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Steve Leggat Interview

Nov 20, 08:05 PM by Marko


Steve Leggat Interview


Interview with Steve Leggat at steveleggat.com

Marko: Hello Steve :) !
Steve: Hi Marko! >_____<

Marko: For our readers could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Steve: Sure. I’m a 36 year old New Zealander who is now (mostly) living in Taipei, Taiwan. I’ve been designing and building websites since about 1995.

Marko: How are you doing these days?
Steve: I’m keeping busy but having fun too.

Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Steve: I guess I would’ve been about 9 or 10 when my neighbour got a TRS-80 and I would go over there and be a nuisance all the time. I got hooked in pretty quickly, initially through games, but then through programming and ‘the scene’. I was always hugely into Commodore computers, from the C=64 through to the Amiga series. I ran some BBSes and did ASCII art for a while and still have fond memories of that.

Marko: What is your favorite art work/website!?
Steve: I have been wowed by Cai Gui-Qiang’s work which you can find on his website – www.caiguoqiang.com
There are always heaps of amazing artists on ComputerLove (www.cpluv.com) but sometimes it’s does my head in because of the amount of talent around :)
I love Flickr.

Marko: When you launched steveleggat.com are you happy with the result of the site?
Steve: I’m totally happy with the result. To be honest, I really just created the site over a period of one week with the intention of showing a few people my portfolio but looking at my page stats I’m getting between 400 and 4000 visitors everyday. I’m pretty shocked by it really, especially since there are so many fantastic sites around.

Marko: What do you do in your spare time (We realize that spare time, in this context)
Steve: Often I’ll just grab my camera and go wandering the backstreets and alleys of Taipei looking for interesting things, finding new places to eat and meeting new people. I try to stay pretty social which usually means going out for meals and drinks.

Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Steve: Glad you brought it up! I don’t know if I have a single favourite drink – it often depends on the occasion. I love sake but most of the time I’ll just drink ‘CC and Dry’ or vodka-tonic. Feijoa flavoured 42Below (a New Zealand company) is also pretty delicious. How much? I’m of Irish descent sooooo…

Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for you ?
Steve: I’m not sure if I have typical days. I usually get up before 9am, quickly check my email and make breakfast and try to think through my tasks for the day. My home is my office so I don’t have far to travel. I tend to break the day up into two parts. I’ll work through until around midday and then go out eating and exploring for a few hours and then start work again around 3pm. If I can I’ll finish up about 7pm and go out for dinner. I’m not much of a sleeper so I’ll usually stay up until around 3am.

Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Steve: I haven’t been freelancing for too long, but I know with my previous company that we never really went out looking for work, it would always just come to us, mostly via our website. We also formed a few close relationships with ad agencies which brought us in a decent amount of work.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Steve: That’s a tough one as I seem to take what I like from so many different sources and it changes often. Certainly a fair few of my influences are people you’ve interviewed already.

Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?
Steve: Design is definitely part of my background, but I think I’m more of a computer nerd. I became a web designer by chance really. I’d done a few basic websites and a friend suggested I quit my job and give freelancing a go. This was back in 1995 when the industry was still very young. The progression to designing websites was fairly easy because I was already familiar with computers and had studied design and, to be honest, there weren’t too many experts out there at that time. I only lasted a few weeks doing freelance before I was offered a pretty sweet job as head designer at a small but busy little company.

Marko: If you were not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Steve: I really don’t know! For me it seems like the ideal job because it’s my hobby and I haven’t thought of a job I’d rather be doing, at least doing properly. I’d like to be an inventor.

Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Steve: Not too sure about the tyre track background image that tiles down the page :P , but I love all the interviews and I’m looking forward to see what Version 9 brings.

Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
Steve: I would tidy up the interviews page a bit. Perhaps having a thumbnail of their site next to their name or just the website URL. I’m bad with remembering people’s names, but websites I know! Go crazy with colour.

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Steve: I’ve been into punk and hardcore most of my life but I listen to a lot of different stuff these days. The profile page on my website has a feed of what I’m currently listening to if you’re feeling nosey. My favourite album at the moment is undoubtedly Bic Runga – Birds. Bloody marvelous!

Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Steve: Wholegrain Toast with Marmite. I’m a man of simple pleasures.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturdays?
Steve: I’ll usually go out for lunch with my mates and do some window-shopping. I’ll usually meet up with other mates for dinner and then go out drinking at a bar or party. My weekends revolve around friends, food and drink and a few chores.


some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Steve: Thai

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Steve: Neither. Maybe Coke.

Marko: HTML or CSS?
Steve: Ahhh… I guess it’d have to be HTML (albeit with spacer gifs and font tags)

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Steve: I’m not really big on TV, especially Taiwanese TV – it does my head in. I get by on documentaries, news and Ricky Gervais shows.

Marko:What OS do you use ?
Steve: I’m a recent Mac (OSX) convert and I’m loving it. It’s like the heyday of the Amiga all over again.

Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Steve: My bookmarks are a mess but I have these sites along my Bookmarks-bar: Digg, BoingBoing, Flickr, PopURLs, OriginalSignal, Computerlove, StyleBoost and a few different gadget/tech blogs.

Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
Steve: I’m inspired by my surroundings whether it’s music, friends, movies, a piece of art, a building, website or magazine – too many to mention. I’m driven by figuring out elegant ways of improving things.

Marko: Thank you for having this interview m8 ,cheers!
Steve: Thank you for the opportunity Marko! Take it easy.

  1. — Phil Renaud    Dec 31, 09:42 PM    #

    Awesome! Glad to see Steve getting some more recognition, he deserves it :)


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