Graphic design has always been interesting to me. I recently saw the portfolio of Chris Robinson at Crobbo.com. Chris has some interesting stuff for many different types of projects. His blog, http://crobbocom.blogspot.com  is also very interesting. I asked Chris for an interview.

Where are you located? “Currently I’m located in a small English coastal town called Grimsby. As the name suggests, it is pretty grim here, even more so now that it’s winter!”

What are your areas of specialization? “I am a graphic designer / illustrator who dabbles in various mediums. At the moment, I do quite a lot of on-screen design - websites, illustrations, icons, interfaces etc., but I do the odd print project now and again. I love working on it all really.’

What are you most known for on the web? “I’m not sure I am that well known at the moment, but in terms of what I have personally achieved, I’d say people might know me from one of my websites, www.thelearnlist.com . I was also recently featured in a Computer Arts magazine article as one of 10 young designers throughout the world to keep an eye on. The biggest clients I have worked with so far are Sony Ericsson, Sony Electronics and 14th Floor Records.”

Where do you blog or work at? “I get to work from home, or wherever I can get a wireless connection for my laptop, so I am very lucky in that regard!”

How did you get into web design? “Many years ago I used to be heavily into the Dragonball Z tv program, and I made a fan website to show my love for it! It’s so embarrassing, I started out using Paintshop Pro and this awful Netscape web design software.”

What is your general opinion on current trends? “I really love it! Some of the stuff that can be done is so cool and mind boggling. The kind of web apps being released from the likes of 37signals etc makes me excited about what can be possible.”

Why do you think CSS design is becoming so popular among web designers? “I can’t speak for everyone else, but personally for me it’s the speed in which you can make fairly significant changes throughout your pages while only
editing one CSS document. When I think back to the times where you’d have to change fonts, table colors, etc. manually, you can see why people would use CSS instead.”

What will be the next big development in webpage design? “That’s a tough question. I don’t claim to be any kind of expert on this sort of thing, but I’d personally like to see maybe a bit more user interaction with websites. I don’t know whether this kind of technology is out already - probably is for Flash - but things like voice and web cam interaction would be very cool, especially for things like online games. There will probably be some more big developments in design for mobile devices. If Apple released an SDK for their accelerometer for the iPhone, I can imagine some great user experience interfaces and games that could come out of that.”

What do you think about Flash technology? “I think Flash technology, when used creatively, can be mind blowing. I love the 3d/green screen video/animation mash-ups that the film companies seem to be bringing out more regularly now. One specific instance that comes to mind is that Darth Vadar 20 questions game that was out a while ago. For those who haven’t seen it, it was an interactive video interface where Darth Vadar would guess what you were thinking about in 20 questions. Really cutting edge stuff, and that was over a year ago too!”

If you could eliminate one trend from the Web, what would it be? Why? “One area that has given me and lots of other  designers massive problems is the browser compatibility issue. If there could be a single protocol for all web browsers on how they render websites, that would save so much time that people waste stressing and trying to get their websites to work in all browsers - I’m looking at your IE!. Other than that, I quite like the variety of technologies and trends out there at the moment.”Tell us about your use of colors in your designs. “I like to keep things simple in terms of colour usage for my designs. I usually go for one or two bright colors and then compliment those with more neutral colors, and that’s it really!”

What are your sources of inspiration? “So many things inspire me, great design, architecture, photography, the natural world, fashion, patterns in random places, so much. I’m passionate about so many things in the world, some being within design and some away from it, and I think it helps me look at projects from new, different perspectives.”

What are your favorite website designs that you did and did NOT design yourself? “I think my favorite website I designed myself has got to be www.barelyoriginal.co.uk It’s the site for an online skateboarding web zine that I used to run a while ago. I have so many good memories of the times I spent making that. Apart from that, I really like the design for my own portfolio at www.crobbo.com . It took me quite a while to design an effective menu system, but I think it works well. My favorite website that I did not design has to be the actual web app for www.basecamphq.com . It has been a god-send in how simple, stylish and effective the interface is and has helped cut massive amounts of time off projects. The design studio - Bad Assembly http://www.badassembly.com/ also has a website that I’ve loved for quite a while. The navigation is so fluid, just beautiful.”

What was the toughest project or customer situation you’ve encountered? “I’d have to say that the toughest project I’ve worked on so far would be for Sony Ericsson. I can’t really say much about the specifics because I’m under an NDA contract, but I had to design some photorealistic vector icons for one of their products. In terms of technicalities, it pushed the boundaries of what I thought I was capable of doing, and I learned SO much.”

What are your interests and dislikes in webpage design? “At the minute, I’m really loving all those super clean, functional web 2.0 apps that are out, and I’d love to be apart of some kind of similar project myself one day. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m also loving those flash websites that incorporate video with high production values. What I don’t like so much are all those samey looking CSS websites, which lack creativity and frankly are quite boring!”

What were the mistakes you learned from most while in the web design industry? “I have to say my biggest mistake when handling client website projects would be not specifying every last detail in a contract before starting. A few times in the past this had led to endless hours or changes that I wasn’t getting paid for.”

What is it you most like and dislike about being a web designer? “I love the actual part of designing a website and finding different ways to display content to the user. What I dislike the most is actually making them work, it’s not my strong point and it’s just so tedious! I prefer to let the developers handle the back-end workings of web projects now, and I just concentrate on the part I love, making it pretty!”

What blogs or magazine articles would you suggest reading in order to increase design knowledge? “I don’t really read many web design blogs myself, but for magazines, I read Computer Arts - http://www.computerarts.co.uk, and Digital Arts Online - formerly Digit - http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk, for my fix on design news, tips and information. I would have to also shamelessly plug my own website, ‘The Learn List’ http://www.thelearnlist.com. It lists pretty much all of the best learning resources for the most popular design programs and technologies.”

What advice would you give to beginning web designers? “My advice to those starting out and wanting to make a career out of web design, firstly, would be to get a strong portfolio of work together. The way you could go about doing this is to start out doing projects for free or little pay. You’ll be surprised how many people take you up on the offer! This way you will get to work on a number of projects and learn the craft that way. You could also mix in personal projects in with these as well, but the main thing to keep in mind is quality - attention to detail and creativity. It’s almost like a science, look at the websites you like the most, figure out exactly which parts you like and why, then try and use the same principles in your own designs. That doesn’t mean copy the websites directly, but trying to take inspiration and implement those principles in new, different and sometimes better ways. Once you have a solid portfolio together, you’ll be able to get more of the kind of work you love!”

Thank you Chris for the insights and the designs, we wish you continued success.

The Eminem of Designer Interviews,
Arthur Browning