mcville: David Ross Interview

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David Ross Interview

Feb 11, 10:22 AM by Marko

Interivew with David Ross at designofdavidross.com

Marko: Hello David !
David: Hey man. How’s it going?
Marko: Great m8!

Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
David: I’m 27, originally from Southern California, currently live in Tennessee, and moving to NYC in a couple of weeks.

Marko: How are you doing these days?
David: Actually really well. My career and life are on a roll. Was recently offered a design/coding job with a big design agency in NYC and am really excited. I’ve been in TN toooo long.

Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
David: Hmm…Well, my dad had a Commodore 64 with a modem when I was like 8 or 9 I think. I always thought it was so cool that he could play chess against his friend through the modem.

Marko: What is your favorite art work/website!?
David: Web wise: I’ve always liked Jon Hick’s site. Shaun Inman is awesome too. There are tons of other great web designers out there that I love but too many to name.
As for art: I’ve got some really nice MC Escher prints. Russian Constructivist Posters have always interested me.

Marko: when you launched designofdavidross.com are you happy with the result of the site?
David: I’ve always found designing for myself to be difficult. With that said I’m actually very happy with the way it turned out. I went through something like 15 designs before this one came about. The early designs were similar but there was a box/containing area around the whole thing. Then, accidentally, I made that background/box layer invisible in Photoshop. I remember saying to myself “Wow, I really like this.” And that was that. Code wise I’m always learning new techniques. I’d like to learn more about Javascript. Overall, I’m happy with it.

Marko: What do you do in your spare time (We realize that spare time, in this context)
David: I was playing a lot of poker but have been so busy the last month I haven’t had much time for that. I play a lot of pool and occasionally go out and drink beer and hang with friends.

Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
David: Yea, I drink way too many soft drinks. Code Red Mountain Dew being the top culprit. Never been a big coffee drinker so I have to get my caffeine somehow!

Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for David Ross?
David: Depends on if I’m working a full time day job or being a lazy freelancer. Right now I’m working temporarily for a design agency here in Knoxville, helping them out until I move to New York. So, I get up at 8am. Hit snooze. By 810 I’m checking emails, news and favorite sites. 845 I leave for work get there at 9. Work on whatever they need done. Last few days I’ve been rebuilding their old table based/tag soup site. Get off at 4 or so. Run errands or come home. Eat dinner, work on any freelance stuff I might have, play some pool, watch tv or go work-out. By midnight I try to be in bed and do it all over again the next day. Woohooo. lol

Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
David: I started getting work from friends/acquaintances who needed websites. I got a bunch of nice business cards printed out and I’d snatch up any opportunity I could get. Nowadays I’m doing mostly freelance/contract work for design agencies who are outsourcing their work to me.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
David: Jon Hicks, Inman, Dave Shea, Roger Johansson, Keegan Jones…

Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?
David: I have a degree in Graphic Design but didn’t get into the web part until about 3 or 4 years ago. I originally got into design because I had a lot of friends who were designers who would tell me about how much they loved it. Always had a creative side plus I was a computer nerd so the two interests were combined. Then the web part came in when I realized I needed a portfolio site to show my print work. I started getting books from the library and googling. I was asking a question in the macromedia forum about how to get Dreamweaver to do something and someone told me css could do the same thing but better. So I started learning how to write code by hand and went back to the library to take all the Dreamweaver/table html books back and got as many css books as I could find. And that was that.

Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
David: Oooh..tough question. Honestly I don’t know. My sister is a lawyer and that was always interesting—a lot of work though. My first year in college my major was Business. So, I hate to say it, I might be sitting in a cubicle somewhere doing some boring corporate work.

Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
David: Nice and clean…design and code wise.

Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
David: Well you guys are in the midst of changing servers so I’d change the site to being back up and running! :)

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
David: Rock, rap, jazz, reggae, and polka. Ok, maybe not the polka. Some favorites: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, Audioslave, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, The Beatles, Jon Spencer, Outkast, Goodie Mob, 2pac, Gorillaz…others I can’t think of right now.

Marko: What’s your favorite food?
David: Italian. Love me some pasta/pizza.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
David: A few fun places around here. There’s a part of Knoxville called the ‘Old City’ that has some fun places to hang out at. This Saturday I’m trying to get all the friends I’ve met here in TN to come out to a place called Bailey’s. Would be nice to see them all before I leave for NYC.

some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
David: Thai – spicy…mmmm

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
David: Coke by a long shot.

Marko: html or css?
David: css – With css I can design the html.

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
David: Yea…I watched every episode of 24 last year but have missed the first few episodes this year. Crank Yankers is hilarious. I watch a lot of ESPN too.

Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
David: I’ve got them all divided up into sections. Galleries/Readings/Inspration/Tools/Design

Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
David: Money! No, seriously, money is nice but is not what keeps me going. There’s always something new to learn and find out about with web design. Computers will be around for the next million years and this is just the beginning.

Marko: Thanks again for having this interview David,Cheers!
David: Hey, thank you Marko. I enjoyed it.

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David Ross Interview

Feb 11, 10:22 AM by Marko