5 Questions for Web Designers

1. What got you into web design?
I think I really got into designing sites when I started my blog years and years ago. I saw some absolutely jaw dropping designs – gorgeous things done with color, borders, typography and composition. I didn't have an image host at the time, and the idea of being able to create a beautiful, unique design with just styles was incredible to me. Of course, that didn't last long – I bought web hosting a year later – but the interest and admiration for that sort of creativity has stuck with me.

2. When did you begin designing websites?
I taught myself HTML when I was twelve and tried not to get in the way when it came to CSS. Three or four years later, I realized that there were some amazing things out there and I really dove into it. I got photoshop around the same time, and I guess the rest is history.

3. In one word, describe your design aesthetic.
Schizophrenic. I'm all over the place. I love trying new things and fitting sites together like pieces of a puzzle. I like finding the patterns – the common thread among seemingly chaotic elements and pulling them together into an elegant, ordered design.

4. Form over function, or function over form?
I have spent too many sleepless nights trying to make my beautiful, browser-defying templates work, to the point that I've often considered just telling people to get a browser that works correctly, but at the end of the day, design is communication, and the core of that communication is the user experience. Especially online, if the design is unusable it's anti-social. People can create anti-social designs that are neat – weird stuff that balances the challenge with intrigue. Most of the time, though, you just get an unusable website. So yes, function over form, but by the same token, if it's just pure function and there's a bad design or no design, it can be just as anti-social. Think of the bright, flashing gifs and the auto-playing music – it's almost an assault of the senses.

A good analogy is the English language. If you don't know the grammar, the spelling, the structure, you can't write. You're hindered by that technical ignorance. Having a good balance is vital, and then you have art.

5. Link to three website designs that inspire you, and explain briefly why:
http://www.mezzoblue.com – this website just looks like art. It looks like something you'd see in a catalog at the beach. I love the use of fonts and the subtle hover effects.

http://winnielim.com – the overall design is kind of plain, but the color scheme is gorgeous. Creamy golden and pink come together in a beautiful mix. Love the striped gradient background.

http://flippingtypical.com – I'm frequently inspired by typography. Figuring out good font sets for my stylesheet is vital. Love this site.