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Nick Gagne Interview

Jan 5, 11:18 AM by Marko

Nick Gagne Interview


Interivew with Nick Gagne at ibloomstudios.com

Marko: Heya Nick!
Hi Marko! Thanks for talking with me.

Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
I am 23 years old, and I currently reside in Cranston, Rhode Island with my wife Vaneta, and son Nathanael (born less than a week ago).

Marko: How are you doing these days?
I feel great and am happy, especially now that my son is born. I enjoy what I do and always make sure to do my best.

Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
My first encounter with a computer was playing Oregon Trail and Number Munchers on an Apple II back in elementary school, and thinking, “school doesn’t get any better than this”.

Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
I can’t say that I have a favorite, there are many great artists, but I do enjoy the animation of Hayao Miyazaki.

Marko: when you launched ibloomstudios.com are you happy with the result of the site?
I was very happy with the way ibloomstudios.com turned out. Otherwise, I would have dumped it away pretty quick. There were a few areas where I made some small improvements, such as rearranging the navigation, adding a Firefox button, some PHP changes, etc.

Marko: What do you do in your spare time (We realize that spare time,
in this context)
I enjoy spending my spare time with my wife. Writing music and playing old school video games is something I might do if I had more spare time.

Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
My favorite drink would have to be Canada Dry ginger ale. My day usually consists of drinking lots of water and about 2 cans of ginger ale. Needless to say, I take a lot of bathroom breaks.

Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Nick Gagne?
First, I wake up, eat a quick breakfast, and it’s off to work. At work, I check my email, RSS feeds, and read any interesting articles I find. After work I do some work on my personal projects and spend time with my wife, and possibly watch a movie.

Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Most of the work that I currently have is referred to me by people I know. Probably the best way to get work is to find people in your area who either don’t have a website, or who have one that looks like it was made by someone’s relative who “knows computers”, and offer them your service. The more you put yourself out there the more work you will get. As you get more clients, make sure to ask for a referral, as this is probably where 90% of all designers’ work comes from.

Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
My wife is my biggest influence. She is very supportive of everything I do. I am also inspired by the success of others.

Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?
I have always enjoyed drawing when I was younger, so I would consider that my design background. I started learning to program in middle school, in hopes of creating video games. When my parents got internet service, I got an Angelfire.com account and immediately tried doing everything I could do with HTML, JavaScript and CGI scripts. A little while later, I gained a sense of taste and moved on. When ASP and even more importantly PHP became more popular, I jumped on board. Now I’ve made the complete transition to XHTML and CSS, from table based layouts, and never looked back.

Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
If I wasn’t designing for the web, I would like to either compose music for film, or be involved with video game design. Those are my passions that have been left on the back burner for a while.

Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
I think mcville.net is a really great site. Where else can you find so many interviews with so many talented people in this industry?

Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
I would definitely clean up the xhtml code and get it validating.
Marko: Indeed!

Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
I enjoy many styles of music. I really enjoy classical music, such as Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky, and jazz, such as Chick Corea and Miles Davis. Also, Peter Gabriel, Chroma Key and Pat Metheny are great too.

Marko: What’s your favorite food?
I’m not sure what my favorite would be, but I really enjoy shrimp tempura roll, beef teriyaki, and grilled ham and swiss.

Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Very rarely do I ever go out. Saturday’s are my day to be with family and catch up on any personal web projects I have.


some relaxing question to follow

Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
I am quite fond of Tom Kha soup, but I’d have to go with Chinese food for the large variety of dishes.

Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Definitely Coke; Pepsi always seems to taste flat to me.

Marko: html or css?
I like working with CSS, it offers a much greater challenge. Once you know html, working with it is pretty straight forward. With CSS, on the other hand, there are always little challenges here and there to overcome.

Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
I usually don’t watch any television, except to see the news. Every once in a while I watch whatever show is on FoodTV. When I’m watching it I feel like I can cook anything, until I go into the kitchen and realize that I can’t. My favorite shows are Seinfeld, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and any interesting documentary.

Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
My bookmarks consist mostly of RSS feeds (A List Apart, 456 Berea Street, Authentic Boredom, Stylegala…), PHP.net (for a quick function list reference), links to various W3C’s pages (for more reference) and links to iBloom Studios management areas.

Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
My wife is both inspiration and motivation. There is inspiration all around: architecture of buildings, layouts in magazines, street signs. I also take a quick peek at some of the CSS galleries for some great ideas.

Marko: Thank again for having this interview Nick, Cheers!
Thanks for having me Marko, it has been an honor and a privilege. I wish the best for you and mcville.net.

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