mcville: Tim Jarvis Interview

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Tim Jarvis Interview

Nov 11, 09:59 PM by Marko

Interivew with Tim Jarvis at The Profission Partnership

Marko: Hello Tim !
Tim: Hello Marco!

Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Tim: My name is Tim and i live in London, i’m 30 and i’m the creative director of a brand new agency.

Marko: How are you doing these days?
Tim: None too bad, thanks for asking. I hope you’re doing just fine too…

Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Tim: My first computer was a BBC B. In all honesty i wasn’t into writing programs with it so it got used for games, like Sabre Wulf. Yeah! I consider my first real computer to be my Amiga though. So many fine fine memories.

Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
Tim: Tricky tricky question. I studied product design at University so i have a penchant for stuff like that. Chairs, i love chairs, and wome’s shoes (not to wear, mind). I think i see certain lines, curves in things, you know, structure i guess, and it feels very comfortable to me. As for a favourite website i don’t have one.

Marko: when you launched profission.com are you happy with the result of the site?
Tim: Yes i think so. We soft-launched it a couple of weeks ago and the feedback was that it was too dark. I grudgingly lightened it all up a little; something i didn’t want to do, but hey, its for the masses, right?

Marko: What do you do in your spare time (I do realize that spare time, in this context, is pretty relative)?
Tim: Haha. Yes, its funny how, when you’ve been doing it forever you forget to miss your evenings when you spend them working. I play a little CS, have just started Kickboxing with Chris (www.dstrukt.com); my housemate or a few drinks with friends or the more social of our clients. Weekends are for my girlfriend, so no working weekends.

Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Tim: My favourite drink was Jack Daniels and Coke but i drunk too much of that a couple of weeks ago so am currently on Vodka Cranberry.

Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Tim Jarvis?
Tim: Indeed. I get up late coz i go to bed late. So about half-nine to ten i get out of bed, grab some brekkie and check my emails etc, sort my day out. By about eleven i’m ready to leave for the office. My business partner; Alex works the same way so we normally meet at about lunchtime in the office. Then its work until about seven, train home, dinner and then work/play from about nine onwards to about midnight. At which time if i’ve got nothing pressing on i generally sit in bed with my powerbook and watch an episode of something (Currently Deadwood or Lost). Obviously meetings, hanging out the washing and sorting out the techie (who lives in California) mess that neat little schedule up, but that’s sort of how it goes.

Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Tim: Me too. A lot of work comes from contacts of contacts, some comes totally out of the blue and some is brought in through clients we currently have. We haven’t (yet) pitched in open pitches or tried to find clients.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Tim: I think most if my biggest influences are pure designers, like Peter Saville and Mark Farrow. These days i’m influenced and pushed by the network of friends/designers around me; they’re very important for making you question the quality of your own work, and for keeping you fresh. Chris and i put The Systm Network together to create a tight network of designers we admire, and call our friends, and these guys are our first points of contact if we’re in need of advice, or direction, or help.

Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like? How did that take place and why?
Tim: Yeah. I studied Product Design. When i graduated there wasn’t much of an industry for Product Designers here, or at least nothing more than sitting in an office and doing CAD drawings for the rest of your life. At the same time the internet was becoming something of a commodity in its own right. My interest in the web, and in graphic design happened at the same time; about a year before i finished University and i had a part-time position as a web designer with a company i went on to work full-time with a year after graduating. In those days the web was a great place to learn and to experiment. Designing for the web had similar rules to product design; i had been taught design for the human interface in three dimensions i was applying the principals to the screen; in two dimensions. It didn’t really matter if you made mistakes as there was no benchmark to work against and it allowed me to explore graphic design as a route to providing a solution to a new problem.

Soon after the internet started to hype itself, culminating in the dotcom boom and bust, the company i worked for floated on AIM and rebranded and i was quite comfortable in my role as a senior designer. I used my evenings to produce Magnasoma; where i could play with graphics and i started making friends in the online design community. Roll forward a couple of years and i left IBG to join Kleber; an agency i’d had a lot of respect for and then a year later i went out on my own. A further year later and here i am!

Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Tim: Astronaut? Actually i’d probably be working in Blockbuster’s.

Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Tim: The nav is crazy!

Marko: it’s really that bad? :D
Tim: Hahahahhaha. At least you can read your site. Maybe i should have gone black on white after all.

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Tim: Different music for different things. I work to Prog, Trance and Industrial. I walk to Prog and Electro, i dance to pretty much anything except R&B and i love a bit of Eighties too. Basically i love synths. And vocoders.

Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Tim: My favourite foods are olive’s, gherkins and avocado. I’m imagining a salad now with all of those in. I’ll get one tomorrow for lunch.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Tim: Bars where you can’t buy a drink for less than Ł4, and that means mostly Old Sreet or Soho. My girlfriend doesn’t live in London so every other weekend i’m out down her way. I’m a bit of a clubber too, but i’ve been abstaining lately.

some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Tim: Chinese.

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Tim: Pepsi.

Marko: html or css?
Tim: Both. Together.

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Tim: I tend to download television and watch it on my time. No particular show, i tend to go through a season of something every month or so. I’m waiting for Carnivale Season 2 to show up on DVD.

Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Tim: Loads of links to sites that died about 2 years ago. I’m not good at updating my bookmarks.

Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
Tim: People mostly. I like to walk around listening to music loud just watching people go by, oh yeah, and did i say i was inspired by shiny curvy things? its something to do with the way light plays on them.

Marko: Thank again for having this interview, cheers m8!
Tim: Thank you Marko.

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Tim Jarvis Interview

Nov 11, 09:59 PM by Marko