A quick questionnaire querying designers on their queer careers… part 2
Following on from the succcessful first post, here comes part 2 of the queer questionnaire all about designer’s lives, habits and opinions. Enjoy!
Broken Antler
Website: brokenantler.co.uk/ • Twitter: @brokenantler
Introduce yourself: Hello. I am Ben aka Broken Antler and I am a London based freelance director, designer, motion graphic animator and editor and have been fortunate enough to work on some award winning projects for some very prestigious clients including BBC, Ogilvy, Saatchi and Saatchi, ITV, T4, Jaguar, Land-Rover, Sony, Bentley and Pepsi to name a few.
Recently the music video I directed ‘Showgirl’s was nominated for ‘Best Video’ at the Asian Music Awards 2010, I was nominated for ‘Best Animation’ at the IVCA Awards 2009 and also won ‘Best Music Video Director’ at the 2007 Radar Festival.
I have my own studio ‘Broken Post’ which houses a Blackmagic HD Final Cut Pro Studio suite, Avid Xpress HD suite and full Adobe CS4 Master Collection package.
I love all things creative, snowboarding, my wife and baby bump.
What type of designer are you? Motion Graphics, Animator, Editor
Favourite Tool of the Trade? After Effects
Favourite alcoholic drink? Hobgoblin beer, red wine, White Russian – in that order
What was your first job? Other than the usual factory/ warehouse work for beer money while studying. My first job was at a local TV station where I was the graphics department. In the end I directed/ produced and edited the motor show ‘V6′, produced the title sequences for most of the other shows, directed and produced the music show ‘OX900′ and produced most of the commercials.
It was a great experience and I did learn surprising more than I realised at the time. I would shot, edit, produce, direct, write, design and animate and although I would never show anyone now what I created then, it did help me realise that ultimately my overall interest is in ideas, in the creating the execution of these ideas rather than specialising in one discipline and mastering that craft.
What or who is your inspiration? I think two guys have really changed my career more than any and they’re pretty recent discovery’s. Rob Chiu (theronin.co.uk) and Christopher Hewitt (christopherhewitt.com). I was introduced to their work randomly when I worked at a design agency by a young graduate. Funny enough this young graduate had studied at the same college as me in Wales – I believe he went back to Wales to teach.
It was then that it opened my eyes to what could really be achieved and I think they brought back the love of creating that I think I had lost over the years of working for the man…
Haven’t looked back and I think all creatives need to master their own destiny to be happy.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? When I turn my mac on the first things I do is launch: After Effects, FCP, iTunes, Tweetdeck, Emails, Firefox and OmniFocus… while they loads i pour myself a black coffee. Then I start… I’m pretty easily distracted and have a short attention span so if something is loading I’ll start replying or reading an email till it’s ready, then I’ll do a bit of editing and then think ‘oh yeah must design that too’ and launch PS but while that’s loading i’ll reply to a tweet then write a bit more on the email, then animate and so on… My days is full of multiple tasks I start and then am forever trying to finish – even with OmniFocus’s help.
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? I wish I had used my student loans to buy kit and software.
Wish I had started freelancing earlier.
Rachilli (Rachel Shillcock)
Website: rachilli.co.uk • Twitter: @missrachilli
Introduce yourself: Hi, my name’s Rachel and I currently work as a Junior Web Developer in Manchester, UK! However, I’m passionate about all areas of design including web design, graphic design, photography, t-shirt design, motion graphics, fashion design and so much more.
My portfolio is at www.rachilli.co.uk and you can catch me at www.twitter.com/missrachilli where I’ll always say hello with a smile 
Feel free to email me at hello@rachilli.co.uk if you have any questions, tips or even commissions!
What type of designer are you? Web
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Photoshop
Favourite alcoholic drink? Smirnoff (Lime) Vodka & Orange! I know it’s simple, but classic is best.
What was your first job? My first ever job was working in my dad’s old shop for a few hours every Saturday! He had a photo development company, and so I would often take in orders and serve customers. It was fun, I enjoyed it anyway!
Then, my first “proper” job was a temporary job at Topshop one Christmas a few years ago…I loved the discount and the clothes, but not the people so much!
However, my first “real” job to me that follows what I want to do is the one I’m doing now – I’ve been working as a Junior Web Developer for almost two months now and it’s a great stepping stone and I’ve learnt a lot already! It’s great to be in a working environment doing what I want to do.
What or who is your inspiration? I try to draw inspiration from all around me. I’m a naturally observant person, so I often like to carry my camera around and try to document everything I see that inspires me. A recent trip into Manchester one lunch break showed a massive variety of different things I saw that inspired me, including graffiti, architecture, cobbled streets and also people around me.
There are also many people that inspire me, in particular writers, designers and my family and close friends. To pick out a few names would include Kate Morross, Jodi Picoult, Marilyn Monroe, William Morris, Rankin, Matthew Williamson and many more, including Chuck Pattern, the first ever designer I was aware of. I remember, and still have, the email that Chuck sent back to me after I emailed him saying how he’d inspired me. Without reading his interview years ago in Computer Arts, I would never have had the strength to move into the design industry, as slowly as it has been!
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? I always, always, always check my emails first. I’m probably a tad obsessive over it. I have to check them a few times a day. Then I’ll do whatever I feel like, whether it’s designing, reading, chilling out or gaming a little.
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? I’ve always had a dream of eventually owning my own design agency and now, working in the design industry, I can see how my passion for this is growing and growing. However, I know that I need experience in this industry before I could even think of attempting it, so at the minute it’s work, work, work! I want to learn and absorb as much as I can so that I know what the best practices are for when I have my own business, so that hopefully I can take that to the next level.
Grace Gonzalez
Website: codemyconcept.com • Twitter: @codemyconcept
Introduce yourself: Hello, I am the marketing director of www.codemyconcept.com
What type of designer are you? Graphic
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Photoshop
Favourite alcoholic drink? Jagermeister
What was your first job? I was a salesgirl at a Jewellery store
What or who is your inspiration? My husband by far, he is an incredible web designer and developer.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? Twitter and Google analytics
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? I would have loved to take have more time to actually work on graphic design. However it was not my major and I had bills to pay.
Niki Brown
Website: thedesignoblog.com • Twitter: @nikibrown
Introduce yourself: Hi! I’m Niki. I’ve been designing since I was a little kid – drawing cartoons, making fake newspapers, and planning my plot to take over the world. (Just kidding). My early interests in design were heightened when I got my first computer, it was love at first sight! I made my first website in 1996, with the help of geocities and word-art. These days I spent my time design and coding website, logos, and illustrate flaming cheese. When i’m not in front of my computer I like to run insanely long distances and drink way to much Redbull.
You can stalk me on twitter at http://twitter.com/nikibrown or visit my blogs http://thedesignoblog.com and http://dailydesignbits.com
What type of designer are you? Jack of all trades
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Illustrator
Favourite alcoholic drink? beer, Beer, BeEr, BEER! I’m a big fan of local microbreweries!
What was your first job? My first internship was at my local college bookstore. I updated and eventually redesigned the website along with working on newspaper advertisements and in house sign making.
My first ‘Real’ job was at a small medical school where I was a ‘web developer’. I worked to redesign and reorganize the schools website. You can check it out at http://dmu.edu
What or who is your inspiration? I’m mostly inspired by history. I currently live in Boston so I’m inspired by great architecture every day. Other than that I keep going back to my favorite book: History of Graphic Design by Meggs. Its amazing what designers created before the invention of computers. I think we still have a lot to learn from designers past!
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? I usually check my email on my iphone, and then twitter. I don’t really log-into things any more because its all on my iPhone
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? Nothing really, I’m happy to have had the chance to go to school and work in the field of graphic design. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else!
Albert Lo
Website: albertlo.com • Twitter: @albertlo
Introduce yourself: Hi my name is Albert Lo, I am a freelance Web, Visual UX, Mobile & Interaction designer based in the UK, founder and owner of albertlo design. I love meeting like minded people in the industry.
I have been concentrating on design contracting for 1.5 years and in that time I have worked at some great agencies such as Sapient, Head London and Fallon.
What type of designer are you? Web
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Photoshop
Favourite alcoholic drink? Skinny caramel latte, I seldom drink but it would be a Becks.
What was your first job? I think i’m quite fortunate in getting my career kick started in web. After I graduated from Uni I soon got a job working for a “brand cultivation” agency called April-Six. I worked on some great brands namely Microsoft, Seagate and Gartner. Having worked on those high profile brands it allowed me to progress in my career to date. Prior to waiting for my first paid gig I was working part time for John Lewis in the Audio & Visual department. I have to say it was a great laugh.
What or who is your inspiration? My inspiration comes from numerous places, I find taking a break and going on holiday to a different culture provides fresh ideas, it’s an expensive way to find inspiration but when you go on holiday, make the most of it, take a small sketch pad or take a camera to record ideas etc.
I find going to the supermarket and book stores a fantastic source of inspiration to look at food packaging and book cover designs which could be used for the web. I love going to large cities for inspiration, the architecture and the buzz really helps.
I keep up to date with what’s happening in the industry by subscribing to numerous blogs and tutorial sites, I also try and find time to listen to a couple of design podcasts and I also subscribe to a few magazines (.net, Computer Arts and Projects) to keep the juices flowing monthly. These can be good starting points for inspiration.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? I have a great plugin in for Firefox called Morning Coffee. It keeps track of daily routine websites and opens them in tabs. The are 3 sites are Hotmail, Flickr and Facebook.
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? Having and making the time to write articles regularly on my blog for people to experience. I’m a bit late to the party with that one, hopefully that will change soon.
Brian McDaniel
Website: bkmacdaddy.com • Twitter: @bkmacdaddy
Introduce yourself: I am a father of 3 and husband of 1 woman for 21 years. Together they are my passion. After that I am passionate about creativity, honest expression, questioning the status quo, and continuous learning. I’m a freelance web & graphic designer, musician, ordained but no longer practicing under the title pastor, wine enthusiast and lover of San Francisco, where I grew up. Website: http://www.bkmacdaddy.com Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn
What type of designer are you? Web and Graphic
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Photoshop
Favourite alcoholic drink? Bloody Caesar, Margarita and red wine (not mixed, but in that order)
What was your first job? I threw papers – the SF Chronicle – in the wee early morning hours.
What or who is your inspiration? Passion. Show me someone who is passionate about something and I am inspired. Passion is amazingly powerful and beautiful to witness and experience.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? Twitter. I have a slight problem.
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? Past: Probably getting more formal education early on to lay the foundation for things I’ve learned since then.
Present: not much, really. I’m having a blast!
Future: retiring at a young age after making enough money designing to live comfortably. (Yeah, right!)
Tom Arnfeld
Website: tarnfeldweb.com • Twitter: @tarnfeld
Introduce yourself: I’m 15 and build web applications and iPhone apps. Still at school, living in Portsmouth (South West UK).
I got a job at a local web design company (Tidy Design) summer of 2009 and am loving it here!
I love apple.
What type of designer are you? Web
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Coda for Mac
Favourite alcoholic drink? Dr. Pepper
What was your first job? My first job is still my current over at Tidy Design. I do most of the back end work, mostly contact forms and a lot of database integration into sites. Also coding a lot of the javascript needed for sites.
I love work, it’s my first real experience in the work place and to be honest, its wwayy better than school! I want to leave school and just work all the time, but that’s not such a good idea :]
What or who is your inspiration? Apple products, awesome websites, and strange objects around the house.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? Login to iChat and Tweetie. Them check my Email and usually launch Coda
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? I haven’t had much of a career yet
Emma Taylor
Website: twigglegraphics.com • Twitter: @emtaylor
Introduce yourself: I’m a freelance web designer based in sunny Cyprus with a love for clean & simple but well thought out designs, the interwebs, positive thinking, spending time with friends & family and in all honesty I’ll confess to being quite the girly geek with a true love for all things pretty and anything Apple (gotta love my gadgets!)
What type of designer are you? Web
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Photoshop
Favourite alcoholic drink? Hmm, I’m not too keen on alcohol to be honest (I love my tea though). I have quite the sweet tooth so if I do I tend to go for Baileys! Mmmmm…
What was your first job? I got my first summer job working in a souvenir shop, at the end of my first day I soon realised it wasn’t for me… I then spent summer filtering through databases and learning Flash and loved it!!
I was quite fortunate to land my first ‘real’ job in a well known web design agency in Cyprus after I graduated college. It was there that I learnt that my multimedia diploma didn’t really account for anything I needed to know in the ‘real world’. I was lucky enough to have a fab boss who allowed me to learn in the process and most importantly believed in my design skills. I went from cropping a billion and one images to designing user interface designs for large companies across the island.
What or who is your inspiration? While I find a lot of inspiration on the web I also find looking at fashion & interior design trends, old and new, flicking through magazines, books and listening to music helps me. I also love going for nice walks, spending time with friends and family and really absorbing and enjoying the views, patterns, shapes textures and objects around me.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? Check my email and say hello to my Twitter peeps
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? I’m really quite happy with the way things are going, I love working for myself, it’s hard at times, I’ll admit that, but I’ve learnt as I’ve gone on. If there is one thing which I could change, it would be to have a little bit more confidence in myself, other than that it’s all good!!
Andy Hamilton
Website: twitter.com/andypoppins • Twitter: @andypoppins
Introduce yourself: Hey! I’m a 16 year old from south-east England, aspiring to go into web and graphic design in the near future.
What type of designer are you? All of the above!
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Illustrator
Favourite alcoholic drink? Carlsberg – Shouldn’t be saying that at 16 
(I’ll let you off – P)
What was your first job? As of yet I haven’t had one apart from a brief 2 weeks doing work experience for a small company in a place called Bradwell. Helped gain an insight in what I would like to do.
What or who is your inspiration? A lot of people on Twitter. Such as Phil and Tom. Both have been a great inspiration for me.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? Google Mail, Twitter, Facebook, Gizmodo
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? Probably my failure in graphic studies at the moment.
Jack Walker
Website: pandamilk.co.uk • Twitter: @pandamilk
Introduce yourself: Hey, I’m Jack, a 21 year old graphic artist from Hertfordshire UK. At the moment I work as a freelance designer. I work on a wide range of projects but most recently flyers for club nights, websites and magazine editorials.
I recently graduated from the University for Creative Arts in Surrey (2009) studying Graphic Communication and worked as a senior designer at a local digital agency up until Feb 2010.
What type of designer are you? Graphic
Favourite Tool of the Trade? Photoshop
Favourite alcoholic drink? Whiskey!
What was your first job? First ever? I used to work as a paper boy for about 2 months back at school – but to be honest I was never a morning person so my first REAL job was a pizza delivery boy! I earned about £4.50 an hour + petrol money & tips and it was OK for a while… free pizza was a bonus!
What or who is your inspiration? People around me, friends and family are my main inspiration, not necessaryly in an artistic way, but I think that motivation and passions inspire me to create new exciting things. Music and culture are also a good source of inspiration I find… just appreciating other artists work is always a good place to start, to see creativity portrayed in a way you cant imagine I think inspires you to create new things.
What’s the first thing you check/do when you log-in? It depends on the time of year for me! Usually summer/Christmas it’s BBC gossip column! But after that I’ll check out a few forums that I’m part of then the obvious Twitter/Facebook and AllYourXBelongToUs blog!
If there was one thing you could change about your design career – past, present or future – what would it be? I think I’d take more chances. I was recently in a job that I didn’t think I wanted to continue with for much longer, and after parting company with a really nice group of people I think I found myself much happier and relaxed… it taught me to take more chances and grab them chances that you do get with both hands!
So that’s it… for now. Thanks for reading!
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