How did you get into web design?

I have an art degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. When the web started to become popular it seemed a perfect way to utilize my degree. I started designing sites in 1995 and started Visionary Web in 1996 doing contract work for other companies. We became and LLC in 2001 and Christina Sapusek took over reigns of the company so that I could focus on project management. We've been doing web design and development work ever since.

Do you remember the very first site you designed?

The first site I designed, like most designers, was a simple personal home page. I started doing work for businesses in 1996.

You are doing a lot of content management and database applications, is this a specialization for you?

The web is moving toward more interaction with customers and the ability for our users to manage their own content. I don't really specialize in programming and database applications myself, but we have a great team of developers that work on these types of projects. In the last few years we have really focused on database application development and content management systems. We continue to do contract work for many other design/marketing companies who don't have the capabilities to do development for their projects.

Where do you get your art for these webpages?

We generally get these from one of the professional stock photo galleries or they are provided by the customer. We also do some custom artwork for our customers including photography and graphic design.

What will be the next big development in webpage design?

I think the next big development will be more interactivity with users and the ability for companies to interact with their web-based users more. New technologies such as Ajax, Ruby and database-enabled Flash will increase both of these areas. Our company has recently been focusing on these development platforms/languages over the last year to remain on the cutting-edge of the web design field.

Have you ever worked with website templates?

We custom-design almost all of our sites. We template our custom-designed sites for ease of updating, but don't regularly use ready-made templates. Our customers want to stand out from the crowd and we try to do that as much as possible. Every site we do is unique.

What do you think about Flash technology?

I think database-enabled Flash used in conjunction with PHP, Ajax, Ruby or similar systems is where web technologies are headed. Flash is going to be very important in the development of newer web sites.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Flash?

The advantage of using Flash is obviously the amount of user interaction that can take place. More than just using it for animation, Flash can truly enhance the user experience. The disadvantage, and one of the reasons we limit its use currently, is that complete Flash sites don't fair well in the search engines. Most of our customers are very concerned about search engine placement and so that becomes a big factor when choosing which technologies to utilize in their site creation. I think this is changing and Flash will continue to be an important part of web design for awhile yet.

What are your sources of inspiration?

We get inspiration from a lot of places. Personally, I love to look and see what other artists are doing, particularly marketing companies. We read a lot of magazines on design and try to stay abreast of current trends in design.

What are your favorite website designs that you did and did NOT design yourself?

My favorite sites that we have done are probably: Halderman Farm Management: http://www.halderman.com - particularly because of all of the backend things that are going on in the site and it still looks nice. They utilize automated announcements for their customers based on preferences, imports of their real estate listings based on type, an upload system for brochures and photos, and some other really nice features for a site.

One of my favorite sites that another company did is Pepsi - Pepsi is really trying to be the cola of the younger generation and they are succeeding in large part to their web site. This is a great example of a site that is targeted to a particular audience.

What was the toughest project or customer situation you've encountered?

I think all of the larger projects are difficult. It is tough to coordinate the activities of many designers and developers to working on a single project. Generally, we are also working with outside vendors or contractors as well. Coordinating those efforts to complete the project on time and within budget can be tough. We have worked with many of our clients for more than 5 years so the relationship we have with them is a little different and easier to deal with than a new client. You get to know each other well and this helps to avoid conflicts.

What are your interests and dislikes in webpage design?

I really like designs that work outside the box. Sites that utilize negative space and white space well. Not every designer is capable of doing this, but I think it is important. I dislike sites that are too plain or don't operate well in multiple browsers or screen resolutions.

Thank you, Mark, for the experiences and the viewpoints.

Helen Walker

Helen Walker graduated with a degree in Mass Communications and Sociology. She worked as a newspaper journalist for two years after that. Having always been interested in cyberculture and its impact on society, Helen switched to online journalism and joined Design Interviews blog in July, 2007. Ever since she's been interviewing web designers and administrating the blog. Helen is a keen movie-goer and she is also a panda lover.


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Get in touch with Helen: helen.walker4@gmail.com