Tell the audience a little about yourself. (about your life? occupation)

I’m an interaction designer doing mainly Flash work under the brand Story Pixel (http://www.storypixel.com).

In 1995 when I was seventeen, my hometown offered a pilot program which gave to everyone affordable cable internet access within our small town at a time when even the largest cities were still on very slow connections. My first night on the internet was a 13-hour marathon of instant gratification. It seemed like the Internet was “it.“

My decision to pursue programming over art school was difficult, a watershed in my life certainly. In 1996, the Internet was this wonderful exciting infant so easy to fall in love with. But it wasn’t yet apparent to me how to get into the mix. Web Design really wasn’t a burgeoning field no college I could feasibly attend offered Internet-specific disciplines yet. It seemed writing software was the best available path. So I pursued software engineering. After a while I got the hang of programming and even began to enjoy the feeling of creating functional (even potentially useful) things.

In 2000 I got my first paying job (programming Macromedia Flash) at a startup company in Lexington. I had to learn Flash on the spot basically. Also I wasn’t tightly managed and got ample chance to experiment with and learn a lot about Flash. For the next several years, working with the Web became an obsession. I taught myself about interface design, following a process, theories of usability. Working like this was for me a form of escape which I, like many others at that time, took to unhealthy extremes. I’d work with anyone who’d give me things to work on often neglecting friends and family. I just cared about the creative process, not making money. It hasn’t been until recently I’ve mellowed out and matured my work habits. Working to live and not vice versa. Part of that maturation of finding balance is a return to sketching, drawing, and painting.

When did you discover your passion for the design/art?

My mother tells me I would draw chickens before I could say the word chicken. Obviously I don’t remember that. We lived way out in the country near Glasgow in a town called Bon Ayr. Besides play in the mud or stack things, I didn’t have much to do other than draw all of the time. I think this is the origins for the way that I am and why I love design. For me art was a retreat.

Specifically I remember loving to act out space battles in my imagination and depicting that action on looseleaf scattered all about the kitchen floor. I’d sketch crude space ships in ruthless melees, dash out wicked blue-pen laser fire, accompany all of this with my spit-flinging outbursts of “BOOOM!“ and “Peeewww! Peww!  AARRGGHH!“ This strange ritual was the way I entertained myself as a child and probably I haven’t changed too much.

Who is/was your greatest inspiration?
My mother. She heaped upon me encouragement. She’d want me to always feel like a winner. You remember those “instant winner” caps that were on (then) glass bottles of Coke? She’d taken them off for me because I couldn’t. Then she’d look under the cap, make an expression of surprise and say “I can’t believe this, you WON AGAIN!“ I’d jump up and down and smile because I was a winner. Again!

Second to her, it’s all of you out there on the Web. I love seeing what you do next.

How would you describe your personal style/ or do you have one?
Before I start something, I may or may not have a clear concept of where I want to go with it exactly. For Web design I access needs and structure things precisely before I do anything visual. That is a difference between my approach with art for personal benefit and Web design for clients. Web development revolves around very tangible goals and working toward some defined point. Art for my own enjoyment is somewhat the opposite—starting with an initial point and meandering off into whatever areas the piece takes me. I’ll go ahead and assert it is a common mistake to approach art and Web design the same way.

Tell us your favorite work/piece to date.
My favorite piece is always the thing I’m working on “now.“ I like the creative process more than the creation. Consequently I find it hard to “stop” working on a piece. It’s kind of the same feeling of having to come back home after a vacation because art is a type of escape for the artist.

What suggestions would you offer to aspiring designers?
Approach each project as if it’s your magnum opus. Try to do only one thing at a time and do it well. Read broadly. Don’t take yourself too seriously because, as my father-in-law says, it is nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice. When working with others for money, be professional, communicate clearly, and work with the best that will have you. Realize that most things you do you’ll look back on them and say “Oh my God that was terrible!“