We featured Matt Rossi earlier this month and couldn't resist making this the month of Matt.  Matt McInerney comes from pixelspread.  If your name is Matt submit a CSS design and we will get your profile up before the end of the month.

CSS Burst: What are some of your latest designs that you are most proud of?

MM: Fbook.us, Tweetgift.com Olddeerfieldproductions.org, Pixelspread.com, Tumbl.us

fbook.us

tweetgift

Old Deerfield Prod.

pixelspread

tumbl.us

CSS Burst: How did you get into web design?

MM: It just seemed like the logical extension of creating graphics on the computer. When I was in my early teens, it seemed like the perfect way to share the art I was creating on a computer with the world. That just lead to learning more and more about design for the web.

CSS Burst: How do you prepare yourself mentally for a new design?

MM: I try to find some kind of inspiration. Not necessarily inspiration from other web design or design in generally. It's often times a lot more interesting to find inspiration from other types of media.

CSS Burst: Does your mood affect the design you put out?

MM: Possibly, if it's a design for myself, but if it's a design I'm doing for someone else, I'd like to think my mood has much less to do with it than what they actually need, and what the design needs to be. It's my experience and inspirations that affect my design far more than my mood.

CSS Burst: What is one of the most important pieces of information you get from a client? Colors?  Logo tie in? Audience?

MM: Obviously the companies brand is important if you need to work within those bounds, but I find it more interesting to find out kind of sites my clients gravitate to. It's a good way to gauge what you need to appeal to.

CSS Burst: Do you have any advice for designers just getting into web design?

MM: Every time you see a new technique on the web, find out how it's done. Go look at sites by your favorite designs and find out how everything comes together. And just keep designing more and more

Our first designer interviewed of 2008 in our CSS Designer Spotlight is Matt Rossi.  Matt has over 10 years experience in web design, but also does logo & branding, print and multimedia.

CSS Burst: What are some of your latest designs that you are most proud of?

MR: Visit http://ifohdesigns.com/our-work/web (there you can find my latest work, or at least the latest that I have uploaded).

CSS Burst: How did you get into web design?

MR: A band that I was in needed a website to list shows and offer a discussion forum. My friend who was all ready familiar with HTML offered to help us out and design the site, but he became too busy with work. I started to read up on HTML from http://lissaexplains.com/, this was around 2002 so as you could guess it was mostly table based, image ready slice fest garbage heh. I took great interest in hand coding without a wysiwyg aid, so I became acquainted with HTML and some simple JavaScript. I decided to go to school, and graduated from New England Institute of Technology in 2007 with a degree in Information Science with a focus on Multimedia & Web Design.

CSS Burst: How do you prepare yourself mentally for a new design?

MR: Inspiration, CSS gallery sites, such as your own, and trying to notice aspects of web design in real every day life.

CSS Burst: Does your mood affect the design you put out?

MR: Absolutely, working a 9-5 job can put a stress on creativity and that is never a good thing.

CSS Burst: What is one of the most important pieces of information you get from a client? Colors? Logo tie in? Audience?

MR: Content. A client can speak all they want about what they want, or what they like, but until you see their content for yourself, it is all a bunch of nod-and-say-yes.

CSS Burst: Do you have any advice for designers just getting into web design?

MR: Be honest and true to yourself. Always think "would I actually use this?" and "how can I make this better?"  Making things complicated is much easier than making things simple, and simple key. Users are dumb, so try to be a user more often and your designs will work!

Thanks Matt for taking the time to answer our questions for our CSS Designer Spotlight series.  Stop back by for more CSS Designer Spotlights in the future.

Our latest CSS designer in our CSS Designer Spotlight is Roy Liad.  Much of his work has been featured in the major CSS Galleries including CSS Burst.  He is currently working in New York for Israeli Designs, http://www.israeli-designs.com. 

Here are a few of his latest designs:

Nolita House

Blirt

Moving Parts Theater

CSS Burst: How did you get into web design?

RL: I actually got into web design when I wanted to do a site for my friends snowboarding trips, I just started learning step by step and truly loved it right away.

CSS Burst: How do you prepare yourself mentally for a new design?

RL: I don’t think I mentally prepare myself for a new design, I only sit down and think a lot about what will be best for the client. Sometimes I do just some brainstorming with my other developers or designers friends.

CSS Burst: Does your mood affect the design you put out?

RL: The mood is definitely a factor in my work, if I am in the right mood the outcome will be better just like any other thing in life, when you are in a good state of mind you’ll do better in life J

CSS Burst: What is one of the most important pieces of information you get from a client? Colors? Logo tie in? Audience?

RL: Well that’s a tough one, I would have to say that the most important information I generally get from the client is their opinion, colors theme or any other digial inputs are always a plus but their feedback and inputs are the most important to me.

CSS Burst: Do you have any advice for designers just getting into web design?

RL: Yeah , actually I do “ Always look to improve, even if you are already done with the work”. Just try to read a lot and learn more each day, the outcome will be much better at the end.

We would like to thank CSS designer Roey Liad for taking the time for our interview.  Stop back by for more CSS Designer Spotlights in the future.

Next in our CSS Designer Spotlight is Jason Zimdars.  Much of his work has been featured in the major CSS Galleries including CSS Burst.  His personal site, http://www.thinkcage.com is currently being redesigned, and has a small portion of his overall portfolio.

CSS Burst: How did you get into web design?

JZ: I started making websites in college. We had a design course called "Design Technology" that allowed us to explore some new media technologies. At that time there were no WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver so you really had to learn your HTML. I was really interested in the medium so I poured all of my efforts into learning about the web. This continued over the next few years as I looked for every opportunity to explore the web -- I even got my painting instructor to allow me to use Flash for a project.

CSS Burst: How do you prepare yourself mentally for a new design?

JZ: The pure creative conceptualization is always the toughest part. You always want to do something that really fits the client and project, but also something unique. The initial stages of the design
process for me is really about research -- immersing myself in the client. I look over meeting notes, the client's current website, and the websites of other organizations in their industry. I'm looking to
see what others are doing well and how we can do things better than the competition. I also try to draw inspiration from other artists and designers. Overall, I'm just making myself open to ideas and ready to be creative.

CSS Burst: Does your mood affect the design you put out?

JZ: I don't know if there is a direct effect. But I will say the creativity is a fickle thing and some days it feels like that great idea will never come. There are techniques you learn along the way
that can help jump-start the creative process, but there are times where it just isn't going to happen. When that happens many times I'll put the work away and come back to it later.

CSS Burst: What is one of the most important pieces of information you get from a client? Colors? Logo tie in? Audience?

JZ: My goal in a project planning meeting is always just to get the client talking. Colors, logo, branding, and audience are all important. But what I really want to hear is the client talking about
their website. What they don't like about their current website. What they wished the new one would do. I want to hear the pain - that's where the best ideas come from.

CSS Burst: Do you have any advice for designers just getting into web design?

JZ: I have two pieces of advice for new web designers:

1. Learn HTML. Don't rely on WYSIWYG editors or other software. Really learn HTML and CSS. Know how it works. Be able to build a site from the ground up. This makes for better, leaner websites and really makes a difference when it comes to fixes and updates.
2. Live on the web. Browse all over the place and keep up with what is going on in technology, technique and design. You've got to know where you are in order to move forward. Sign up for all the betas and try everything out. When you really think as a resident of the web you'll make better designs that draw on the things you've learned from others. There are tons of brilliant people making the web. Follow their lead and then pave your own path.

We would like to thank CSS designer Jason Zimdars for taking the time for our interview.  Stop back by for more CSS Designer Spotlights in the future.

Chad Jaggers has been into web design since 1998 and has consulted on many other designs.  His acute sense of audience need and web usability have been key to many successful web site experiences.  We recently caught up with him to ask him a few questions.

How did you get into web design?
In 1998 I wanted to run for a student government position at the university I attended, and no one had ever made a webpage for their campaign.  I made a website, but it was completely made from .BMP files, in tables and ran on my computer in my dorm room.  My roommate would call and tell me when ever it had crashed.  That was a lot of fun.

How do you prepare yourself mentally for a new design?
I study who my audience is and what information is being pushed to them.  Knowing your audience could be the difference between pleasing the client one the first design, or going back to the drawing board for a second design which means I wasted my time and the clients time.

I’m a firm believer in trying to create the best user experience possible.  I want it to be a website that my grandparents could go to and figure out how to sign up or purchase something without having to read instructions anywhere.

Does your mood affect the design you put out?
I try to not let my mood affect any part of my design.  I would say that listening to music can play a role in the creativity of a site.  Whether I’m listening to Radiohead, White Stripes or some Falcon Five-O I have different creativity moods that I get into.  I would say that is a good thing though.

What is one of the most important pieces of information you get from a client? Colors?  Logo tie in? Audience?
The audience is what I pay special attention too.  I think you can derive your color scheme and sometimes a logo based upon the audience.  Don’t tell anyone this, but sometimes I take one look at the logo and then put it aside and do the design and slap the logo on after that.  I really like redesigning the logo at the same time, but that is not always a possibility.

Do you have any advice for designers just getting into web design?
Keep designing.  You are not always going to be able to do the design you want for a client because they have their requirements and ideas for what it should look like.  Submit your designs to sites such as this one, http://www.cssburst.com, and learn from the other designs you see here and on other galleries.  The more designing you do the better you will be.