Interview with designer and blogger Chris Spooner of Spoongraphics

December 18th 2009

• Name: Chris Spooner
• Location: Sheffield, UK
• Websites: spoongraphics.co.uk | line25.com
• Blog: blog.spoongraphics.co.uk

For anyone not familiar with you and your work, can you give us a brief description of who you are, what you do, and what they should expect from your posts?

I'm Chris Spooner, a designer and blogger who runs Blog.SpoonGraphics and Line25. I write random design related articles for inspiration, as well as plenty of tutorials covering Illustrator, Photoshop and website design.

A few months back we noticed you launched a new design blog Line25.com. What are you looking to achieve with your new creation and how do you manage to dedicate time and content to both sites?

With my first blog, Blog.SpoonGraphics generating a name for Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials, I didn't want to suddenly oversaturate it with web design topics. So, I decided to start afresh with a second blog, which was focused purely on HTML, CSS, jQuery, Wordpress, design trends and inspiration. Line25 doesn't bring in much of revenue at the moment, but being able to generate an income from Blog.SpoonGraphics allows me to dedicate time to writing tutorials and new posts.

How long does it usually take to put together a new post for your blogs?

An average length of time for an average tutorial might be, say, 4 or 5 hours? They can sometimes take up a full day's work depending on the nature of the topic. A website design tutorial that involves the creation of the whole website concept, then going back and screengrabbing and writing about the process takes a considerable amount of time.

Weekly inspirational posts like the Sites of the Week series can be put together much quicker, with just 15-20mins needed to take sites from pre-saved bookmarks to a complete post.

What does the New Year hold for Chris Spooner? Any New Year resolutions for 2010?

I'm excited about introducing a members-only section to Blog.SpoonGraphics, which will hold exclusive tutorials, as well as lots of discounts and downloadable goodies. Otherwise I'm looking at spending more time on blogging, and taking on less client work for a while to enjoy growing my sites to the next level.

I don't know about you, but we catch ourselves many times during the day surfing the web for inspiration. To some it might seem like goofing off but to us it's valuable research. How much time do you usually spend surfing the web for inspiration and design news?

This is often the reason I feel like I haven't done anything all day, but like you say, it's valuable time that's spent being inspired, generating ideas and generally keeping up with what's going off in the community. I spend quite a lot of time following links from Twitter, and every so often I'll dedicate a whole morning, afternoon or even a full day to reading my RSS feeds.

Have you discovered any new, lesser-known sources for design ideas, tutorials, or just inspiration that you can share with us?

I'm pretty sure they're quite widely known, but a couple of resources I use regularly are SXC.hu and IconFinder.net

Otherwise I search through my saved bookmarks or a browse through the Google index, which can help unearth some treasures.

Inspiration can come from the most unexpected places for designers. Where do you get some of your unexpected design inspiration from?

I often find inspiration from printed material while out and about 'in the real world'. A recent example would be the typography used on the Sherlock Holmes movie posters. After snapping a shot on my iPhone I'll eventually get round to experimenting to create a similar effect in the form of a tutorial or personal design.

How has your design style changed throughout the years?

I've heard others mention my 'style', but I can't say I've ever been able to pinpoint what my style is. I tend to go through phases of what kind of design I'm inspired by, so one day I might go for a roughed up, distressed collage, and the next it might be a retro, Atari-style colourful theme.

What do you find harder, web design or logo design?

Website design involves much more work, which itself can make the job more difficult, but I sometimes find the hardest part of website and logo design is brainstorming the initial concept and transforming random sketches into a full concept.

For someone starting out in the freelance design business, what would be the one thing you would share with them when it comes to dealing with clients?

I'd recommend minimizing the number of options you give them and focus on the one concept you feel works the best. This helps generate a final goal rather than spoiling them with choices, which inevitably stretches out the design process while various follow-up styles are tested out.

For someone trying to follow in your footsteps, what tips can you share about starting a blog, promoting it, and getting it found?

It's important to start a blog purely because of the passion you have to get involved with the subject and help others out. There's a lot of time in the early stages where there's low traffic levels and no revenue, so it's crucial that your goal is to simply do it out of fun. This is probably the reason why many sites fizzle out, because the user might be looking for a short route to generating exposure or a bit of cash on the side. When it doesn't come in the first 6months to a year, it's easy to get bored. It's taken over two and half years for Blog.SpoonGraphics to reach the level it has, and there's still plenty of work that needs putting in to it.

We know you have to be disciplined to work from home on your own time, so what are some things you do to keep yourself on task?

I've found a simple to-do list can work wonders. I've recently migrated my pen-and-paper list to the Thing for Mac task management app. Whenever a thought pops into my head I can add it to the app on both the Mac and iPhone.

As designers we are always evolving, and are no longer working solo on every project. We now find ourselves working more and more with other developers. How has that work relationship changed in the recent years and what do you do to make the designer/developer work flow easier/better?

Some of the best projects I've worked have been those that involve developers and designers I've met in the community. It's these projects that often go smoothly because you're hired because people respect your work, and are happy with the choices you make.

These projects can also be exciting when you see them take shape in the community, as opposed to client websites that sometimes don't really have much exposure.

What are some differences that you see in European designs versus US design styles?

I think with the Internet bringing everyone together there's no real difference between design styles. Nowadays everyone can access inspiration from around the world, so what used to be specific to a certain country or region is now available globally.

Have you gotten your hands dirty with any CSS3 or HTML5 stuff yet?

I've experimented more with fancy CSS3 effects than HTML5, but I've been busy bookmarking every resource I come across ready to do some in-depth revision one day. I'm super excited for multiple background support to emerge in browsers. That's by far the best CSS3 feature. I have been enjoying implementing rounded corners, and text/box shadow in my recent designs though.

Do you find it harder to work on personal projects or client projects?

Each has it's own difficulties. Client projects usually have a set goal, but can sometimes have issues along the way, whereas personal projects you're in charge of all design decisions, but the end goal can sometimes be a little vague!

Any new and exciting projects in the works that you could share with us?

The Blog.SpoonGraphics members area is coming along nicely. I'm busy creating content ready for its launch, and have been in touch with some fab companies who are kindly offering discounts and giveaways to members. I'm super excited to put it live!

Coffee or tea?

I'm neither a tea or coffee drinker. I'll have a glass of orange squash please.

Will you be adding feedgrids.com in your list of sources for inspiration in the future?

I sure will! It looks like a great resource to discover new topics and sites.

Chris, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us!

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