You're lucky to work at Happy Cog Studios. How did you get into web design and make your way to Happy Cog?

I originally wanted to be an animator. I've been drawing my whole life, and I "knew" I wanted a career in it. I started at Drexel University's Digital Media program, but quickly realized a) how tedious animation was for me and b) how awful I was at doing it.

Luckily the program was twofold, split between animation and interactivity, which included web design. I had explored web design a bit in high school and enjoyed it, and I decided to pursue it more seriously.

I got an internship at a shop called TMX Communications, where I had a chance to work with the ridiculously talented Jason Santa Maria, Rob Weychert, Kevin Cornell, and Chris Cashdollar. Through Jason, I met and worked on a few jobs with Jeffrey Zeldman. So began my career with Happy Cog, and I feel really blessed to be a part of that.

Tell us about how your design process flows.

Every project is different, and I try to adapt my process per the goals of the project. However, there is a set of common tasks that I find effective.

With anything design related, my first step is often to learn as much as I can. If I'm designing a company site, that learning exercise might be as involved as spending a few days at the company site or may only be spending a few hours browsing the existing site or reading existing collateral. If it's a product site, I'll request a sample that I can use for myself. If it's a service, I try to use the service to see what it means to me as a consumer.

That's the hard part. Once that's done, I'll open up my sketchbook and work some problems out on paper. Then I'll fire up the appropriate app (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, etc.) and get chuggin'.

You've been rather positive about Flash technology. What are your reasons for that?

I believe that Flash is a very powerful application. As a designer and a coder, Flash appeals to both of those sensibilities in me. While an application like Photoshop is primarily for people who design (which includes photographers, artists, etc.) and something like Textmate is for people who code, Flash is one of the few that has real value to both left-brained and right-brained people.

The trouble is that Flash has been severely abused. The era of loading screens, gratuitous animation, and 'Skip Intro' has tainted some of the web community's impression of Flash, particularly in the web standards community.

JavaScript was the same. Although once abused to spawn pop-ups and mess with users' screens, it's now being put to great use. In the last few years, we've seen the creation of some incredible libraries that take advantage of the power of JavaScript, but in a tasteful and productive manner.

Smart use of Flash will be the next revolution.

How many hours a week do you think you spend on all web-related activities?

A fair amount, but nothing unreasonable. I'd say about 25% of my week is spent on web-related activities.

That's not to say that being a designer doesn't infiltrate many portions of my life. Whether I'm in front of a computer or not, I find that I'm cognizant of how design affects my life, whether I'm watching TV or ordering from a menu at a restaurant. I try to be open minded to the world and absorb as much as I can, knowing that my experiences shape the work that I do and make it unique to me.

That said, I care a lot about my career, but I try to maintain a level of balance with the rest of my life. My parents taught me the importance of ordering my priorities, as well as the value of moderation. I keep my priorities centered on God, then family and friends, and then my job.

You write about web design-related issues at your personal site danielmall.com. How important is that activity to you? Do you seek targeting the audience in the first place, or just write about what you consider important notwithstanding readers' opinions? What was the post that caused the greatest jump in your readership?

Maintaining a personal web site is really important to me. I need a space where I can be myself, regardless of affiliation. That's not to say I resent any organization that I'm a part of, but it's nice to have your own room even though you love your family. My site is where I can play my music the loudest without waking anybody up.

I write about the things that are important to me. When I started my site, I had no readers. And I was ok with that (although I secretly hoped I could start a following). It was mostly to document my thoughts, and serve as a history of where I've been and how I used to think.

I also write because I feel it's a big part of my value proposition. If I want someone to hire me or my company, I don't want it to be because I can make something pretty or write clean code. While that's part of what I do, I feel that the real value is that I can articulate the way I solve problems. I've found that the best clients are the ones that want you to engineer a solution and give you the freedom to do so. And I've gotten great clients as a result of my writing. Design is about solving problems through communication. If I can be an effective communicator with words, I can understand how to be a better communicator without them.

I do care about my readership. I love feedback, whether it says I'm doing the right thing or the wrong thing, because it gives me a direction.

There are times when I don't know what my readers are looking for. So I ask.

I'm not sure which posts increased my readership significantly. I've had Mint installed since it came out, but only recently have I been recently using it to find out what people are really looking for. Since studying my user logs, I've found my readership to be fairly consistent. If there was a post that probably drew people, it was probably either Typobituaries, Design by Comfort, or Soft Serve.

You're a multi-disciplined designer specializing in Flash, XHTML, CSS, and typography. How does it influence your philosophy about web design as a medium altogether?

I'm involved in a number of disciplines because I love doing all of it. I find that when I've been coding for a long time, I start to crave design, and vice versa. And, although I consider myself a designer, I don't think I'm as proficient in design as I'd like to be. My coding skills seem to be the strongest part of my arsenal right now.

As a freelancer, I found it was necessary to have a hand in all of those disciplines in order to bill myself as a one-stop-shop. I do think it's important to understand all of the disciplines that are involved when you're part of a process flow. The ?throw-it-over-the-wall? concept doesn't sit well with me. I do think there's a value in specialization, but being aware of what's involved in the rest of the process is huge requirement in building a team that works well together.

As an informational architect, tell us what top three principles of site navigation should be included in every site?

I like Derek Powazek's three step summary, from his A List Apart article Where Am I?:

1. Where am I? (Present)

2. Where can I go? (Future)

3. Where have I been? (Past)

You're also a coder of award-winning websites. What are typical mistakes do coders tend to encounter and how to avoid them?

One of the biggest mistakes that I see is rushed work. Take the time to ensure quality. Sure, there are times when you'll have to work as fast as you can to meet a specific deadline, but, if you're not proud of the work you do, it's all in vain. It's a very unsatisfying feeling.

What's your favorite development language and why?

I don't know if I have a favorite. I like the challenge of ECMAScript-based languages, like ActionScript or JavaScript, but sometimes, they just confuse the heck out of me. If I had a favorite, HTML would probably be it. It's easy to write, easy to understand, and the basis is transforming content so that it's cohesive to an end user. If graphic design is best suited to a programming language, it would probably be HTML.

Do you find any particular languages or technologies intimidating?

Not particularly. There are certainly languages that are over my head (specifically object-oriented languages). However, I try to approach any language logically. I once called it programming like a designer. If you can express the code that you want to write in plain English, getting the syntax for any language becomes the easy part.

You've worked on the websites for Siemens, the Kansas City Chiefs, The New York Stock Exchange, Comcast, the Lincoln Financial Group, and Traffic.com. Those are big-sized websites. What are the keypoints to consider when working with such projects?

Almost every client is different. While there may be solutions that always work, I try not to be limited by what's easiest. I strive to do what's appropriate. I have never used design templates because I despise the theory; slapping a logo on something generic doesn't even begin to approach a solution. As a service provider, I think it's part of my job to find resolutions that are unique to each client's problems.

At this point of your life/carrier what skills and technologies are you the most interested in improving upon or learning?

All the things I'd like to learn right now aren't about technology or my job.

I'm getting married in a few months, so I'd like to learn to be a good husband.

I've also been playing keyboards in a band for a few years, but I recently started singing in the band as well. The other 2 guys in the band are phenomenal singers, and I'd like to improve my singing abilities.

I've always been able to write harmony on the fly, but in limited parts. I'm quickly starting to get my bearings around writing 5-part vocal harmony, so I'd like to be able to improve that.

You've co-created swfIR ? a client-side image replacement technique ? with Happy Cog's Mark Huot. The original idea belongs to you. Could you tell the story behind it? How successful has it been so far?

When I first learned how to do elastic layout with CSS, I was bummed out about how poorly images rendered when they were scaled up. To date, it's probably the only reason that I've never attempted an elastic layout on a client job. I remember thinking, ?Flash compression looks way better when it changes scale, even when raster graphics are involved.? I knew Flash could dynamically load JPGs, and I had just learned how to manipulate the DOM with JavaScript, so it dawned on me that I could combine techniques and get a dynamic image resizer that has a better compression scheme. I did some tests, and showed it to a few people.

Months later, I was working on a site where part of the requirements stated that the content management system we developed should seek to optimize their workflow with minimal design on their end. The site was an online version of a print publication, and the design called for a slightly rotated version of the cover of the latest issue. We were originally going to give them a Photoshop template with the correct degree of rotation, but we decided to try and brainstorm a way to allow them to upload an issue cover and have the CMS crop and rotate it dynamically. I knew that Flash could do dynamic rotation, so I built a quick proof of concept.

I showed it to Mark Huot, whose coding skills murder my own. Within a few days, he had a much more optimized version which also included rotation, borders, rounded corners, and shadows.

Being out for a year, swfIR has had over 10,000 downloads. Unfortunately, we've stopped any progress on it, as paying the bills comes first. Hopefully, we'll pick it up again someday, but there are some more exciting things on the horizon that take priority.

Are there any new projects that you are currently working on that you can talk about?

There's this one site that I'm working on that will change the way that you? I've already said too much.

What are a few sites you admire and why?

I love everything about A List Apart (and not just because I'm a tech editor, or that it's published by Happy Cog). Visually, it's excellently rendered. Typographically, it's very rich. Technically, it's very well coded. Editorially, I'm blown away with every issue, as the quality of content never diminishes.

Bearskinrug is a site that I'm jealous of. I wish it was my site. Kevin Cornell is fantastically talented at everything he does, and each piece of his site has so much character that is unique to him. I respect his work and his opinion so much that I've hired him to art direct my redesign. More on that soon.

Shaun Inman has always had a brilliant site. It's his playground. He's not afraid to experiment and try stuff that you wouldn't normally see. From version 7's transparent overlays to version 8 's hidden navigation/search bar? to The Heap to the algorithmic waves, he's not afraid to take risks, because there's nothing to lose if his ideas suck. Fortunately for him, none of his ideas suck. One day, I'll be like him.

What industry sites/blogs do you read regularly?

I've always been interested in magazine design. I'm thoroughly enjoying Designing Magazines by Jandos Rothstein, so I try not to miss an update on the online version.I also religiously check out TypeNeu, a new blog with random typography news.

Latest font that you like?

Hoefler & Frere-Jones's Archer. She's a cutie.

You play keyboards for Philadelphia-based contemporary Christian group ?Four24?. I've noticed that Happy Cog hires rather talented people, both in web design and outside the industry. Is that a coincidence or a consistent pattern?

It's definitely by design (pardon the pun). Well rounded people are just better. It gives perspective. If the only thing we ever did was web design, how boring would that be? The fact that we each have interests outside of what is common to all of us allows us to bring unique viewpoints to our work, and we're collectively better for it.

Best music for you to work by?

That changes frequently. It's usually some form of gospel or jazz. This week, it's Tye Tribbett's Victory and Herbie Hancock's Possibilities.

Best drink to work by?

Sunkist. Hands down.

What advice would you give to beginning web designers?

Learn HTML. If you're producing content for the web, it's going to be presented in HTML. It doesn't matter what's powering it on the back-end, whether it's PHP, .NET, ASP, Java, whatever: all that stuff has to produce HTML. As a coder, writing clean HTML will ensure that your sites don't break. As a designer, a good grasp of HTML allows you to know how your designs can be realized. All in all, knowing the building blocks of your craft are crucial for success in the field.

Thank you, Dan, for a great interview! That was awesome!

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