Rob Mientjes Interview
May 5, 08:46 PM by Marko
Interivew with Rob Mientjes at http://zooibaai.nl
Marko: Heya Rob !
Rob: Good day there!
Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Rob: Well, let’s see. I design things, go to school, am 18 years of age and generally like to spend my time with nice people and nice drinks.
Marko: How are you doing these days?
Rob: Whew, good one. I’m doing lots for school, and the client work seems never-ending. That’s not bad at all, though. There’s a lot of neat stuff I’m working on, and more and more of it should feature on my website soon.
Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Rob: I guess that was back when we (my parents) bought a second-hand Commodore 64? Or was that… Yes, that was it. Great stuff. I played with my uncle’s computer as well around that time. I knew MS-DOS better than he did.
Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
Rob: That’s difficult. Let’s start with the web side of this. I really like pretty much everything Jon Hicks exerts. Like. Pure gold. And really good!
My traditional art heroes are Dal’, Gauguin, Morris and Vermeer. Of the people who create nice stuff and are still alive, I really really like Ray Frenden’s style. He’s great with ink!
Marko: When you launched zooibaai.nl/ are you happy with the result of the site?
Rob: I guess it served the image I had of my site back then. This image has changed a lot, but back then I really wanted the blatant simplicity. I’m redesigning it for the May 1st Reboot, I should note.
Marko: What do you do in your spare time (We realize that spare time, in this context)
Rob: Have you got a spare afternoon? I do lots of things. In random order, I draw, paint, play the guitar, write music, write poetry and prose, write articles for a school magazine, illustrate, photograph, expand my collection of great music albums, read, and the most important one has got to be the drinking with friends. Drinking in a good sense. Like coffee or cappuccino. It really makes room for thought and discussion.
Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Rob: I drink a lot of coffee, but not in the absolute sense. Two cups a day? Yeah, pretty much. I like to drink tea, too. Three bags of Earl Grey on a productive day. If it’s getting late and/or I want something to go with dinner, I grab a nice bottle of Merlot. Merlot forces me to sit down properly and take it easy, which is great for stressful days.
Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Rob Mientjes ?
Rob: On weekdays, I get up at 6, 6:30. Read the paper, watch the weather forecast, cycle to school, get some school done and sometime between four and five in the afternoon I get back home again. Eat dinner, do homework, design or code or make music.
My weekends are much better. Friday nights often happen to be PARTY NIGHTS, which is neat. Saturday morning (yes, I have the discipline to get out of bed in the morning, even after a party on Friday) usually starts off with music, breakfast and coffee. If I have the time, I paint or draw. In the afternoon, I work for clients and play the guitar. It keeps the creative stuff flowing, I guess. Sometimes I have a party on Saturday night, but that doesn’t happen that often: mostly I just work, read and chat/phone/write. My Sundays consist of doing homework, eating nice food, drinking wine and getting minor client things done.
Holidays are like a really long weekend for me.
Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Rob: I’m not really active on the marketing front, as it’s not my full-time business (yet?). That doesn’t mean I can just do nothing. Every item I create has to pull in new clients. Gladly, this has worked for the past year or so, so yeah, word of mouth as it happens to be for so many other designers out there.
Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Rob: That’s a tough one. I don’t feel particularly inspired by any designers. Well, perhaps Jon Hicks again, maybe Dustan Orchard, those two Brits, they’ve changed my view of simplicity, but that’s about two years ago now and I think I have developed a style of my own now. I hope so, at least!
Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?
Rob: I don’t really have a background, really, just being a pupil at school. I always drew a lot when I was young, and that seems to have mutilated into a love for design. I really do still like the more decorative arts, though, and practise them when I can.
Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Rob: I think I would be an artist of sorts. Something with writing, maybe painting or something akin. If I put more effort into it, I could even be a musician. Photographer. Stuff like that. I guess I could do these things.
Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Rob: It’s well-structured, the images on the articles are good points of recognition and I guess it reads okay.
Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
Rob: I would add more consistency and improve the typography and white space. Yep, those are three somethings :)
Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Rob: Are you kidding me? I have a rather eclectic taste that isn’t even properly covered by my last.fm account. My taste ranges from electronica by artists like Erlend ¯ye, Moby, Ršyksopp and Machinefabriek to metal by Opeth, Rammstein and Ayreon, from folk, americana and country by Bellwether, Bright Eyes, Damien Jurado, Nick Drake and Neil Young to indie (punk) by The New Pornographers, Sufjan Stevens, The Arcade Fire, The Shins and The Weakerthans. And I’m trying to keep this list to a minimum, so I’m keeping out brilliant bands like The Olivia Tremor Control and Pink Floyd (!).
Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Rob: I really love tagliatelle with many kinds of sauce (but only one at a time!). Aside from that, there are so many things that I eat fondly but always forget the names of.
Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Rob: I don’t go out a lot, but when I do, it’s to one of my three favourite areas in Nijmegen. I’ll spare the world with the details, though. I just drink things with people and it’s a beautiful city.
some relaxing question to follow
Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Rob: That’s difficult. I like Chinese, but should put more effort into Thai. Does that make sense? :)
Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Rob: Coke. Definitely Coke.
Marko: HTML or CSS?
Rob: HTML for its structure and simplicity, CSS for its style and the concept of the cascade.
Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Rob: I don’t watch television. Mostly a waste of time for me!
Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Rob: From left to right: my Zooiblog admin; my last.fm account; my Flickr account; Apple.com; CreativeBits; UXMag; Drawn.ca; the Drawn! Forums; the Tiny Showcase (dot com); Design Melt Down; my deviantArt; Principia Gastronomica (dot com); Amazon; a list of web comics; a list of sites I like to read; some bookmarklets.
Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
Rob: I find inspiration in drawings by either me or someone else, or painting, or music by others or by myself, or in stories, or in cover art, or in photographs, or in dreams, or in friends, or in general feelings.
Marko: Thank you for having this interview Rob ,Cheers!
Rob: Thanks for considering me. I guess you must be really desperate if you want to interview me, of all people!
Marko: Heh nope never desperate , cheers!
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Whoa, this is pretty impressive. At eighteen years old, I was definitely not as organised as Rob here! The last thing on my mind was work. Looking at what he does, he is doing so much more than I would ever have done on that age!
Something inside me wishes I had his attitude at his age, though. Thinking of all the extra and pointless time I had in school, which I could have used for stuff a lot more constructive. Truth be told, I was writing music in all my spare time, but I’m sure if I had done other things I probably would have gotten off to a much better start!
He seems like the busiest eighteen-year old person I’ve ever known. He works like someone who is older than him. What about college? What about school? I envy him for his passion towards work. I wish that the other youth are like him.
Great article. And a really nice Blog! :)
Greetings,
Webdesign Düsseldorf