Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. Before moving forward with hiring a designer or an agency, it's best to have both a budget and a time frame set aside so that the process goes quick, painless, and without confusion for both parties. A swift Google search can reveal rates for different services in your area!
Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?
A. Ask professionals to provide a portfolio or portfolio examples. So many "web designers" out there don't even have a website themselves! Don't listen to empty promises, because there are a lot of them. The best thing you can do is ask to see completed work. Also, asking for a LinkedIn profile URL is not a bad idea -- you can get a lot of insight about their professional career from profiles like these.
Q. What do you like most about your job?
A. What I like most about my job is the creativity factor. I've never succeeded at mundane, repetitive jobs because I'm always day dreaming. Being a designer actually rewards me for day dreaming, because I get to channel all of that mental, creative energy into something tangible -- and get paid for it, too!
Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?
A. I'd say the biggest change in the field of web design in general is the migration to HTML5 and CSS3. Most modern browsers now support the doctype, but what's interesting for designers is the idea of writing front-end code to create graphics (where we used to use design software like Photoshop). In the web design world, a lot of these types of graphics and user interface elements are going to be replaced by responsive web design tactics and valid CSS3 code.
For those of us designers that call ourselves "UI Designers", I think in the very near future, having rapid prototyping skills in our arsenal is going to be vitally important. That means being just as versed in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as we are in, say, Photoshop or Illustrator.
Q. What is your greatest strength?
A. My greatest strength is designing interface-intensive user experiences around already-established brands. I find that I can easily get inspired by a brand's message and come up with new, exciting ways to communicate that message in a functional user interface -- whether it's a website, a mobile app, or an online store.
