1) How did you first get into design?

I’ve been into art for as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until I had access to a computer and the internet that I became interested in design. I had kind of sworn off the idea of commercial art as a young teenager, as I didn’t think it would be rewarding to produce art according to someone else’s demands. But once the internet came into my life I became really interested in how the computer could become a tool for making art. After building a really crude fan website for a video game I became more interested in interactive and graphic design and started to fall in love with it. The internet really brought in a tidal wave of inspiration. Nowadays I just have a passion for thinking visually and experimenting. I’m still not super huge on client work. Since I work full-time as a designer at Gnomon I prefer to spend my free time doing my own thing.

2) How you would best describe your work?

I think right now my work is in a very transitional phase, where I’m really exploring different approaches and trying to find my own voice. I’m trying to learn as much as I can and push myself. I’ve had a renewed interest in design fundamentals, illustration, collage and narrative, be it a little ambiguous. So I like to start with a really rough set of symbols or concepts, nothing concrete, and start building a graphic from there. I’m not too concerned about making a concrete statement as much as I am about creating something that can spark someone’s imagination. In the past I’ve let myself get hung up on trying too hard to think conceptually and I found it more of a hinderance than anything else. In the end its the viewer that makes the story, wether the creator has come up with one or not. I just like to steer them in a general direction.

3) What inspires you the most?

I love illustration, specifically a lot of ‘70s and ‘80s sci-fi and fantasy work by Frank Frazetta, Roger Dean and Moebius. Its so epic and fantastic, and it also displays a great mastery of fundamentals. On the design side I’m a big fan of the simplicity and logic of Swiss design by Josef Müller-Brockmann and Armin Hofmann. It’s really interesting to look at what initially seems like an incredibly simple graphic, but then see how complex and logical the underlying structure is. Outside of the visual realm I try and pull inspiration from just about anywhere that I can find it. I like the idea that each individual has a unique perspective, allowing all of us to get something different out of the same environment. So I challenge myself to keep my eyes open and pay attention to what’s going on around me.

4) How do you normally start work on a project?

If I’m lucky I’ll have a rough image or theme in my head, perhaps something sparked from a sentence I read from a book. I’ve been reading a lot of vintage sci-fi paperbacks lately and sometimes I’ll read a line out of context and find it becomes really interesting to explore visually. So from there I’ll gather a few similar symbols or concepts and play with how they can relate to each other. Then I’ll just start putting something together visually. I have a large library of collage material I’ve collected that I enjoy sifting through. Sometimes I’ll come across an image that can introduce a new dimension to the narrative, so I keep the creative process pretty organic. The final theme of a graphic may end up a lot different than what it started as.

5) On average, how many hours a week do you spend on design?

Lately it hasn’t been near what it should be as I’ve largely replaced design time with music production. I have a passion for both, but have found I can’t seem to do them at the same time, so I tend to shift back and forth. But when I’m in the design zone I probably spend a good 20 hours a week on personal design projects. That of course doesn’t include design time spent at my day job, which is usually 40 hours or more.

6) What style music do you listen to when you work?

It definitely depends on the mood I’m in, but I’d say most often its something that can exist in the background and not be too distracting. So I enjoy a lot of ambient or sprawling work like Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Steve Reich and progressive rock like King Crimson or Pink Floyd. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of The Advisory Circle and other artists on the Ghostbox label, which is best described as the haunting soundtrack to a 1970s public information film. I love it.

7) Who do you admire the most and why?

I think I admire anyone who can really devote themselves to their creative projects. I read in Paul Pope’s Pulphope book that he sometimes gets up in the morning and just starts drawing before doing anything else. It stuck with me to read that someone can dive into something in such a determined fashion and not get distracted by anything else. I look back at the amount of work I’ve produced over the year and end up a little disappointed that I didn’t devote more time to knocking more stuff out.

8) Favorite website(s)?

Google Reader! I think I’ve become so reliant on syndicated feeds to keep up with information that the idea of having a favorite individual site is a little alien to me now. There is just so much new media constantly popping up that I can’t imagine visiting individual sites to see it all. I’ve noticed how easily I get mentally fatigued just trying to parse the information from my feeds- information overload is a problem and I just have to bite the bullet and hit that “Mark All as Read” button when I get backed up. Along the same lines I visit far fewer forums than I used to. With stuff like Flickr, Twitter and blogs internet communities have become much more organic and I think closer-knit. The interaction among users and their media in those kind of services has allowed for much more natural communication and relationship building.

9) Any words of wisdom you would like to share with us?

Surely not! But I’ll try. I mentioned earlier that I’ve been really interested in fundamentals lately. I think this is largely because I got into design before ever going to school for it, and when I finally did go to school it was a below average one. So I learned to make a lot of flashy stuff but I never understood the foundation for it. Now that I’ve learned more of the fundamentals, my work has improved a lot and my eye has become more critial looking at the work of others. It’s great that current technology has lowered the barrier to entry of design for so many people, but there’s still a need to understand fundamentals to create really high quality work. That’s usually the stuff that software doesn’t teach you.

Thank you so much for your contribution! It was a pleasure having you!