • Bones

designer showcaseAnyone who has spent more than 5 minutes on the designers block forum has heard of 'bones', one of the main contributors to the forum, he is also a moderator. He is also an experienced web designer with a practical view to web design. Read our interview below then check out his site to see some great examples from a talented designer.

Obvious first question, how did you get started in web design?

About 3 years ago I was working as a freelance music journalist, and for 2 months in a row a magazine didn’t pay me for my reviews that they used, so I figured if I wasn’t going to get paid for the reviews anyway, I’d just make a web site and put my reviews on my own web site. After a while, a couple of the bands whose music I was reviewing asked me to make web sites for them. It just went on from there.

And did you have any experience working with computers, programming or design skills?

No computer background at all. Never touched one before then. At the time there was a government scheme where unemployed people could get a basic computer for £50, so I got one and taught myself. I have no real design background either; I’m an artist. I paint and draw. [after a pause, and a fag] I *used* to paint and draw.

And, looking at a lot of the sites you create, you obviously have strong connections with the music industry, so are you a musician too?

Once upon a time, there was a young man…..the end. Yeah, I played a bit. Like my other hobbies, I gave it up. I played upright bass in a punk band in the 70’s (The Washouts), and busked when I was traveling. The only time you’ll find my name in any album sleeve credits is in the ‘thank you’ bits. My music industry connections come from writing.

But in general you have a creative flair, be it with a paintbrush or a plectrum, do you think designers need to be artistic?

Ah. Depends where who you’re working for I guess. Bands, photographers and artists expect (or even demand) some artistic aspects in their web site. For these kind of sites I’d say an artistic touch to your work is a must. However, these days people (certainly outside of the arts) seem to be leaning towards plainer, user friendly, accessible sites, where an artistic touch to the work is less of of a prerequisite. On the other hand, having an artistic flair is of no value if your coding skills are crap. Your client ends up with a visually rich (artistic) web site that doesn’t work.

do you consider web standards as important to design as some sites would make us believe?

I would like to say yes, because deep down I really do. When it comes down to day to day work, I try to implement web standards in my work, certainly as far as coding goes. My own dilemma is that I work on my own, and need to be a multi-disciplinarian, which means that I have very little time to devote to learning new techniques and standards for everything I do. A lot of the web standards that are thrown at us (designers) as ‘must learn’, do need to be learnt, and I do – as I go along. My own belief is that web standards are in place to ensure that web sites behave and look the same way regardless of which web browser a visitor to a web site is using, and to provide the visitor with an accessible experience, regardless of their ability. So, in theory, I believe web standards are important, but I guess until we have all major web browsers behaving uniformly, and processing what are supposed to be ‘web standards’ compliant web sites in the same way, this is perhaps a moot point?

Personally, as far as web standard code goes, I think that every time one has to apply a browser bug fix (to say CSS), the object of having a web standards compliant web site has been defeated. This has nothing to do with web standards – it is to do with browser development, I guess.

At the end of the day, my clients know little or nothing about web standards. They want a web site that looks good, has the features that they have asked for, and works in the major web browsers. Building a web standards compliant web site brings personal and professional satisfaction, and to some extent brings recognition and respect from the more forward thinking sectors of the web design community.

What inspires you during the creative process? Music, Movies, Money?

During the creative process, probably music. Inspiration for the creative process often comes from in the case of a band) the album artwork (or perhaps even just a single colour from the artwork), or perhaps a single photo that stands out over any of the others, a magazine ad.

Are there any designers or developers that you admire or are influenced by?

I don’t think I am influenced by anyone in particular. I have a number of bookmarks in my browser in the ‘Nice Sites’ folder, which I guess fall into the category of ‘designers that I admire’, since I frequently visit their portfolio site to see what they’re working on. Since all of these are design studios, with a team, it is difficult to pinpoint single names, but the likes of Kurt Noble’s web site (www.kurtnoble.com) is a frequent stop on my internet travels. More than admiring a particular designer or developer, I am a great admirer of people who devote much of their free time to teaching or passing on their knowledge (i.e. Stu Nicholls at www.cssplay.co.uk) and those who contribute tirelessly to the many useful and worthwhile Open Source communities.

What software do you use to develop your web sites?

For coding, I used to use Dreamweaver exclusively, but now that I am trying to work with CSS, I tend to open files in Notepad and just hand code. Photoshop is my main graphical design tool, and I use a little arsenal of applications to produce the rest of the content for a site (a little Flash, SwishMax, various video and audio converters).

If there is one thing you could do right now to improve the web, what would you do?

Enforce all web browser developers to use uniform technology, so that all browsers had the same support.

Lastly, do you have any words of wisdom for those starting out as web designers?

Network, network, network (words of wisdom from Devil7, that I totally agree with). And we don’t mean networking with rolls of RJ45 or a wireless router either. My own words of wisdom? I often read this on design forums – “I’m stuck for inspiration”; there is no such thing. There is inspiration everywhere – on the web (sites like CSS Zengarden), in print (magazines, newspapers), in an art gallery; look, don’t copy. And, from my own experience, don’t under price your work.

Oh, and what is your favourite cheese - Jimmy just has to know?

Ooooh, I do like a bit of gorgonzola...

[After a short interlude bones had obviously thought about this question in-depth and came back with the following answer]

Lesley thinks it should actually be Wensleydale, but I'll watch Wallace and Gromit again tonight and check. Personally, I like a bit of Stilton (especially with a bacon sarnie)

You can see bones work at his site: www.olds.cc

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