mcville: Philippe Ahmadpanah Interview

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Philippe Ahmadpanah Interview

Jan 7, 12:38 PM by Marko

Interview with Philippe Ahmadpanah at ultrasonata.com

Marko: Heya Philippe
Philippe: Hi Folks, nice to have this little chat.

Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (Year old and other stuff)
Philippe: I’m a French Designer that just turned 26. Used to live and work in Paris but I recently moved to Toulouse (Southern France).

Marko: How are you doing these days?
Philippe: Much better since I’ve decided to focus more on personal work and less on that corporate stuff that feeds us all.

Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Philippe: Like many it was by playing videogames. Back then I remember using a software called “Splash”. Splash was a Photoshop wanabee that definitely got me in the screen scribbling game.

Marko: What is your favourite art work /website?
Philippe: I have to much to list them. Let’s say design portals because their selections lead to thousands of fantastic websites.

Marko: when you launched ultrasonata.com are you happy with the result of the site?
Philippe: Ultrasonata is quite new, only a few month old.
Since I get bored fast with my own designs, I came with the “Edition” concept for Ultrasonata. Each time I get bored I can reboot the site with the same content but with new graphics. First edition is Glam Rock (a graphical mix between Daft Punk and Kiss).

Marko: What do you do in your spare time?
Philippe: Graffiti, the kind of teenage obsession/passion you just can’t get rid of.

Marko: Do you have a favourite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Philippe: Being French, I should say wine but I really dig beer. A Dutch one in fact : Heineken, what makes it a double treason towards France ;-).

Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Philippe Ahmadpanah?
Philippe: When I worked in an agency It used to be: Bed>>Metro>>Office>>Metro>>Bed. Now I have more spare time and I simply enjoy more life.

Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Philippe: I believe as a freelance It’s all about Online Self Promotion. Your web site has to be featured on other sites. You have to drag people into seeing your stuff. You just can prospect everyone in order to find jobs so your website has to be a must-see.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Philippe: I have too many in arts as a general concept so I’ll only write about the ones related to web design.Just to name a few: WeWorkForThem (http://www.weworkforthem.com/), Prate (http://www.prate.com/2005/), my good pal Theo Gennitsakis (www.prayforagloriousland.com) and many many others.

Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?
Philippe: Ok I have the most common background: design school then another design school in Paris and then I entered a web agency.

Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Philippe: Never really thought about it, I can’t picture myself doing something else. When I was like 10 I really wanted to become a dentist…

Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Philippe: I like the use of SIFR for the titles.

Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
Philippe: Well I would change a lots of things. You obviously have the quality content and all the motivation needed, now you should think about a fresh, yet simple design.

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Philippe: I can’t work without music. Right now I’m listening to Miss Kittin.

What’s your favorite food?
Philippe: The ones my girlfriend makes for me. Those are the one I fancy the most.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Philippe: Places you can drink and chat not drink and yell.

some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Philippe: Chinese since I haven’t experienced Thai food yet.

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Philippe: Come On, Coke of course.

Marko: html or css?
Philippe: CSS, hate those tables ;-).

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Philippe: “My name is Earl” with Jason Lee makes me wish I was a midwest white trash redneck.

Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Philippe: Mostly design portals, helps to keep up to date, things like Design Is Kinky, Res72, Zeroin (great portal I’ve entered the community recently, bunch of nice folks indeed) etc etc.

Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’ have to be design related.
Philippe: The work of others gives me the will to improve myself. You know that nasty feeling saying “I can do better !”.

Marko: Thank again for having this interview Philippe ,Cheers!
Philippe: Bye, I wish you the best for 2006.