Who or what influenced you to get into the design field?

My brother (Justin) and I were always drawing stuff as kids… Superman, Snoopy, Popeye, dirt bikes, skulls and anything else we deemed “cool”. He was a huge influence growing up. Then in high school I was fortunate to have a fantastic art teacher, Mr. Gary Lovett, who taught me so much and showed me that there were multiple avenues I could pursue based on my artistic skills. From there I decided on the “Advertising Art” program (later changed to “Graphic Design”) at Fanshawe College.

Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

Wherever I can… music, movies, online and just from random observation. Often I find that inspiration hits when you’re not looking for it. For example, it was the cover of a local newsprint magazine featuring the band Elliott BROOD on the cover that inspired the character and overall look of my current portfolio site 2pitch.com.

What tools of the trade do you use to make your life as a designer easier?

Pencil & paper (don’t forget the eraser), my MacBook Pro (the workhorse), Photoshop, Illustrator and Coda. Sometimes I utilize coffee and beer as well (not mixed together but I’ve often thought about it).

What is your next planned software or hardware purchase?

The new 27-inch Apple LED cinema display. I really need the extra screen real estate as I’ve been using my 15-inch MacBook Pro on it’s own for way too long. As for software, I’m saving up for CS5.

What do you see as the next evolution in design in terms of trends?

There are so many talented designers out there with totally different styles… this makes for a wide variety of different trends. Everything from heavily illustrated designs, the use of subtle textures and shading, simple and slick with focus on usability, throwbacks to previous eras of design accented with a modern twist… the list goes on and on. Basically I think you’ll see a lot of trends overlap one another to create fresh, new looks. And with HTML5 gaining steam, there will be a huge wave of web fun and functionality… some good, some bad. It’ll be a little like when everyone needed graphics spinning and moving in Flash even if there was no reason for it but eventually the hype will die down and the good stuff will prevail.

Could you share a favorite recent web or graphic design project you worked on and tell us a little bit about it?

I’m going to say the Bridge Corporate Communications site [ bridgecorpcomm.com ]. Not necessarily because of the look/style, to be honest the overall look is a little more corporate than I prefer to work on, but because of the freedom I had with the site. Bridge is a brand new company so this is their first site and the guys trusted me and my design expertise. Obviously I knew I couldn’t design something that looked like a Pearl Jam tour poster but I was able to create an uncluttered design without having to crowbar in extra elements to “fill up the space”. And because the site isn’t connected to a CMS I was able to layout the pages in a manner that didn’t look like they were all created from a template. I really enjoyed making each page a little unique. So even though the design is more corporate it was still a lot of fun to work on and I am happy with the outcome.

What are you favorite websites or blogs that you frequent?

I tend to jump around a lot when it comes to sites and blogs. Typically I go wherever the links take me. Usually it starts with a link from a tweet and then I set sail. But if you’re looking for specific design sites, I’d say smashingmagazine.com, psd.tutsplus.com, dzineblog.com and cameronmoll.com just to name a few. Also, check out The Oatmeal for a laugh [ http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell ].

Any advice or tips for someone wanting to become a designer or to improve their quality of design?

Learn the basic principals. Research. Practice by copying. Test out a variety of design styles. If you have a specific style, hone it and make it your own. Let other designers critique your work. Grab a pencil. Enjoy!

About Keven:

It’s been almost 10 years since I graduated from graphic design and I’ve been designing “stuff” ever since. Currently I am self-employed (last 2+ years) and have worked on numerous projects ranging from rock bands and comedians to hair products and corporate communications. The majority of my work comes in the form of website design but I do enjoy print work and illustration as well. When I’m not designing you can find me doing high-kicks in the garage.

Company / Design Portfolio: 2pitch.com

Personal / Blog: kevenlupien.com

Who or what influenced you to get into design field?

A combination of two things: A love of art, and a panicked last day of exams in high school.

I saw as an interview with Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schultz as a child which was highly influential. I kept art as my most pursued subject in secondary school – and really got into some Graphic Design projects.

I had planned to take a year off before going to college, but at the last second applied to Canadore College’s Graphic Design Production. There I totally fell in love with the process and got a hunger to do work on the web.

Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

Ironically I get inspired by reading about inspiration! I love brainstorming, and my ever expanding moleskin notebook collection. Then I guess I get some design inspiration from some of the classic online outlets like blogs, Twitter and Dribbble (no, I don’t have any invites!)

What tools of the trade you use to make your life as a designer easier?

One of my recent breakthroughs is getting a series of Virtual Machines working for me. Makes cross browser / platform testing a lot easier! I find I can’t work with less than three monitors, and Ultramon adding a taskbar to every screen (PC) is worth every penny.

What is your next planned software or hardware purchase?

I’m waiting for the price of SSD hard drives to get reasonable; and I’m keeping my eye on the tablet wars. As far as software goes I’ve started preliminary shopping for a new WYSIWYG for my Mac. I’ve been using Dreamweaver for nearly 10 years and I’m curious what else is out there.

What do you see as the next evolution in design in terms of trends?

I think the awkward Web 2.0 type of hype is going to come back in a big way with HTML5. It will be exciting for large corporations to break out of IE6, but I think there will be a period of way-too-much-canvas-element.

The good news is I think there will be a lot of minimalism coming to design too. With mobile surfing rising at an incredible rate, a lot more thought is being put into contextual information; and making sites with responsive design (colly.com is a great example of this; the layout adapts to browser width / device constraints).

Could you share a favorite recent web or graphic design project you worked on and tell us a little bit about it.

The project that is my favourite on-going puzzle is August Lark. Unlike client work, this personal project allows me to make more decisions and experiment a bit with common site conventions. I can be a bit avant guard and risky which is fun.

I’ve been blogging since 2004, and find it can be a burden to try to create content weekly. August Lark will be different: I plan to (at first anyways) release articles only in the month of August – and I’ve got some nice contributors lined up.

I think August when we all need inspiration the most. September always is a boom month – vacations end, budgets need spending, the kids are back in school and Christmas is coming. Hopefully August Lark will help people get the juices flowing after launching in 2011.

Being a one-month a year project will hopefully always keep it fun and fresh. I think those kinds of projects are important.

What are you favorite websites or blogs that you frequent?

I actually surf a lot less this year than I have since before college. I do keep up on my RSS feed though; sites like Six Revisions, Smashing Magazine, Think Vitamin and a couple personal blogs.

Any advice or tips for someone wanting to become a designer or to improve their quality of design?

You’ve gotta Love it.

Also, I find the best work I’ve ever done starts on paper, not pixels.

About Arley McBlain:

I am Graphic Designer and Web Developer living in Burlington, Ontario with my beautiful wife Kristi. I am a music enthusiast and a blogger. You can learn more About Me, about the work I do with Thrillworks, or just explore some of my creative outlets at my personal website http://www.arleym.com

Who or what influenced you to get into design field?

As a child, I loved movies, special effects and animated series. All that exposure to multi-media attracted me and heavily influenced me to become a designer.

Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

The most difficult thing about being a creative is that you have absolutely no idea where any of your ideas comes from. Design is everything and everywhere. Inspiration is genuine and develops through your passionate to create.

What tools of the trade you use to make your life as a designer easier?

The internet is by far the most indispensable tool. Obviously computers and software. These are the basics and most necessary.

What is your next planned software or hardware purchase?

More storage. 16 TB DroboPro. Keeping an eye out on SD hard drives as well, the speeds on those are amazing.

What do you see as the next evolution in design in terms of trends?

In web design, we’re going to see much more HTM5 and CSS3 experimental design. Heavy backgrounds are slowly fading out. Simple, clean layouts, serif fonts and textured backgrounds are becoming very popular. With CSS3, we going to see fewer imagess to create a layout and allow the browser to render shadows, gradients and typography. Mobile web design is going to be bigger this year with the rise of smart phones.

Could you share a favorite recent web or graphic design project you worked on and tell us a little bit about it?

The current project I’m working on is a DJ application for the iPad. Mixr. It’s gained tremendous support and attraction from the DJ community. We’re seeing a transition take place where computing is becoming mobile. The raise of the iPad is proving mobile production and creation. We have laptops but they do not have multi-touch yet. Mixr brings the experience of DJing with you anywhere. By combining a traditional vinyl with a modern UI, and multitouch, Mixr will change the DJ industry. It’s currently under major development, if you’d like more information you can follow Mixr on twitter or check the site.

What are you favorite websites or blogs that you frequent?

I have over 1,000 RSS feeds in my Google reader that grows weekly so it’s hard to pick a favorite. Right now I’m visiting Dribbble.com a lot for inspiration and critiques.

Any advice or tips for someone wanting to become a designer or to improve their quality of design?

To improve the quality of design, you need to learn the principals of design.  Analyze every  type of design. Try to get a feel for all aspects of design, photography, typography and everything in between. If your in high school, thats perfect, try to find sign up for commercial arts / graphic design class. If your out of school trying to get into design, take time to research and build your portfolio. Check out design related articles and tutorials on-line, libraries, book stores where ever you feel comfortable learning. To be a good designer, you must never stop learning and growing. If your passionate about your craft, you’ll spend the time to perfect it.

Noe Ruiz is a web developer, UI designer and musician with eight years experience in the corporate and freelance industry. He recently worked on iPhone apps and various websites. From design to development, Noe has worked for over five companies in such industries as enterprise mobility, direct response, real estate, medical, and entertainment. The enthusiastic artist has a strong eye for design, and enjoy’s contributing the design community.

http://noeruiz.com/ – Portfolio

http://pixil.info – Tutorial Site

http://dsmedialabs.com – iPhone Company Site

Who or what influenced you to get into design field?

Actually, my best friend in middle school (and during middle school) began to tinker around on the internet and found his way to Angelfire.com – a popular free web hosting company at the time. He made his own website there and got me into doing that as well. Eventually he became bored with it, but my interest only flourished. I eventually discovered that in order to have a successful website it’s essential to have a beautiful & functional design to compliment the content, and thus I discovered my passion for design… Over the last decade my knowledge and passion for design has branched from web design and into identity, print, packaging, and typography design.

Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

Isn’t this the age old question? Aside from the typical inspiration – other designers and their work, I usually derive a lot of my ideas from architectural and automotive design. Social experiences also play an essential role in developing my ideas. I always attempt to stay extremely social and experience as much unfamiliar culture as possible. This keeps fresh ideas coming. I also gained a keen interest in photography in my younger years to visually document some of my adventures for inspiration. Another one of my main inspirational sources is nature…. I mean, just climb to the top of a mountain, or sit by a quiet lake during sunrise and you’ll see what I mean.

What tools of the trade you use to make your life as a designer easier?

I’ll start with the Adobe Suite. Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are three main components that allow me to do what I do (in regards to design). Lightroom and my Canon camera collection (lenses & filters). Twitter (amongst other social sites & apps) to keep ideas and news happening. Textmate, Coda, Transmit FTP, and WordPress for my web development needs. iTunes & daily vitamins for energy. iCal & Evernote to stay on top of things. Starcraft II, my kayak, & my fishing gear for downtime to regenerate. And of course my iphone and macbook allow for exquisite efficiency. (There are many more, I’m just brain-dead right now!)

What is your next planned software or hardware purchase?

I think I’m pretty set on hardware right now – I really take care of my equipment so it lasts forever. There’s always new software coming out, but I think Undercover for mac is looking like it’s going to be my next purchase. It’s like lo-jack for mac and I believe security is so under-rated… especially when my well being sits on this hard-drive.

What do you see as the next evolution in design in terms of trends?

I think this is a difficult question to answer, even for the masters of the industry (most certainly not me). I subscribe to so many design blogs where I see so many showcases of new and exciting web design, print design, and package design, that I’m often saying to myself, “Oh, WOW! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s so simple, but so well done!” (Don’t we all say that?)

Since I specialize in web interface design I can say that two of the biggest, most recent trends were the enlarged baskerville italic ampersand and white drop shadows on dark elements sitting on lighter background to create a letterpress effect. Both are really attractive, but who saw it coming? I was actually told today by a fellow member on Forrst (a design & development community) that he could see my new web site design becoming a new trend (pfff, yeah right!).

I have made a note of history repeating itself in design. With the web it’s interesting. It’s new so it doesn’t have much history, but seems to follow this principle to some degree with other design disciplines such as print. Just like I described earlier with the letterpress effect… I just hope we don’t see bell bottoms and shaggy beards returning anytime soon!

Could you share a favorite recent web or graphic design project you worked on and tell us a little bit about it?

In September of 2009 I was hired at Slocum Design Studio in Dartmouth, Massachusetts as the senior designer. My initial task was to brand the emerging media company by creating a new logo, web site, and print material. It’s my favorite project thus far because I was given full responsibility to create an image for this local company, while being able to touch all the different design disciplines I love. It’s an amazing feeling when you start from research and then create a consistent identity that reaches across different mediums… especially when you see the identity you’ve created in a public place.

What are you favorite websites or blogs that you frequent?

I’ll provide a list of my top ten (in no specific order)!

1. Smashing Magazine: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/the-smashing-network/
   • My homepage (on all my browsers). Smashing Magazine and every site in its network provide an incredible amount of inspiration & introspect
2. A List Apart: http://www.alistapart.com/
   
   • Industry leaders sharing everything they know
3. Envato Network: http://envato.com/
   • Great place for resources
4. Behance Network: http://www.behance.net
   
   • Beautifully designed & highly functional, what I like to call, “Social Portfolio” (Trademark! you heard it here first!)
5. Flickr: http://www.flickr.com
   
   • Great place for design or photography inspiration
6. DeviantArt: http://www.deviantart.com
   
   • I’ve been a member here since 2003, and all I can say is that I’ve seen some of the most incredible, beautiful, and outstanding artwork I’ve ever seen. Some of the most talented artists in existence reside here. See what I’m talking about: http://maverick3x6.deviantart.com/favourites/
7. Dribbble: http://www.dribbble.com
   • See what people are working on before it’s released
8. Forrst: http://www.forrst.com
   • Wonderful design & development community
9. Dendroboard: http://www.dendroboard.com
   • Because some designers have peculiar interests!

Any advice or tips for someone wanting to become a designer or to improve their quality of design?

Well, take this with a grain of salt because I’m still a novice in my own eyes…

Never stop learning & always take every networking and social opportunity you can. Design is more than just an art, it’s a science… it serves a function, it solves problems. In order to solve those problems you’ve got to analyze and research… you’ve got to fill a void, not just make something look pretty.  Improving design work or becoming a better designer is about the ability to learn, to experiment, and the desire to continue to do both.

Here’s my advice as a full-time freelance designer & developer to anyone looking to join the industry:

If you’re a a student or fledgling designer looking to acquire a position at a firm, a simple college degree may not land you the job. It’s all about experience and examples. If you’re just starting out you’re going to have to take under priced or free jobs to get a resume / portfolio going. If you’re working with a small budget and run out of time, keep going… Don’t just stop and say “well I’m not getting paid well.. this is good enough.” Every piece you do, whether it be a poster, a business card, or a complete corporate identity, is an investment in yourself.  It contributes to your portfolio and will ultimately provide you with future work.

While design is meant to solve problems, it’s still subjective. Many different people have different tastes and while some may love something, others may hate it. Adapt. Learn & showcase different styles. If you dislike a design you’ve done that a client decided to go with, showcase it in your portfolio anyway (under the one you love)… it just may land you your next gig.

Most importantly, love what you do.

Who or what influenced you to get into design field?

As odd as it sounds, Dave Matthews got me into design.

Back in 1993 as an undergrad at Roanoke College, I was a huge DMB fan.  This was before the band became the Grammy-winning behemoth that they are now.  I “discovered” the web through an acquaintance of mine who was a computer science major.  I soon discovered a pretty robust online community around the band.  This piqued my interest and soon I was building my own website (http://www.baboonfarm.com/classic) to house my thoughts on the band.

After building that first site, I was hooked.  There is something deeply satisfying about the process of creation.

Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

Creative inspiration comes from everywhere and anywhere.  My number one source of inspiration is music.  It lets my right brain take over so that I’m not actively thinking but rather simply doing.  It’s as if music allows the creativity to flow uninhibited. I cannot even think about design without headphones and several hours of mixed tracks.  I’ve even started creating my own mixes (http://www.baboonfarm.com/category/creativity/music/) to fuel my visual design sessions.

I definitely check out sites like Smashing Magazine, Communication Arts and Design Observer to keep track of trends in the field.  I follow designers that I respect such as Khoi Vinh (@khoi), Doug Bowman (@stop), Ned Hamiz (@weightshift) and Tyler Thompson (@tyler_thompson) on Twitter as well.  And I have a library of old annuals and classic design anthologies that I tend to pull out when I’m stuck on a problem.  Dribbble is also a great resource.

What tools of the trade you use to make your life as a designer easier?

I find that having an organized workflow makes my life easier.  I have a very rigid file naming and organizational structure for my projects.  I am a obsessive layer namer and organizer in Photoshop as well.  And, by default, my left hand hits CTRL+S every 15 seconds.  It’s a good habit to get into.

What is your next planned software or hardware purchase?

Oddly, I’m not really “a computer guy”.  I appreciate what they allow me to do…but I’m not really into gear for the sake of gear so I rarely plan purchases.  when there is a need (or a want), I go out and get something.  I’ll probably wind up needing an additional external hard drive soon.

What do you see as the next evolution in design in terms of trends?

Clearly, mobile is where we are headed.  It’s a bit like going back to the early days when we were designing for 640×480 screen resolution with browsers that had limited feature sets.

Editorial design is also becoming more and more important – another throwback.  In the beginning, we designed our sites around our own writing.  And then content management systems came along and we started designing templates.  We never even saw the content.  We’re finally getting back to the business of creating visual presentations that communicate specific content.  It doesn’t happen for every project.  But its happening a lot more than it used to.

Could you share a favorite recent web or graphic design project you worked on and tell us a little bit about it?

Unfortunately, most of my recent projects were developed under strict NDAs so I can’t go into specifics on any of them.  But I am currently redesigning my own site (www.markjmaloney.com).  I threw the current iteration up there in record time so I’ve decided to “visual realign” it a bit.  None of the functionality is there and I’m still in the process of building it…but if you’re curious to see how I’ve evolved the design, the current in-progress build can be found at v2.markjmaloney.com.

What are you favorite websites or blogs that you frequent?

It’s funny.  With Twitter, I rarely visit sites anymore.  But here is the list of my daily bookmarks:

- CNN

- Facebook

- Under Consideration

- I Love Typography

- Dribbble

- Co.Design

- Things That We Learn

Any advice or tips for someone wanting to become a designer or to improve their quality of design?

Concentrate on typography and build your layouts on a grid.  It will immediately improve the quality of your work.  And demand that you build the site with the same exacting standards or all of your hard work during design will be for naught.