Interview with Chris Spooner

I recently had the opportunity to interview Chris Spooner. I’m sure many of you are followers of his blog, Blog.SpoonGraphics.com. Chris has just recently made the jump to full-time freelancer, and I hope you will enjoy getting to know more about him.

How did you get started as a designer?

Throughout schooling I’ve always taken the creative route, from winning a colouring competition at a young age through to choosing my education topics in later school life. I then continued this onto college and university finalising in a BA(HONS) in Art & Design.

However, while my education life gave a great start I feel most of my skills have been self taught through experimentation and following the work and tutorials of others, with great experience of the industry being gained through employment with two local studios.

How do you typically start a new design?

Whether a personal or commercial project I like to plan out the details in advance, which often includes notes and sketches. This is then taken into Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop to begin work on the actual digital work.

I also find it helps to browse the web beforehand at inspirational design galleries to get the creative juices flowing!

How has your blog impacted your business as a freelancer?

The SpoonGraphics Blog has been a fantastic resource for generating business, by gaining increased exposure as a designer, there have been many inquiries I simply wouldn’t have had without it. Of course there is also the increased search visibility from popular blog topics benefiting the domain on the whole.

On the other hand I feel the blog has also been an excellent resource for my own progression, motivating me to experiment with new styles and researching into topics I generally wouldn’t spend too long on, not to mention the learning curve in social media and general web promotion. There is also the incredibly friendly design community who are always willing to offer tips and advice!

What other types of graphic design do you offer aside from web design?

I feel pretty lucky to have developed experience in both design for print along with web design. It’s always fun to produce work for a variety of uses, being able to offer the complete package of printed promotional material along with a web presence is a bonus! This includes projects such as stationery design, advertising posters/leaflets, magazine advertisements and exhibition graphics.

What are some of your best methods for finding new clients?

Until recently having only worked as a freelance designer on a part-time basis I’ve relied solely on clients finding me via my website, taking an interest in my work and getting in touch. However I’m sure to soon discover new techniques having taken the plunge into full time self-employment!

What have been some of the highlights of your design career in your opinion?

Other than 1st place position in the colouring competition mentioned in question 1, a feature in Web Designer Magazine always impresses my friends! I would say by best highlight would be my recent transition to full time freelancing which has opened up many doors to exciting new ventures and experiences.

What are your career aspirations?

I’m looking forwards to producing work for a variety of clients on a freelance basis, progressing as a designer by keeping up to date with the industry.

Earning lots of money, buying a big mansion, a private jet and a Ferrari would be nice too!

What advice do you have for readers who are interested in improving their skills with Photoshop and Illustrator? Are there any particular resources you would recommend?

The design community as a whole has some excellent resources for design tutorials and articles, with new blogs to be found daily there is a huge resource online for learning new skills.

On the topic of Photoshop and Illustrator in particular, the PSDTUTS and VECTORTUTS network have some great tutorials from talented designers. Tutorial9, GoMedia, Abduzeedo, Veerle’s Blog and My Ink Blog are also a few great resources for tutorials.

Otherwise, simply experimenting and attempting to produce new styles is a great way to develop a personal library of ideas.

When you’re not working what types of things do you like to do with your time?

I tend to spend too long on the computer reading up on my feed subscriptions and catching up with other designers on resources like Twitter. While away from the computer I can regularly be found at the local cinemas checking out the latest movie releases. I also enjoy a spot of mountain biking.

Thanks to Chris for taking the time to answer these questions. If you’re not already familiar with his work, please visit his blog.