For my first website showcase, I have chosen Anna’s site, citiesindust.net. This site has been my favourite for a long time and every graphic she makes displays her potential as a promising graphic designer. Hope you like her work and interview:
1. I really love your site. How did you first get into designing websites?
- Thank you! It begun for me as for hundreds of other people, I discovered piczo. After a while of messing around with my site (which looked as bad as Nick Nolte’s mugshot, google it), I found the site Sweet-song-16. I was speechless; I’d never seen anything that amazing before. That’s when I decided I wanted to make a site, just like hers, and become just as successful (which is pretty much impossible, but a girl can dream, right?)
2. Your site and designs are really inspirational. Where do you get your inspiration from?
- Magazines most of the time. Everything from graphic design to fashion magazines. And, naturally, I get inspiration from other sites like mine. 3. Do you ever have a designer’s block, and if so, how do you overcome this? - All the time. I’d like to give you a smart and sophisticated answer to this, but truth is all do is open a new document in Photoshop, find a random picture of something/someone on my computer and start messing around with it. Sooner or later the block goes away, and I’m left with a couple of cool graphics that can be made into layouts later.
4. What design programs do you use to create your work?
- I use Photoshop CS3 to create my layouts, and Dreamweaver and NotePad to code them.
5. Your site has become very popular. How did you achieve this success?
- To be honest I have no idea. After I got a domain my hits took on a life of its own, and as I got more and more positive feedback on my site, I just kept going. Even though I’ve been lacking off with updates lately due to school, people still seem to like my site and every hit and comment makes me smile.
6. When you’re not working on Citiesindust, what do you like to get up to?
- School. It eats up all my time. But whenever I’m not at school/doing anything school-related I enjoy photography, travelling, watching tv (I’m a tv addict, but explaining it takes forever, so I’ll just leave you with that). Of course I also hang out with friends and do other, somewhat, normal teen stuff.
7. On average, how much time do you spend on your site a week?
- I would say about eight to ten hours, but seeing as I’m lazy I rarely upload things I make for the site right after I’ve made it, I usually wait a couple of days (ok, you got me, weeks) before I do. I have no idea why though…
8. Do you have any tips for new designers or anyone looking to open a new site?
- Comment, comment, comment! I know it’s not easy, but if you comment people (assuming you write something nice, and not just “hey, please visit my site. kthx byee”) you’ll probably make a lot of friends/affiliates, which equals hits.
I know I’m really not the right person to tell people to comment, I’m the queen of lazy commentators, but it really will get you hits if that’s what you want.
- Don’t get too inspired; there’s a difference between being inspired and copying, but a lot of people don’t seem to know that.
- Try to come up with new ideas for your layouts. You can follow trends, but try to mix it up a little, add elements from different styles. That’s what I do.
Bottom line: Comment, don’t copy and be creative!
Oh, and bad CSS can really ruin a layout, you should always try to make sure they match.
This is a short blog to confirm that I am back to the webscene after those hideous exams and horrible school life. This site has under gone a layout change and the new theme is titled Nautical. Hope you like it. Any criticism and suggestions for improvements especially regarding CSS is welcome (since I really don’t like it).
My blogs topics will now be focused on fashion and sports (particularly tennis) and the odd update about my daily life, as well as daily inspirations I come across, resources that I find useful and website showcase where I post a site that I love and maybe an interview with the owner, if you want to sign up for this, please comment this blog or contact me via e-mail. I also would like to welcome 3 new affiliates, Andy, Lauren and Clairessa. Thank you for applying, be sure to visit their sites!
That is it for now, I have a lot to blog later, but currently its 1:23 GMT here in the UK and I need to go to sleep 
ZZZZZZZ
It’s the cuter version of Neopets with better stuff. I love it so much and I am very addicted to it!
