*Please pardon the un-styled mess why I am rethinking and re-designing my blog!*
I had the pleasure of coming up with some silly questions for @ChrisCoyer from CSS-Tricks. Chris offers his insight on bananas, web design and buying domain names on a whim.
Oh no. What if I get this first question wrong? The tiny mouse will kill me. The answer kinda sorta not really. I’ll eat a banana, I think they are alright, but I really don’t buy them very often.
Definitely <sup>. He’s cool with anybody.
I’m rather partial to #eee – very chill gray. I remember the first one I ever memorized was #900, which is like a deep red. I once asked people a similar question. They grays seem to be popular.
It was basically desire and persistence. I have a degree in Graphic Design, but after college I was working in print and had no professional web experience at all. I knew I wanted to work with the web though, so I learned and learned and built websites. Eventually an opportunity came up at a small design agency to be a part web part print guy, and I was able to land it.
It’s the satisfaction of creating something that almost anyone in the world can see. I still am amazed when I go through the process of buying a domain and setting up hosting and writing little bits of code and seeing a design take shape on a real website. It’s so damn cool.
Well there is the obvious hair-pulling stuff like cross-browser issues with designs. Nobody LIKES troubleshooting layout problems (at least, that is a normal human being). We’ve already spent countless hours creating a beautiful design. We’ve tried out best to write in standards based code and do smart things. It looks wonderful in all the browsers that have came out in the last 5 years. Then we find that in an ancient browser that inexplicably high number of users still use, the design is mangled. Great… like we didn’t have anything better to do today.
Ha! Yes… How about this one? I’ve owned far stupider ones as well, but I’ll keep those to myself =). For the record I’ve never once sold a domain and actually made a profit. Definitely not a get rich quick scheme that it once might have been.
What kind of music do you listen to when you design? when you code?
I’ve always hated the answer “I like all kinds of music.” I feel like 95% of people will say that in answer to this question. Well maybe just because it’s true I guess. It’s true for me. Probably my favorite kind of music is old time music. I’ve played in old time, bluegrass, and irish bands in the past. Banjo, mandolin, and guitar mainly. But I really do like all kinds of music. You might catch me listening to Wu Tang in the morning, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers in the afternoon and The Country Gentlemen at night. Lately I’ve really enjoyed Fleet Foxes, Vetiver, and Bon Iver.
Work hard. Being good at anything take either very rare natural talent or ridiculous amounts of practice. I practice. A lot. And I still have a long long way to go. If you love web design, absolutely go for it, the more the merrier. Build websites until your fingers bleed =).
How about some students who are right in the middle of their education. That might be interesting. To find out why they chose design, how they are liking it so far, what they think their future might be like…
[13] Comments
Posted in design, Graphic Design, Interviews, Web 2.OH, Web Design
[...] @nebrow: 10 Questions With Chris Coyier From CSS-Tricks | http://www.nikibrown.com/designoblog/2009/02/09/10-questions-chris-coyier-css-tricks/ | #floats [...]
[...] 10 Questions With Chris Coyier From CSS-Tricks (tags: inspiration css chriscoyier interviews designers) [...]
[...] Visit Source. [...]
[...] had the pleasure of coming up with some silly interview questions for Chris Coyer from CSS-Tricks. Chris offers his insight on bananas, web design and buying domain names on a [...]
Subscribe by rss, email, or in iTunes!
Zach Dunn says:
Great opening question. Right into the stuff that matters!
Also, that whole students in the middle of their education thing sounds like a pretty a good idea.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Erik says:
Another great interview, we want more of them! :p
February 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Ben Kahans says:
Very interesting interview, thanks for sharing.
February 9th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Desiztech says:
Nice one..honest answers..always follow chris’s posts
February 9th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Jeff Starr says:
Fun interview! Chris Coyier is the coolest designer in the business!!
February 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Rebecca Laffar-Smith says:
Nice interview, short and pointed.
One point I particularly liked is learning that you don’t have to have degrees out the wazoo to make it as a professional web designer. Passion for code will get you most of the way and a willingness to learn will get you the rest.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Tim Smith says:
Great interview!! Thanks!
February 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Jez says:
Great interview, massive CSS-tricks fan.
March 15th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Itransition says:
Completely agree that cross-browser coding requires too much resources. But this is the reason to invent new css tricks!
October 9th, 2009 at 7:45 am