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JEFFREY MUSANTE -- I've been affected mostly in positive ways. I think it's important though that those who are just starting out absorb what you see, and just let your work speak for itself. Just keep it on the down-low for a while, don't let anyone know about your work. Usually those who JUST started like to tell everyone about their work, and seeing as how people are so harsh these days, they get the worst criticism possible, and since they just started and aren't used to it, it brings them down and they don't want to design anymore. Some people say, "Oh, this Skizz person is a genius. He's a quick learner". Not true. I experimented for a LONG time before skizz.com came about, just not on skizz.com, but on other domains (marketingassets.com) which doesnt exist anymore since I never paid the NetSol dues, and on my HD. I came up with the ugliest stuff you see. Just ask anyone who knows me
from the old Glassdog site and ask them to tell you the kinda shit I would
put up in the Screening Room ;-) I tend to stay away from criticizing
a site unless I am asked, or unless I think it's nice. I still don't like
saying bad stuff about people's sites, even if it's the worst site I've
seen in my life. Who am I to put down someone else's work anyways, right? That doesn't mean I lie though. If someone asks me to tell them what I think of something, and I say it's nice, then I sincerely think it's nice. If I ignore you, then go back to work =0P OK, but on the real though, I learn new stuff everyday. Sometimes, I feel down because I see work that makes my work look shitty, but it's all in your head. I'm critical of my work, and I'm never satisfied, which is why I'm always changing the look of my damn site. I think that's a good thing though, because I'm in constant change, and each time I get better and better, or at least I know I try harder than the previous time. So it all comes down to what YOU want to do. A while ago, I felt like an idiot. I wanted to be an ActionScript genius, breaking rules and expectations here and there, doing the same with DHTML, being able to draw those little pixely characters, being able to use Director like Amy Francheschini does with her 3D-ish style, make good use of 45 degree angles, and so on. Every style I saw, I wanted to do it. That's unreasonable of course. So now, I have a good idea of what I wanna do, and I'll just stick to it and see what happens. Oh, and while respect is always called for with anyone you interact with, that doesn't mean you have to listen to some jackass tell you that you suck, just because he is better than you or he's been doing this longer than you. When you can respect everyone around you and also respect yourself and your own work, you know you've reached a new level. When you just sit back and look at something you finished, and it's perfect. Nothing else needs to be added to it. You JUST LIKE IT. That's a good feeling. So many I's in this article, I think **I** am going to be sick. Enough about me! I wanna read the other articles already, so here it is. I'm out.
JOHN HOYT Trends : websites : When I look at my work, I see a lot of the latest trends in design, navigation, and technology. Forty-five degree angles, pink, and grey colour schemes, and the ever elusive small text. Pop up windows, scrollable areas, css, layers, and action script that boggles my mind. Flash based projects, dhtml widgets, and funky audio plague the sites I look at daily. It's hard not to incorporate those ideas into my work. In fact it's quite easy, and often it allows me to focus more on my technique rather then style. Mike Young from Designgraphik, and Submethod has been one of my biggest influences. While I was in Australia, I had a very similar idea to Submethod and when I got back it was a nice suprise to see someone thinking a long the same lines as myself. There were a number of sites that really pushed my design direction into the intenet medium. Gmunk, k10k, DiK, and Famewhore were some of the first sites that I visited, and they've had a huge impact on my perspective of the internet, and design community as a whole. Which nicely leads me to my next point: community. Community : people : Having an already structured design community on the internet allows me to easily develop my talents. I can use it as a place to gain knowledge, seek inspiration, and get the occasional kick in the butt. The community always pushes me to stretch my abilites, and constantly improve my work. They rarely let me go half assed with a project. They encourage me to be independent and to expand my creative process. Brent Gustafson over at, the always intriguing, Vitaflo and the "How the hell does he come up with this" Assembler has been a great friend, and very helpful by sharing his knowledge. The new Dreamless has been a great place to chat, and talk about design, movies, and other entertaining and shall we say interesting topics. Always fun, and always a great place to learn something new. A lot of my work arrises from oppurtunities given to me. For instance: The multiple contests, splash screen entries, and design co-laborations allow me to look at an issue from a diffrent perspective, and my work reflects that accordingly. - The internet easily affects my work in a very positive way, change happens, which forces me to try something new. Every time I do, I gain more experience, and I find more about myself.
CHASON CHAFFIN Well let me tell you: they influence me in 2 ways. number# 1. i get to see what they do and what they have learned from : one of the most obvious examples for me for that is jeffery zeldman ; whose work has very obviously influenced me heavily : also the work at 37signals and alot of other minimalism : however ;; . number# 2. the biggest influence that i get from older ; more
experienced designers is something to rebel against: alot of the more
established designers came to web design from the print medium ; either
graphically or magazineish or both ; However ; do not get the impression that i think what the established web designers do is bad or crap or anything like that ; Alot of what they do astounds me : Andrew and Jade from designiskinky.net ; for instance : alot of their site goes entirely against what i go for in my design (cept for the grunge/minimalist aspects) but i still love their site :: I started on the internet in 1990 *at the ripe age of 8* and ive been experimenting with the web ever since then : so alot of my work is influenced by the mentality of that elder time ; when people were lucky if they had a 14.4k modem : im trying to break away a bit from that pure minimalism bit because while it is very nice ; it is also sort of limiting expression-wise : The other style of design that i find attractive is both what has been termed the "woodmation hello kitty" school of design ; and the grunge style : the older design sites that i look to for inspiration with these are design is kinky and future farmers ; both are extremely delicious sites ; one may describe them as honey-mustardy:: If you havent guessed already ; copy and prose arent exactly my most talented forms of expression ; but i want to talk a bit more ; so bear with me : As for my future as a designer ; i see two possibilities = either i walk away from the professional design scene and do something unrelated and stress free *like working in an ice cream parlor* or i keep with this crazy gig and hopefully become quite good and enjoy doing what i do : who can tell what the future is :: [the above text was written by an insane person. you can find more of his debilitating wisdom at] [http://www.nulldesign.com/chason/]
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