Interview With Steven Snell of Vandelay Design

Steven: I’m a designer and blogger living in New Jersey. I started designing websites about 8 years ago and slowly moved from hobby to a career. My work at this point includes managing my own sites/blogs and client work. I have also done a lot of freelance blogging in the design niche, but that has slowed down a lot recently.

Steven: I think there is good and bad to list posts. Obviously there are a lot of them out there, so in order to really have an impact with them there needs to be something different, unique, or useful about them. Part of the reason the content on Vandelay Design has shifted towards more lists is because my time has become a lot more limited. I’m in the process of moving things around and getting some things off my plate, so in the next couple of months I hope to shake some things up on that blog. At DesignM.ag I’ve tried to do a combination of several different types of content: lists/resources, inspiration showcases, tutorials, business and freelancing articles, freebies, and interviews. The list posts have always been a favorite of readers, so they have definitely been a big part of the mix.

Steven: My process varies depending on the situation. If I’m designing a site for one of my own projects I don’t have a defined process, I just kind of work on it whenever I get the chance. For client work, most of the sites that I do are for small businesses or small organizations. I start by discussing the needs and wants with the client and planning the site. Then I’ll design the site in Photoshop, get client feedback, and make changes as needed. Following that I’ll code the site, or in some cases I have outsourced the PSD to HTML work. Testing is important too, and recently I have been using Adobe Browser Lab for most of my browser testing. For invoicing and time tracking on projects I use Fanurio.

Steven: I don’t really have a favorite style, it just depends on the situation and the particular site. I like minimalism because it helps to keep the focus on what’s relevant, but it’s not always the best fit.

Steven: There are obviously a lot of design blogs out there, and new ones are launched every day. I like the fact that there are tons of tutorials and resources available and that designers and design bloggers tend to be very helpful and approachable. I know a lot of people don’t like the fact that there are so many blogs and think that most of them are only in it for the money. My opinion is that if this is the case a lot of them will disappear if they are not able to make the big money. I think there are a lot more products/resources/companies that are advertising to the design community than there was a few years ago, so the increase in design blogs has helped to encourage the development of new products and services for designers, and that is a good thing.

Steven: Well, it’s not so much that I opted for self-education. I was already completing my business education when I first got involved with web design, and even then it was just something to do for fun or for some extra money on the side. I never intended to have full-time work designing or managing websites, it kind of just happened. So I never really faced the decision of getting an education in design or learning on my own. I think the business education has definitely helped me out a lot, but I know that I would have really benefited from some formal education in design theory, typography, and things like that.

Steven: My advice is to get started. There is an endless amount of information online and if you try to learn everything before getting started you will be missing out on valuable time. Get started part-time and you’ll learn a lot as you go. From my experience, the biggest difference between people who are successful with online business and those who are not is the willingness to take action. I couldn’t tell you how many people (mostly friends) have come to me for advice or help with starting a website or a blog with the intent of making money. Aside from those who already had a business that they were working on, none of them have put any kind of serious effort into it. If you assume that making money online is going to be easy you probably won’t be willing to put in the effort to learn what you need to. On the other hand, there aren’t too many people out there who have worked consistently and been willing to learn that have not had some success with online business. So my advice is to take action if you want to make it happen.