mcville: Dan Lindop Interview

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Dan Lindop Interview

Oct 18, 10:46 PM by Marko

Interivew with Dan Lindop at danlindop.co.uk

Marko: Hello Dan !
Dan: Hi Marko.

Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)

Dan: I live in Cheshire and I design and build websites for a living which I’ve been doing for about 9 years.
I’ve recently turned 30, which I was dreading, but it’s really not that bad!

Marko: How are you doing these days?

Dan: I’m good. Very busy with work and stuff, but good.

Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?

Dan: I think I must have been about 8 when I got an Atari 800XL for Christmas. It was a great bit of kit for the time
but the tape drive was a pain in the arse when it took 20 minutes to load a game and then crashed 19 minutes into the load. Grr…

Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?

Dan: ‘Nighthawks’ by Edward Hopper is my favourite painting. It seems to capture the mood of the scene perfectly.
I also like Georgia O Keefe, David Hockney and Renaissance period stuff. The size and scale of the work and the technique invloved is amazing.

Website-wise, I tend to like clean layouts with attention paid to the little details. As I spend the majority of my time
designing for commercial clients, I tend to look out for good examples of such. I think that it can be harder to create a
great design for a commercial website than for a more experimental, personal project. There are more constraints involved.
A site I really like is Bearskin Rug. The attention to detail is fantastic and
you could spend all day looking through the archive of work. I also love ISO50. Scott Hansen
has a great style which carries through all of his work.

Marko: When you launched www.danlindop.co.uk are you happy with the result of the site?

Dan: Yes, I was. Finally. The version that I launched was about the 4th or 5th attempt at getting something I was happy with.
There are always things you want to change to make it better but you can sometimes spend too much time trying to get it right.
I think I’d like to incorporate a blog at some point but that will have to wait until I get time to do so.

Marko: What do you do in your spare time (We realize that spare time, in this context)

Dan: When I’m not working I like going to watch bands play, listening to music, watching films, reading books, watching Crewe Alex play,
and going to the pub with my friends.

Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?

Dan: Not really anything in particular. A nice pint of lager or Guiness at the weekend maybe.

Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for you ?

Dan: I work at home 3 days a week so I tend to get up and go through my emails with a cup of coffee. I tend to make a list of all
of the things that I have to do that day and tick them off as they’re done. My day is spent designing websites, writing HTML / CSS,
speaking to clients, messing in Photoshop and so on…

Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?

Dan: I’ve found that the best method is to get some exposure in the design community and then make a few good contacts.
If you do good work for people, the hopefully they’ll come back to you again next time they have work.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?

Dan: I’m not really sure that I have any influences as such, but I find the web design community really valuable. There are lots
of good blogs and info out there which encourage good web design practice.

Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?

Dan: I did Art and Design at A-level but made the mistake of doing Computing Systems at University. The course was really dated and I don’t
think I learned anything of use throughout. Fortunately, I did a work placement year at a local business and was put in charge of building their website.
This was about 1996 so the web was relatively new. When I left Uni I got a job with the County Council on their web team and I’ve been doing
web work ever since. I’m pretty much self-taught really.

Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?

Dan: I’ve always fancied being a journalist if I wasn’t doing design.

Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?

Dan: I like it, there’s some good content on there.

Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
Dan: Maybe look at the design of the homepage. If you used a different layout to the rest of the site, you could highlight more of the content here.
As it is, the large images take up a lot of space.

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?

Dan: I like a lot of music although anything with guitars in is favourite. I like pretty much every band to come out of Manchester (The Charlatans,
The Smiths, Oasis, New Order, I am Kloot, etc…). Current stuff I like includes Editors, Maximo Park, Milburn and loads more.
I’ve recently discovered the joys of ACDC too.

Marko: What’s your favorite food?

Dan: Pasta at the moment. And cheese. And bacon sandwiches. Sandwiches are versatile, you can match them to your mood.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?

Dan: The football in the day, then a gig or the pub in the evening.

some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?

Dan: Thai

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?

Dan: Either

Marko: HTML or CSS?

Dan: Both

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Dan: My favourite ever show is ‘Spaced’ with Simon Pegg, who’s a comedy genius. I also like Match Of The Day, The Apprentice, Dragons Den and comedies
such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Simpsons, Garth Morenghi’s Dark Place and Extras.

Marko:What OS do you use ?

Dan: Windows XP

Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?

Dan: I’ve just had a quick look and there must be a 1000 links in there. They’re mainly design links though.

Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.

Dan: Anything that puts me in a good mood. That and money…

Marko: Thank you for having this interview mate ,cheers!

Dan: No problem. Thanks for having me!

— MiloCactus76 Dec 7, 11:17 AM #
What a mincer.

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Dan Lindop Interview

Oct 18, 10:46 PM by Marko