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Matthew Pennell Interview

Dec 10, 08:02 PM by Marko

Matthew Pennell Interview


Interview with Matthew Pennell at thewatchmakerproject.com

Marko: Heya Matt!
Matthew: Alright man, how’s it going?
Marko: Fine m8

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

Matthew: Okay – I’ve just turned 31, I’m married with three daughters all under 4, and I work as the Senior Web Designer for a UK building society as well as freelancing on the side as 29digital (www.29digital.com).

Marko: How are you doing these days?

Matthew: Pretty good, thanks for asking – freelance requests are coming in thick and fast at the moment, plus we just got Site of the Month from GAWDS (the Guild of Accessible Web Designers, www.gawds.org) so I’m pretty happy at the moment, although I could do without the kids making me ill with their kid-flu germs!

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

Matthew: Our parents bought my brother and I a ZX Spectrum when I was about 10, so that was my first real brush with technology. Of course there was no real internet back then, but I do remember writing adventure games in BASIC, and spending hours copying listings out of magazines. Happy days…

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

Matthew: Art-wise, it’s pretty difficult to pin down what I like; I just know when something is good. I really like The Chapman Brothers stuff, and Banksy, but then I also love Bosch, Bruegel, Rothko, more classical stuff too.

In terms of websites, I tend to go for attention to detail; I really like escapecrate.co.uk, avalonstar.com, sites like that. Nothing turns me off more than a standard blog-u-like layout, which is why I tried to do something different with my own site.

Marko: when you launched thewatchmakerproject.com are you happy with the result of the site?

Matthew: For the first time since I bought the domain, yes! It’s been through five completely different previous designs before the one you see now, and this is the first one I’ve not hated as soon as I launched it. Of course there’s a lot more I wanted to do that got ditched in the rush to hit the CSS Reboot deadline, so maybe next time I’ll go for more of a ‘realign’ than an all-out redesign.

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

Matthew: Sleep. At the moment I have no spare time, but if I did it would be doing stuff with the kids; I’d like to have the time to do more hobby-type activities like photography or music but that’s just not been possible for the last few years what with work and the children. Maybe once they’re old enough to look after themselves I might be able to pick that up again.

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

Matthew: Red wine, and too much. During the day it’s either tea if I’m working from home, or a number 76 from the coffee machine at work.

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

Matthew: Woken at around 6:30 by either the children or the cat; feed the kids then bike to work (my only form of exercise). I work on various projects so the day is usually pretty varied, then home for dinner and to read a story to our eldest daughter before she goes to bed. Then it’s freelance or personal work before bed at around 11.

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

Matthew: It’s pretty much all been word-of-mouth. I did a tiny bit of directory marketing a couple of years ago, and since then it’s all been from client recommendations or through my site.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?

Matthew: Anyone doing web design, really. I get inspiration, pick up ideas and learn new things every day from hundreds of places on the web.

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

Matthew: My background is in not much at all – I guess I vaguely wanted to do something that involved computers, but since 1994 I’ve been a guitar tutor, barman, waiter, hotel porter, barman again, waiter again, warehouse manager, band member, cream-cake quality assurance assistant, filmmaker, mortgage underwriter and system tester. In 2001 I finally moved into web design and never looked back.

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

Matthew: I’d probably still be working in a bar.

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

Matthew: Not bad – I like the William Morris background.

Marko: If you could change something on the site what would it be?

Matthew: Make it liquid!

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?

Matthew: Anything good – my iPod has Faithless, Linkin Park, Green Day, Bjork, John Denver, Belle and Sebastian and Megadeth on it at the moment, so I suppose you could describe my taste as rather eclectic.

Marko: What’s your favorite food?

Matthew: Curry, or a good steak.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturdays?

Matthew: During the day? Shopping if I’m lucky – otherwise I’m stuck inside working. If you mean in the evening, we usually manage a trip to the cinema about once a year; King Kong is next on our list when we can find someone to babysit.


some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?

Matthew: Chinese. You can’t beat beef and green pepper in black bean sauce.

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?

Matthew: Pepsi, but not Max.

Marko: html or css?

Matthew: Hmm – I want to say HTML for its orderliness and semanticity (is that a word?), but I’ve got to go with CSS for being able to do cool stuff.

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?

Matthew: I don’t watch much, although Lost and Rome are big favourites at the moment. My all-time top show is ER though.

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

Matthew: A million-and-one blogs, and my own site stats. Can’t check those enough!

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

Matthew: Nature, architecture, music and writing.

Marko: Thank again for having this interview Matt ,Cheers!

Matthew: No problem, Marko – thanks for having me.

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