mcville: Lucian Slatineanu

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Lucian Slatineanu

Nov 16, 07:05 PM by Marko

Interivew with Lucian Slatineanu at badboy.ro

Marko: Hello Lucian !
Lucian: Hey Marko!

Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Lucian: I’m 24 years old, born in Romania and living in Chicago.

Marko: How are you doing these days?
Lucian: A bit stressed out because I don’t seem to find the time to work on some long overdue personal projects anymore. A bit anxious as my new laptop should be arriving in a couple of days. Can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Lucian: I got my first computer back in 1989. It was a Romanian-made Spectrum called Cip. However, I did get to play a bit with other computers before that at my mom’s workplace. I still remember the frustrations of loading and saving programs from a cassette player.

Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
Lucian: That’s a tough one. I can’t say I’m a really big art fan in the classic sense. Being a designer, what appeals to me is ‘art’ with a purpose, such as industrial design and architecture. I really love the style of industrial designs promoted by firms such as Art Lebedev and I often visit websites that showcase this type of design/art such as Mocoloco.
Favorite website… that’s even tougher. I have a pretty big collection of printscreens taken from websites that I find inspirational so it’s hard to just pick one. From the top of my head I’d have to go with Jason Santa Maria’s website for showing such great attention to details. In my book, this is always a recipe of a successful design.

Marko: when you launched badboy.ro are you happy with the result of the site?
Lucian: More than happy. As in less than a month after launching it the design was featured on quite a few showcase sites and I received tons of praise for my work, I have no reason to be unhappy with it. It’s true that I still wish I had the time to improve on a couple of small issues with the website, but time, as always, seems to be my biggest enemy.

Marko: What do you do in your spare time (I do realize that spare time, in this context, is pretty relative)?
Lucian: I’m pretty much a family guy so most of my spare time is dedicated to my fiancee and household matters. Every now and then I go sightseeing as I’m still new to Chicago and haven’t had the time to acknowledge everything it has to offer.

Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Lucian: Vanilla Coke. A few cans a day.

Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Lucian Slatineanu?
Lucian: Though I’m a freelancer and people tend to think that this allows you to have a wild schedule, I try my best to stay organized and think of it as more of a full-time job so my days look quite the same. I get up at 7AM, get a quick cup of coffee and a short breakfast, go through my emails and browse a few websites and my work begins at 9AM. I keep working until 3PM when I take a lunch break for a couple of hours. I get back in front of the computer at around 5PM for another 2-3 hours of work, sometimes more if I’m really busy. After that it’s dinner and TV time. I go to bed at around 11-12PM, depending if I can find a good movie or not. Pretty standard and boring, I know, but I get my kicks from my work as I’m sure every designer does :p

Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Lucian: Almost all of my clients come through my website or previous client referrals. Until today I haven’t pursued any client specifically so I can’t underline enough the importance of having a good portfolio out there so that people can find you easily.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Lucian: Back in the early days when I took up web design, there were such websites as Spoono. Later, I think my first design that I was really satisfied with and that marked the beginning of me entering a whole new different level in design was inspired by Shaun Inman’s older website. In this spirit, I’d have to add to my influences the works of odd Dominey, a href=“http://www.simplebits.com/”>Dan Cederholm, a href=“http://www.stopdesign.com/”>Douglas Bowman and, of course, Jeffrey Zeldman . The guys at Grapefruit also had a tremendous influence over my design skills and not only as I’ve worked there for about 3 years.

Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like? How did that take place and why?
Lucian: I came into design from a programmer background. I was quite good at programming back in the days but then I discovered what cool things some people can do on the web and I was hooked. I started out slowly by creating a few personal website and gathering inspiration from around the web. About one or two years later, I think it was 1999, launching my first online portfolio also got me my first full-time job as a web developer/designer for a small start-up company. That offered me the chance to practice even more and get better and better. After a couple of years working on and off for this small company (that eventually decided web design wasn’t for them and got into computer manufacturing and distribution) I got a job at Grapefruit. In the 3 years spent there I learned what I probably wouldn’t have been able to learn in 10 years by myself. It was a great experience and working with talented people from whom I had a lot to learn sure paid off. Being passionate about my work allowed me to develop extremely quick and I got promoted from Junior Designer to Designer and, eventually, to Senior Designer. After these 3 I felt ready to take the world in my own hands and pursue a solo career. So far it seems I made the right choice.

Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Lucian: I think I’d like to be a teacher or a writer as leaving a mark and creating something that can benefit other people is what it’s all about for me.

Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Lucian: Great content, cool navigation, maybe a bit too many badges.

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Lucian: I like all sorts as long as the music is good so you may find me listening to everything from electronic and hip-hop to hard-rock. I’m always listening to music while I work.

Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Lucian: I’d have to go with French fries and a nice pork grill. Nothing fancy.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Lucian: Shopping at the mall :)

some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Lucian: Chinese, though I’m not a big fan.

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Lucian: Definitely Coke. Vanilla Coke.

Marko: html or css?
Lucian: XHTML and CSS with a touch of JS for added flavor.

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Lucian: You’ll laugh. Friends. It relaxes me after a long day. Oh, and South Park too.

Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Lucian: My own website, Gmail, a few design related websites and a very long list of articles marked ‘to-read’ that somehow keeps on getting longer and longer.

Marko: What inspires you? This doesnt have to be design related.
Lucian: Sleeping. No, seriously, some of the best ideas I had came to me while sleeping. The toughest part is remembering them in the morning so that’s why I keep a notebook and a pencil near my bed at all times.

Marko: Thank again for having this interview, cheers m8!
Lucian: Thanks for having me. It’s been fun!