Paul Seys has been working as a web designer in the UK since 1999. However, he can now be found working at Redweb as Head of User Experience, in Bournemouth. Paul’s portfolio can be found at joystik.co.uk. He can also be found giving opinions on his blog shortboredsurfer.com

I asked Paul if he could spare some time for an interview and he was kind enough to say yes. So here goes:

1) Firstly, if you could introduce yourself and give us a little bit about your background and the route you took to become a UX designer/consultant.

Hello, my name is Paul Seys and I am Head of User Experience at Redweb. I started off at Bath Spa University where I studied for a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design, specialising in Multimedia. In my final year I won the RSA Student Design Awards Multimedia Award along with Steve ‘Buzz’ Pearce (formerly of Poke now Creative Director of Skype) and James Scully (founder of Nevado). I went on to work as a Digital Designer at Deepend (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepend) and continued to work as a designer until joining the team at Redweb. Since my days at Deepend I’ve taken a real interest in UX and over the past 4 years have specialised in UX/usability practices to help strengthen that area of our business.

2) What is it about UX that interests you and why do you think it is something that web companies are beginning take notice of?

Having initially trained as a Graphic Designer I knew that at its core design is was about communication. When I started at Deepend back in 2000 they were just starting to employ Information Architects and Usability consultants. Although at the time there seemed a real reluctance for designers to listen to usability practitioners to me it made perfect sense. To me design was still about communicating a message to a user so who better to ask how that message should be delivered.

Since that time I’ve always tried to keep UX at the heart of my work, although it wasn’t until I joined the team at Redweb that the use of usability practices and ux design methodologies was properly embraced. What interest me most so being able to focus on the needs of the people actually using a system and making sure what we design meets those needs.

I agree that agencies are starting to realise the benefits of UX more and more but there’s still room for improvement. Although agencies seem to accept the principles and the need for it the impression I get is that they’re unsure of how to sell that benefit onto the client.

3) Describe to me your average day.

To be honest at the moment I don’t think I have such a thing as an average day. This year I’m mainly focusing on building Redweb’s UX team and solidifying the services that we provide as well as helping to deliver those services. From a project point of view days can vary from running usability studies or research sessions such as user interviews or collaborative workshops to working closely with a project team to help design and build a site.

That probably comes across as really vague doesn’t it!

4) Have you got any particular places where you go to read up about the latest UX news?

I try to do as much reading as I can. Twitter has been a great help recently as I’ve been able to follow people I respect and read articles that they’ve personally recommended. I also use Google Reader to manage feeds, some worth noting are: Boxes and Arrows, Good Usability, UXMatters, Userfocus, Disambiguity and Adaptive Path. I try to read as much as I can offline as well but I don’t always have the time. Thats why I setup @uxbooks to try to motivate me to read more.

5) Finally, have you got any advice for anyone looking to become a UX designer like yourself?

I think its something you really have to work at. For me becoming a designer was really natural, I liked creating things and it seemed to just ‘happen’. Becoming a UX Designer in my opinion takes alot more work as a you need to understand alot more things. I’d recommend to anyone wanting to move into UX Design that they first do a decent amount of reading, Steve Krug’s book ‘Don’t Make Me Think’ is always a good place to start and will give you a basic level of understanding. There are courses available that do a good job of introducing you to Usability methods, in the UK Webcredible are a good provider of this sort of training.

But alongside any formal training or reading I’d strongly suggest that anyone looking to become a UX designer focuses on involving actual users wherever possible in their design process. Even if its just an informal chat with a couple of people rather than a full blown usability study it’s still worth doing and will help you to understand the basics.

I really appreciate the time out Paul took to answer my questions and I hope that you found his words of wisdom a help to you.

Paul is a very active twitter user and I would recommend you follow him. His name is @Paulseys

To look at this idea from a slightly different angle, the current economic crisis, has forced many people to reassess their skill-set and try to put themselves in a position where they are employable/safe in their job.

With this in mind is it best to specialize or generalize within the web/design industry?

Advantages to specializing:

Highly specific roles are becoming more common. As the industry evolves and the general public become more aware of design and the Internet, people are wanting more from their products. Consumers aren’t content with ‘muddling through’ on websites anymore, if a site isn’t good enough there is an abundance of competitor websites who can provide the same product/service.

This has led to the advent of a new role within the web industry, the user experience designer. This is a highly specific (and very vogue right now) role that focuses on making processes on the web as easy (or even enjoyable) as possible.

These specific roles are more common within bigger agencies who look to complete jobs with a collaborative approach.

Being able to charge more. Another advantage is the ability to justify charging higher rates. If you can honestly sell yourself as an expert in a specific field then clients can expect to pay more for your expertise. With the current economic climate, clients cannot afford to pay for mistakes. Clients are willing to pay extra if it means a quality job done first time. (This is of course providing you are dealing with the right type of client.)

Notoriety. Being able to advertise yourself as an expert in a specific field can gain you respect amongst your peers within the industry. This can lead to you being asked to speak at conferences or open up consultancy opportunities where you advise other agencies on a short term basis.

Advantages to Generalizing:

Varying skills look very good on a CV. Being able to tell an interviewer that you have a broad range of (relevant) skills, puts you in a position where you would be able to complete a number of varied projects. This flexibility can be attractive to employers who are looking to be cost effective in their growth. Employing an individual with a varied skill set is far cheaper than employing a number of specialists.

Variety in your day to day work. If you can be in a position to take on very different types of project your working week can be far less monotonous. If you are the type of person who gets bored doing the same work on a daily basis then a general skill set should provide you with more joy.

Spread the risk. This relates more to market knowlege than skills. However, with certain markets collapsing, the property market for example, it can be a good idea to cover more than one base just in case it dries up. By having a range of skills, or knowledge of a veriety of markets, you give yourself a better chance of survival.

To conclude

There is no right or worng option in this argument, it is very much dependent on the type of person you are and the type of job you are doing/looking for.

I would love to find out what you guys think about this. Have you had to make this decision and what option did you choose and why? Also, if you have taken a chosen path how has that worked out for you?

Not only did I fall ill for 2 weeks with an awful case of tonsilitus, that led me to loosing 9pounds in weight, but I have also gone through the process of looking, applying and starting a new job.

This new job is very much a step up for me and begins another chapter in my still short career. The agency I have moved to produce only web work, allowing them to focus all their energy on one speciality rather than spreading their skill across skill-sets. Within this structure they have highly specialized roles in areas of usability, innovation etc.

They also hold some very prestigious certificates that open them up to work with some huge clients and gains them a great deal of government work. I was personnaly very excited to read their client list when researching them for my interview.

Their structure was another pull for me. The design team ( in which I now work) comprises of head designers, lead designers and web designers. This meant that working here would allow me access to colleagues more experienced than I, from whom I would/will hope to learn from. The 2nd advantage this held for me was the opportunity to move up a ladder. I’m always looking to further myself and fulfilling some of these higher roles is something I can now strive for.

Since starting, I have really liked the working process they undergo during projects. The designers will also build the front end, meaning they must have an understanding of the build process to work there. This also means the front end coder isn’t being handed someone elses design, in which they have had no say in, to build. Designers will also be involved in the brief process from the very start through to finish. It’s much more of a collaborative approach as opposed to a factory line approach that I had previously been working with.

I’ve not been there long but so far it’s been really great! I just can’t wait to really get stuck into a meaty project there!

I’m sorry for a bit of a rambled post, just wanted to keep you updated. I’ll aim to post more regularly from now on.

Have a creative day!

Hi everyone,

The last article I posted on here did really well and I think that was down to the fact I had actually taken some time to get some very valued opinions from people that matter in the industry. I personally always want to hear what the professionals think and as someone just starting out in the industry their thoughts and ideas are very helpful to me. I’m sure that is also true for you.

With that in mind I thought I would try and get a series of interviews set up with people who have experience of success within the design world.

The first person I asked was Chris Spooner and he was kind enough to agree to an interview. I’ll start with a little about Chris…

Chris is a UK based graphic/web designer who runs the very successful design blog Spoon Graphics where he continually adds very interesting posts, including tutorials, discussions and lists of inspiration. He can also be followed at ChrisSpooner.com where daily updates about what he is doing are available.

1. What was your route into industry? Did you get a formal education? What previous professional experience did you get before you went freelance?

I found myself heading down the creative route right the way through school and college, and finished this with a degree in Art & Design. During the end of my degree course I began working on a part-time basis at a friend’s design studio where I gained experience of working on various client projects, including website and print design for a local festival and some fairly large local and national organisations. During this time, I also setup my personal branding of Spoon Graphics and began working on small projects via the internet, working mainly on logo designs for clients across the UK while working for my degree.

A couple of months after graduating I then gained a fulltime position as a graphic and website designer at a local design studio where I worked on a range of web and print projects before deciding on heading into the world of freelance.

2. Why did you start your blog and how have you developed it into the success it is today?

I started Blog.SpoonGraphics purely as an experiment, I noticed designers across the web had started blogging and decided to give it a go myself. I concentrated on writing design tutorials and giving away free vector graphics at first, soon a couple of posts gained good exposure and the blog grew from there.

I think the main success might be down to creating posts and tutorials that are slightly out of the ordinary, or that give away plenty of useful information that can be put into practice in daily projects.

One decision I made on the blog that really helped boost exposure was to introduce articles alongside the tutorials and freebies, these are mainly roundup posts of inspiring designs but they almost always prove popular with social media.

3. How much time a week do you spend updating the blog?

I have my own personal schedule of one article/tutorial/freebie per week, with a roundup news post every two weeks. Although the main articles can take hours or days in order to create the graphics and write up the process along with screenshots.

Aside from the actual creation of articles, I try to submit my posts to various tutorial and news websites to maximise their exposure, as well as occasionally promoting them on Twitter if they are in need of a boost!

4. Where do you get your ideas for posts? Is there many instances when you find it hard to write new content?

I tend to gain ideas for new posts while browsing the web, or being inspired by something while away from the computer. I then try to take a certain idea and put it into practice in the form of a tutorial or freebie that people will hopefully find useful.

Not too long ago there was a time when I was really struggling to come up with new content for the site, and missed a couple of posts out of my schedule. I find myself thinking of lots of random ideas but when it comes to writing an article I can’t remember them or struggle to find a way of implementing them into a post. Now, when I sit down with fresh ideas I’ll try to create two or more posts at a time and schedule them for upcoming weeks, which leaves that little bit of extra time to generate new content.

5. Has the blog directly led to much client work? What other benefits does it bring you?

I’m proud to say the blog leads to I’d say around 90% of my client work, from both people who follow the blog or have taken an interest in my work through following through from online interviews like this very one, to the increased search engine rankings that benefit my site as a whole.

The main benefit I really enjoy is the networking with fellow designers from across the world, I always enjoy hearing from owners of other design blogs and the readers themselves whether it’s via Twitter or a little email.

6. How would you describe your style and what would you say your strengths are?

I honestly don’t know what my style is or looks like, I can recognise other people’s work through their personal style so would love to hear any comments on how my work relates back to me!
I do enjoy working with paper textures and hand-drawn doodles in a lot of my work, but I love to experiment with many different styles which I think helps to become a little more versatile.

My main focuses are in website design and design for print, which are both quite wide subjects but I’d say this is where my strength lies.

7. Describe to me a typical day in your working week.

When working from home I’ll arise at 7:45 (or maybe a little later depending how cold it is outside!), have breakfast and head into my little office area. I’ll usually begin the day checking and replying to emails and Twitter, then start work on the first job on my to-do list. I tend to work on a project up until lunchtime, go grab a bite to eat then spend a short while catching up on my feeds and various content online. After lunch I’ll start work on a different project until the early evening. Depending on the evening’s plans I like to concentrate on personal work such as my blog, or an experimental design that helps pursue a creative interest I might have at the time.

8. Have the credit crunch had any effect on you as of yet? If so how?

With my freelance career being active on a fulltime basis from earlier in 2008 I don’t have any experience from before the whole ‘credit climate economic crunch’, but I’m happy to say I’m not struggling with work at the moment.

9. And finally what does 2009 hold for you?

I’m looking forward to continuing on with my freelance work, and to pull out some interesting topics for Blog.SpoonGraphics. I have had some initial thoughts to setup a second design related site, which would be quite a fun project, but it’s no certainty! What do you think – Go for it with another design blog or stick to concentrating on Blog.SpoonGraphics?

And there you have it. I’d just like to say a big thank you to Chris for taking the time to answer my questions. I don’t know about you but I really enjoyed reading them, they were a great insight into the freelance world. I recommend you subscribe to his blog asthere are numerous articles tha i’m sure you will find interesting.

Chris is also a huge contributor to twitter so get yourself along there and start following him for even more pearls of wisdom!

Thanks again Chris!

Hi all,

I am at the very beginning of what will hopefully be a long and successful career in the design and web industry. I have begun said career by trying to gain some solid experience, working in an agency where I will hopefully learn some valuable skills and one day be in the position to go it alone and freelance with the idea to eventually start my own small agency.

But when I do finally make that leap where will my first client come from? Will it lead to more work? Could it possibly be that ever elusive super client who gives you an open brief and gains you loads of notoriety?

Well I thought I would ask a few people who have made that jump (successfully) and see exactly who their first client was and how they got that contract.

Michael Wilson

Well this is me and while I haven’t gone it alone yet I have had a few clients during my University time. My first proper paid client was a local ladies fashion shop in Bournemouth who placed an advert on a wall at my Uni asking for a logo designed.

After meeting with the owner he gave me the job and it was a great project to work on!

Jonathan Snook

Jonathan is an internationally admired web designer and developer, based in Canada. He has managed to gain over 5,000 followers on Twitter and he answered my question via the aforementioned Twitter saying:

“My first client happened to be a co-worker who needed a site for a CD-ROM he was releasing.”

Chris Spooner

Chris runs the very successful design blog Spoon Graphics where he has a huge amount of excellent posts that has gained him a great deal of respect within the design industry.

“I think my first design job was creating a Flash website for a local music festival, a friend of mine was the organiser.”

Jacob Cass

Jacob is based in Australia and created the very well known blog Just Creative Design where he publishes a great deal of very useful articles. Jacob is only 20 and is a self-employed graphic designer, who is still studying at University.

“Hehe, well I can tell you about it but I am never showing it… My first job I got was for a website design and I got it because I used to run my own website sharing photos with my friends (before MySpace or Facebook). It was like “Hey, I noticed you have your own website, can you design one for my business?”

David Appleyard

David is an award winning freelance designer based in Manchester who currently runs a number of very successful web enterprises, including Design Shack, Design Top 10 and 13 Styles

My first job was for a guest house in Harlech, Wales, called ‘Maes Yr Hebog’. I had visited the bed and breakfast with my family, and had overheard they were looking for a website designing. As a fresh faced 13 year old, I couldn’t resist the temptation to offer my vasty inexperienced services (for the measly price of £50).

The job involved a simple two column page and some truly awful typography. Here’s a screenshot from the internet archive:

David Airey

David is a freelance designer from Northern Ireland, who specialises in logo design. His personal blog is an excellent read as is Logo Design Love which as the title may give away focuses much more on the art of logo design.

“My first client was my father. I was studying graphic design, and persuaded him he needed a fresh logo for his tyre business. Numerous sketches and iterations later, and the outcome was terrible. I didn’t know nearly enough to design an effective logo, and thankfully, it’s not in widespread use.

My payment? Housing and food. What else do you need?”

Gavin Strange

Gavin is a senior online designer at Aardman Animations while also being the creator of the vinyl toy series, the Droplets

“My very first freelance client was for a local skateboard shop in my hometown of Leicester! I’d worked for a design agency for 4 years but I really wanted to give it a shot on my own, but I had no idea of how to go about it.

That’s it, that’s how my freelance career began!”

So it would seem that if you are looking for an opportunity to freelance ask around everyone you know. Once you get over the hump and get some clients to add to your portfolio then the work can speak for you.

That’s your lot for now. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to this article. I hope you found it informative. Please feel free to leave comments about your experiences and what your first jobs were.

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has viewed my blog in the last few months since I actually tried to keep it up to date.

Today I have just passed 3,000 views!

Thank you

I’m sat in the office right now (feeling slightly hung over) thinking about my inclusion in the industry I have wanted to work in for a long time now. It hadn’t really hit me until just now how good work life is for me right now.

I’ve been very lucky to join an established agency who have only recently joined the online side of things. This has meant an accelerated learning period because there are only 2 full time web employees here (with a 3rd who is the team leader, but he rarely produces things, he’s more of the job getter) and i’m one of them. I’ve already been involved in jobs working with the companies biggest clients and I love it.

Does this mean that I am now fully integrated into the industry? I think it does!

I’m constantly thinking about web design and i’m clearly blessed that I have been given the chance to get paid doing something I love. While there are testing times doing this job they really are worth it for the amount of time where things are brilliant!

I just wanted to write this to remind everyone working in a similar role to mine that you are very very lucky!

Hi Guys,

How are we today?

Do you use an RSS reader to view most of your web content? How many sites do you actually visit these days?

Up until about 3 weeks ago I used to have loads of bookmarks in my browser that I would check up on every now and then looking for new content. However, since then I have taken the plunge and started to use Google Reader to follow all of my favourite sites. The main reason for this was the recent poor showing from the site design float, which I used to use to keep me updated.

Anywho, now I have made the switch I don’t really see many actual sites now, except for the showcased sites on some of the CSS galleries I follow. I’m pretty sure I’m a late adopter to the RSS trend and I am in the mindset that the majority of you are using one type or another. Does this mean that as web designers we should be putting even more emphasis on the content than on the design? Sure, the first time someone visits a site if it looks horrible and is inaccessible no one is going to subscribe to the RSS feed. However, a really really plain site with very easy access and great content shouldn’t stop anyone. From then on I guess uses would very very rarely visit the site, just keep up to date with the regular updates.

I’m interested to hear what you guys think, and how you browse the web. Do you actually visit sites that you are subscribed to? Do you think that design is becoming less important with the days of RSS?

Please let me know your thoughts…

Hi Guys,

I found this artist on the web the other day and have been visiting his site every day since. His work is, in my opinion, amazing with his use of geometric lines and gorgeous colours. It looks so simple but yet so complex, I really do admire his skills.

I’ve been trying to use this style in a poster design since discovering him but after a week I’m still along way from finished.

If you have a look on his site there are a few time shift videos showing the work as he completes it. He really does make it look very simple and I just wish I could produce that sort of thing. If I do ever get to a place where I am happy with my attempt I will be sure to post it here.

Anyway just a quick one for now…Visit his site!!!!

KeepDrafting.com

I have what I think will be a very interesting topic of discussion for you here.

A colleague of mine at work found this awesome site yesterday that made me think.

dontclick.it

This is a quite brilliant site that kills the need for any clicking enabling every action to be performed via the hover function. The site is really well done and I urge you to check it out.

However, the future seems to be set for the mobile internet to take off. The iPhone is doing well and now the android and nokia are getting in on it, with blackberry closely behind. Does mean the end for the humble hover? Browsing the internet on a mobile device is completely controlled by clicks. The screens do not detect a hovering finger and why would they?

I would like to make a bold statement here and say an early R.I.P to the hover. Of course, mobile internet will probably never completely take over normal web browsing with a mouse and a screen but if, as is predicted, it does become a norm websites will certainly have to take notice and design functionality with that in mind.

What do you think? Will that ever happen?

I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on this. The future of web always excites me.