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Alistair Holt Interview

Nov 27, 08:03 PM by Marko

Alistair Holt Interview


Interivew with Alistair Holt at seventytwo.co.uk

Hello Alistair !

Hello Marko!

For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Well, I’m going to be 20 in a few weeks which makes me feel like I’m getting on a bit, I’m currently living and working in Chester in the UK doing freelance doing graphic design and web design/development.

How are you doing these days?

I’m pretty good thanks although I have been suffering from a bit of RSI lately so I’m taking a few weeks off work which isn’t too bad actually!

When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
When I was 8 my dad bought a Macintosh LCIII for my sister and I to use, which of course I ended up using all the time, more often than not just fiddling with Mac OS 7. I thank god it was a Mac and not a PC, otherwise I think I wouldn’t be doing what I am right now! Sorry, I can’t stand Microsoft ;-)

when you launched seventytwo.co.uk are you happy with the result of the site?
Yea I’m still very happy with the result. I will hopefully be extending the site soon to include some slight tweaks here and there so watch out!

What do you do in your spare time (I do realize that spare time, in this context, is pretty relative)?
In my spare time I like to listen to music, DJ, read interesting things, watch TV (probably too much) and go to the pub!

Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
I’m sad to say that I have been brought up on fizzy drinks like Tango and Fanta (bit of product placement for you there!) so they are what I drink most of the time to get my sugar energy rushes! I’m also becoming quite addicted to Mango Ice Tea at the moment, mmmmmm…. oh yea can’t forget a nice glass of red wine too!

Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Alistair Holt?
A typical day usually starts with me getting out of bed late and wandering to the computer to check my e-mail and RSS feeds if I have time, then I will try to organise my day ahead, try being the important word there! Then I will work for a couple of hours up until lunch from which I will return to work up until around 5-6pm. Then depending on how I’m feeling I will either eat and the work some more or go and do something more fun!

I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
I pretty much live of word of mouth and good contacts at the moment, I should really promote myself more I suppose!

Who are some of your biggest influences?
In design, probably too many people and things to mention here! I love looking at other peoples work and just things which catch my eye, whether that be a nice hand painted sign, a work of art or the layout of a book. The web standards community influences me a lot in my web work. I was particularly inspired by Jeffrey Zeldman, John Hicks, and John Oxton when I was making 72.

Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like? How did that take place and why?
Yea I started out in graphic design doing things like corporate ID, brochures, the usual kind of stuff. I then started to play with web design in 1998 working my way up and learning as much as I could along the way. I think I probably moved more into web design because it is more fun and I find it more pleasurable.

If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
I think I’d be doing music production or possibly property development. Something totally different with less stress like gardening would be nice!

How do you like our site mcville.net?
The content is really good and interesting but I think your design could be improved upon, it is a little bit messy in places and unbalanced. Also the menu scares me a little, it’s very hard to handle here in Safari.

What kind of music do you fancy?
I’m into a lot of different music, I really love it. I’m really into Drum and Bass / Jungle, I love it, such an amazing wide-spanning genre, I also DJ it so I’m probably a little biased but I think it’s great! I also listen to RnB, Hip Hop, a little House, Tribal, Electro (mmm..!), Jazz, Rock, bit of Ska…. list goes on and on I’m afraid!

What’s your favorite food?
I’m not sure… maybe Pineapple, I can’t get enough of that stuff!

Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
I’m usually very lazy at the weekend and like to take things easy

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some relaxing question to follow

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Chinese or Thai (food)?
Neither!

Coke or Pepsi?
Coke, Pepsi just tastes wrong!

html or css?
CSS

Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
I watch it too much, my favourite shows at the moment is Family Guy and American Dad, also 3rd Rock From the Sun is a classic. I also like things like Grand Designs, Dragons Den…

What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Lots of crap, development site bookmarks, a whole head of web design/dev bookmarks, online record store bookmarks (there are lots of those), inspirational sites… it’s all organised nicely into categories though and I’m using .Mac to sync them between all my computers. I would use del.icio.us but I can’t be bothered!

What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
See “Who are some of your biggest influences?”.

Thank again for having this interview, cya m8!
Cheers Marko! Speak to you soon!

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