I have been looking over some websites for elegant look and ease of use. I happened onto Klar Design, owned by Gil Gildner. After looking at Gil’s website and his portfolio I asked Gil if he would interview for Web Templates Blog.

How did you get into web design?
“I have always been interested in graphic design and art. Web design was a natural next step to take since it offered an outlet for creativity and an inlet for income.”

You are doing a lot of web design for small businesses. Is this a specialization for you?
“Yes, it is. My focus is on small, entrepreneurial companies. I think that I will keep my focus on such companies because they know what they want and are willing to explore new ways of displaying their products or services.”

Where do you get your art for these webpages?
“Usually my customers have photos of their projects or products that they want me to incorporate - if not, I take them myself. For all other graphics I use a combination of Photoshop and Flash.”

What will be the next big development in webpage design?
“I think that CSS will continue to be the focus of new designs as far as the layout of pages goes. It would be nice to see websites break out of the design groove they seem to have gotten into. That is hard to do, however, because designers are constrained within certain limits.”

Have you ever worked with website templates?
“No, I have never used templates. My focus is on companies that want personalised designs, so I haven’t ever had the need to use them. That doesn’t make me opposed to them. In fact, I think that templates enable a customer on a budget to buy a website as cutting-edge and useful as a custom design - though not, of course, as unique. I think that uniqueness is very important in a website. That is what you lose when you go with a template.”

What do you think about Flash technology?
“Flash is a very useful tool for enhancing the aesthetic appeal of websites, and for displaying web-based video. Other than that, I think that it has seen its prime. Very few sites are suitable to be completely based in Flash. I generally use Flash only to add a motion factor to my sites. I think that it will always be prominent in multimedia-based websites, but unless Adobe comes out with an incredibly innovative new feature in Flash, it won’t keep growing.”

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Flash?
“It’s common knowledge that Flash sites aren’t picked up well, if at all, by search engines. That’s the largest shortcoming. Another disadvantage is the load time - though this isn’t as serious as it used to be, with broadband connections becoming more common. But the advantages are numerous too: a designer is less limited as to how he can lay out the page, nearly every browser has it installed, and it gives web-based video a way to be served without the end user having to install a new plugin.”

What are your sources of inspiration?
“My sources are probably less influenced by other websites than the graphic design in everyday life - book covers, print ads, etc. It is fairly easy to know what the current trend is in graphic design - there’s always some design element that is ‘the thing’.”

What are your favorite website designs that you did NOT design yourself?
“That’s a very hard question to answer: there are a lot of well-designed websites out there - as well as a lot of poor ones. I would have to say that my favorites would be either http://porsche.com/usa/ or http://www.wever-ducre.com.”

What was the toughest project or customer situation you’ve encountered?
“The most difficult situation that has come my way is the language barrier while working with a Swedish company. Since they don’t speak perfect English and I speak no Swedish, it’s sometimes challenging to get communication across and know that you are conversing on the same wavelength.”

What are your interests and dislikes in webpage design?
“I make it a point for all of my sites to be XHTML compliant. This is sometimes difficult to accomplish while still building a website that looks nice, but it is an important factor so browsers display it correctly. My style is crisp and clean with as little clutter as possible - in other words, minimalist. My dislikes are serifed fonts, unclear navigation, and poorly chosen color schemes.”

Thanks for your viewpoints on design Gil - especially on uniqueness and simplicity in design.

Staying the Course,
Arthur Browning