Jeff Smith Interview
Feb 11, 10:32 AM by Marko
Interivew with Jeff Smith at jeffsmithdesigns.com
Marko: Heya Jeff !
Jeff: Hey Marko!
Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Jeff: I’m a 24 year old web developer and graphic designer living in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. I enjoy long walks on the beach, and…wait you
don’t want to know that…
Marko: How are you doing these days?
Jeff: I’m doing very well thank you. I’m very busy at my day job as well as working on a couple of exciting side projects and planning a wedding
for next year.
Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Jeff: I think the first computer-type gadget I encountered was a ColecoVision at a friends house when I was probably 6 or 7 years old.
Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
Jeff: You mean other than mcville.net? My favorite website at the moment would probably be Newsvine. I’m somewhat of a news junkie, I like to
know what’s going on in the world around me and Newsvine lets me get that in one place. As for art, I really enjoy visiting
Gigposters. I’m a huge music fan, and an even bigger fan of music inspired art.
Marko: when you launched jeffsmithdesigns.com are you happy with the result of the site?
Jeff: The current design of the site is probably the 3rd or 4th version of the site since I registered the domain in early 2004. This is honestly the first
design I’ve been happy with for the site, but I’m always much more critical of work that I do for myself and my business.
Marko: What do you do in your spare time (We realize that spare time, in this context)
Jeff: I try to spend the majority of my spare time enjoying life with my fiancee Krista, whether it be hitting the pub with some friends, or together at home
watching movies on the couch. As I said before, I’m also a big music fan and spend a lot of time listening to music and scoping out new tunes that might
tickle my fancy.
Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Jeff: I think coffee wins hands down in this category. I’ve considerably cut down my consumption from when I was working freelance full time. At that point I
was probably drinking about 12 cups a day, but these days I try to keep it to 3 or 4, with a couple of cups of Roibos tea thrown in between.
Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Jeff Smith ?
Jeff: A typical day usually starts off with catching up on my email before I head out the door to my full time job. After about 8 or so hours there I come home, have
a spot of dinner, catch up on the day with Krista. Then we’ll usually hit the gym for an hour or so. After that I’ll usually put in an hour or two of
work on some of my projects before calling it a day.
Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Jeff: The majority of my work has come from word of mouth from friends and family. The rest has come from my website. I’ve had the good fortune of not having to
actively seek a lot of work, most of it has found me.
Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Jeff: As any web developer would probably say, Jeffrey Zeldman is probably one of my biggest influences. I’ve been designing websites for quite a while, but it
wasn’t until I started reading Zeldman’s book that I really got passionate about my job.
Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?
Jeff: My background isn’t in design per-se. I actually started out studying computer science with majors in programming and user interface design. After 4 years
of doing graphic and web design part time while studying computer science at university, I decided I wanted to do the design thing as a career, and pursued
diplomas in both graphic design and web development.
Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Jeff: I would definitely be an autobody repairman. I have a real soft spot for automobiles, and it’s something I intend to pursue a little more seriously, possibly
as a career, a little further down the road.
Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Jeff: I really enjoy mcville.net. Especially the interviews that you’ve done with fellow Canadians Scott Boms and
Mike Stickel.
Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
Jeff: At the moment, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m anxiously awaiting the new version of mcville.
Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Jeff: I’m definitely a metal head, but I enjoy all types of music, as long as it’s not country. Give me a Motorhead album and I’ll listen to it for days and never
complain.
Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Jeff: That would be a tie between Pizza and Kung Pao Chicken (I love spicy food).
Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Jeff: If I’m not hanging out at a friend’s house, you might find me at the movie theatre with Krista, or possibly at the Beer Hunter, my local watering hole.
some relaxing question to follow
Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Jeff: Thai (it’s spicier)
Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Jeff: Definitely Pepsi.
Marko: html or css?
Jeff: Hmm…how about a little bit of both (the programmer in me likes html).
Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Jeff: I think my favorite show would have to be Viva La Bam, but I’m also a fan of Lost, and of course the Simpsons and Family Guy.
Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Jeff: You would find a lot of links to fellow web designer’s sites as well as links to all the dang web 2.0 beta’s I’ve signed up for over the last year.
Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
Jeff: What inspires me most is a really well crafted custom car, truck, or motorcycle. It may sound strange, but I really appreciate all the hard work, and the
immense amount of detail that goes into them.
Marko: Thank again for having this interview Jeff, Cheers!
Jeff: No problem Marko, thanks for having me. Cheers!
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This is a very interesting interview. I have looked around mcville a couple of times in the past and it’s always nice to get to know the person behind the designs and the ideas and the writing and of course, all the weirdness and finally have a clear picture of what drives and motivates you. I’m only slightly a designer…more of a copywriter than anything though I could never pass up the opportunity to take a few minutes to dabble with a web site or with a drawing or some type of logo or other graphic project. It’s nice to see another programmer out there that actually prefers html over CSS...why is it that you prefer html? Most designers I’ve met have always preferred CSS over html for hundreds of good reasons. I’m always looking for someone who can give me at least a few more reasons to add to the list that supports html over CSS.
well, the interview lacks on substance. what people eat and drink is not very interesting for the readers. interviews should be more about inspiration and how people work. i’d like to know what their passions are and they are currently working on.
I didn’t see anything wrong with including favorite stuff of a person in an interview about his job. It only shows the human side of the person. Plus it minimizes the boredom that one might feel when reading an interview. Sometimes it’s better to see a mixture of fun and work as well as business and pleasure in an interview.