Welcome to PVMGarage! Please introduce and tell us a bit more about yourself.

Hi! I’m Tony, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Looks Good Design Magazine. Firstly, I would like to thank you for this opportunity of being interviewed on PVMGarage. Introduce myself, right? Where do I start? Well, to start things off, I’m just a 17 year old kid born in China and raised in Toronto, Canada. Two years ago, I moved to Hong Kong, which is where I currently attend my senior year of high school. Next year I’m planning to journalism in the US while working on my latest venture buzzblaze.com

For my 16th birthday I asked my parents for 50 bucks which I used to buy shared hosting and the domain name looksgd.com (now looks.gd). My intention was to start a website that focused on graphic and web design with an ambition to raise some money for college. Within the first month of launch, my small investment rapidly grew to a widely trafficked site with tens of thousands of visitors from over 140 countries. I’m just that good.

You are pretty young, 17, to be exact. How and when did you get into design?

I’ve always been fascinated by clever designs my whole life. I have quite an impressive collection of design books at home ranging from logos to web design to architecture. I think my first experience with graphic design was designing artwork and t-shirts for local bands. In fact, when I was 13, I started a custom t-shirt printing business. When I became more experienced, I worked as a freelance graphic designer and did jobs for small companies such as logo design. I later learned HTML and CSS and started to develop websites as a freelancer. I now focus on interface design and product development at an internet startup which I founded, recently developing user-interfaces for web and iPhone applications.

Unlike many other young designers, you’re not just designing stuff and experimenting, you’re writing about design. Why did you start Looks Good Design Magazine?

Well as I said before, I seized an opportunity to make some money off the internet by starting a blog. I decided to apply the skills I’ve acquired over the years to a real-world context. It was also an opportunity for me to gain some journalistic experience – something I really looked forward to when starting Looks Good. I wanted to create a website that provided its readers with resources and inspiration for their work similar to Smashing Magazine and Six Revisions. The name Looks Good was what I initially planned to call my site, but the domain name for that was already taken so I decided to be more creative and used a ccTLD extension and hence the inception of Looks.gd

Finally being able to start my own website with my own domain name was exciting but also very challenging as I really had no experience in blogging or maintaining a site for that matter. But after a while, I got the hang of it and traffic kept growing naturally with good content. Then, I brought on a few of my friends onto the team and delegated them roles for keeping the site together.

Do you actually want to become a designer?

I actually don’t plan on pursuing a long-term career in the design industry. At the moment, it’s more of a hobby than anything else. I’m more serious about entrepreneurship and currently working on my internet startup due to launch in early September. I play a big role in the interface design and product development of the company because that’s what I enjoy, but I’m shifting focus from the design industry to my technology-based startup. Design, of course, is integral to business and that is why I think these past few years have been a great experience and the things I’ve learned will definitely pass onto the greater things I have plans for.

For many young bloggers, earning money is one of the main reasons to maintain a blog. What do you think? What’s your opinion about money earned by blogging?

From my experience, if you’re thinking of starting a blog with the first intention to make money then unfortunately, you’re out of luck. For the first few months, it will be almost impossible to generate revenue and to top that off, you’ve got to pay for your web host, domain registration and other initial investments. This low return would almost drive everyone crazy enough to give up altogether. What I think kept everything together over the past year was my genuine interest in graphic design and the other things I write about. So my advice would be to create things with purpose and write about things you enjoy writing about because if you are pursuing something you have a passion for, then great things will follow.

Your site is called “Looks Good”. What’s your opinion about the importance and position of design in the delivery of messages to general society?

Good question. I think good design is not just aesthetic, but its innovative, its personal and painstakingly comprehensive down to the very minute detail. So yes, it is incredibly important. I believe good design makes the world a better place as visual design is ubiquitous and fundamental to human communication. That’s why I find importance in making things easier to understand, making things easier to use and ultimately making progress possible.

I am also strongly rooted in the belief that design makes businesses better. Without a doubt, good design makes products more innovative and easier to use. It makes the user-experience more enjoyable and it highlights the efforts made to make sure the product is excellent to the finest detail.

Where do you draw your inspiration from? Who are your idols?

My parents have always cultivated a strong belief in innovation and trying things out for myself. I never really received or asked for a formal allowance or pocket money which led me to be very resourceful at a young age. Many of my friends and family have also encouraged me to be creative and pursue my ideas and projects. As an young entrepreneur, I look up to giants in the tech industry such as Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook for his success at such a young age. As a designer, I really admire the work of Dieter Rams, a German industrial designer and his iconic minimalistic product designs which have influenced the design direction of many modern companies such as Apple computers.

What are your plans for the future?

Who knows? My high school semester starts in about 3 days. I will be very busy with the standard school work and university applications. After graduating high school, I’m thinking I might take a gap year to just chill out – maybe travel and learn a new language. I will also be working on my latest venture, BuzzBlaze, a social news aggregation web service throughout the next few months. I have a vague idea of what I would like to become in the future and that idea doesn’t include being stuck in an office cubicle doing reports.

Thank you for providing us the opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts and advice you wish to share with us?

Pursue all your great ideas.

Could you please introduce yourself?

For starters I’m a Creative Generalist – jack of all trades and master of many. Also known as a nexialist, I’m skilled in the science of joining the dots i.e. the knowledge of one field of learning with that of other fields. In the tradition of the old Internet – ASL – Age: 30, Sex: male, Location: India.

Early Childhood:
I began painting at the age of 4, winning contests at school and I won the prestigious Shankar’s International Children’s On-the-Spot Painting Competition at the age of 11. I had a penchant for language as well and often wrote about my experiences in a humorous ‘gonzo’ manner. I didn’t know it then, but they were my very first blog posts (which remained scribbled in my notebooks).
I had no formal training in painting either and I dabbled in oil on canvas, watercolor, charcoal, etc.

Digital Playground:
Apart from the traditional medium, the digital bug bit me hard. I got my first computer when I was 11 and since then have learnt everything I know by either trial or error. Mostly error! Having both a creative and technical bent of mind, I played around with hardware and networking as well and can setup a complete animation studio setup from workstation to render farm. On the software front, I’ve learnt basic 2D raster based tools like Photoshop, vector tools like CorelDraw (still ubiquitous in India) and Illustrator, 3D tools like Autodesk Maya and compositing and editing tools like After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I believe in self learning and have owe my skills to the tutorials and support offered by countless anonymous artists on the Internet.

Perspective:
With a bird’s eye view, I love to see the larger picture whilst working on the details as well. For eg. when I undertake the branding of a product or company, I work on the logo & other collateral besides outlining business strategy, marketing methods and project management. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, I also work on the web design and development, write content and craft a social media policy for the company. All this and more; single handedly! While many may argue about this one-man army approach, it works well for me.

Philosophy:
My philosophy is very important to me. It is the precursor to my every action. I’m inspired by Bruce Lee’s philosophy of Jeet Kune Do which advocates the use of the 4 fold path – research, absorb, reject, tailor-make and finally apply! So every project I undertake begins with a research phase. I then proceed to absorb what works and reject what doesn’t on the basis of the principles of simplicity, directness, effectivity, fluidity, non-classical approach and open-mindedness. Then I take what is left and tailor make it to my situation. Finally I don’t sit on my ass, I apply and ship! My Jeet Kune Do teacher always says “A perfect job is an average job done in record time!”. I strive to reflect that maxim in my work.

Talking about philosophy: What is your opinion about design in general, about its influence on society?

Design has a very important role to play; more than mere entertainment and visual wizardry. It must be used to communicate and illustrate a point, a message to the masses. Jim Morrison said “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind”. As designers, we must endeavor to mix form and function in harmony to not only entertain but educate as well.

reddy2go

But design’s huge influence was often used to manipulate people. How to avoid that by being a designer?

By educating the designer! It is imperative to instill in him/her a sense of values, reminding ourselves that like Spiderman, we too must accept great responsibility with the great power we wield. Every spoken/written word and every picture/painting/video we create reaches out to people of the world within mere seconds affecting their lives in ways even we as creators may have never imagined.

This is theory. But how can you practically make a designer freelancing at his home office educate and elucidate about his great power?

This is precisely why besides the art and craft, philosophy is a must as well. There are many bloggers who write list posts on how to be a better designer. Maybe we need a few on how to be a better human being too. The Web 2.0 I believe is all about embracing interaction and conversation between business and the consumer. So the days of cold, aloof and irresponsible businesses who only answered the shareholder one day in a year are gone. Today we have all started being more open and transparent in our dealings. The days of corporate cloak and dagger and espionage may not be extinct, but are surely numbered. This is proof that the world is indeed embracing a spiritual evolution of sorts even at the material level of business.

Practically this can be implemented on many levels. For eg. As a 3D animation technician, I advocate the use of open source technology. As a designer, I work on many pro-bono projects: I have worked on the design, layout and production of three books and corresponding videos for a non-profit trust that works selflessly in service to the nation.

What is the impact of open source technology as well as Creative Commons licences on a designer’s daily work? Do they rather benefit by getting more exposure or is “stolen” work a big problem? What did you experienced with your blog Freelance Firestarter?

Open Source technology is a step forward in terms of knowledge sharing for future generations. Timelines have shown that this model of software development results in faster turnaround cycles and better quality control. As for the Creative Commons license, they have helped bridge the divide between hardcore copyright advocates and the extremely radical ‘copyleft’ movement.
I started Freelance Firestarter initially with no copyright even stating that you can do with the content as you please.

Why did you change this?

Because I realized that while personally, I don’t really care if others make a commercial profit from my work, guest writers and people I feature in my artcles might not be so open. I have a pet theory that all our minds are connected together in an Internet of sorts and all information and ideas flow freely through the ‘cloud’. Whoever is inspired and implements first becomes the originator and the rest become imitators. So I don’t place much credence to originality or copyright though I admire the speed and quality of execution/ implementation of the idea.

As a matter of fact Freelance Firestarter was created when I woke up at midnight with the idea and I had the site up and running by 3 am with my first blog post!

What do you want to achieve with FF? The “abstract” content, so to speak, makes it definitely distinct from other freelancing-related blogs.

To inspire, even ‘instigate’ people out of conventional mindsets, to make the individual aware of the active responsible choices one needs to make towards a life worth living. To realise the power of the individual, that ‘the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath’. Impossible tasks perhaps, but by trying I hope to set an example. And even if one person out of a zillion is inspired by the idea, it is worth it.

Freelance Firestarter/riteshreddy.com

On FF, there is a banner “Art Not Ads”. But on one of your other projects, The Scalene Triangle, actually are advertisements. Why is this different? What’s your general opinion about ads on sites?

The Scalene Triangle is more a ‘proof of concept’ so as to speak and I will get rid of the ads shortly. Personally I hate ads on sites and use blockers. But in generally, I believe they provide a revenue source to many bloggers, software and app developers to earn a livelihood.

What kind of proof of concept?

I wanted to start a magazine – a precursor to Freelance Firestarter (though I didn’t quite know it then). And I was trying all the tricks in the book for revenue generation to see if such abstract content had any buyers. It failed and I found myself writing run of the mill content in order to increase revenue. I decided then to start afresh. The Scalene Triangle will shortly withdraw Ads and will continue in the direction it intended when more like-minded bloggers write in. We already have Christine Futia as a regular columnist. Now retired and pursuing personal and community projects, Christine has enjoyed a diverse career centered around quantitative business analysis, process improvement, project management, and technology applications.

The Scalene Triangle

You’ve mentioned Bruce Lee above. Who are your idols? What inspires you?

I grew up without idols and figureheads but recently Bruce Lee’s philosophy discovered me and its efficiency in action has been impactful. Besides that I have always favored the lone wolf/underdog kind of heroes. The Japanese Samurai and their way of life, Zen Monks, the Greek philosophers and in particular the Spartans too have inspired me. Designers like Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Mau and bloggers like Seth Godin are some of those that come to mind. Kindred spirits like J.D. Bentley make the journey seem less lonely. Then there are people like Charlie Chaplin who will make me laugh when I start to take myself too seriously..

You call yourself an “over the top underdog”. Can you identify yourself with those heroes?

Yes, simply because I can’t keep my mouth shut! What I do identify with many is a common thread of balance and the quest for harmony. For eg. the Samurai were physically adept warriors yet painted fine art and practised calligraphy. In today’s world our education is skewed towards one extreme – either I’m a jock or a geek! Why not both?

How does living in such a huge and diversive region like India or especially Mumbai affect your mind and work?

That just reminded me of my new project – researching the definition of ‘Indian’ Design. Living in India is an orgasmic delight of inspiration – never a dull moment. Life in its every flavor is experienced in this diverse yet united land. I backpacked for 2 years (through the age of 17 to 19) across the length and breadth of India and I do believe I’ve just skimmed the surface. Travel is essential in recharging from the mundane routine of life as we know it. It is a fairy tale escape into the lives of people who are of the same origin, yet worlds apart from ours.

So, India is your major source of inspiration. Are there any minor ones?

Actually though I’m a patriot, I consider myself a global citizen – I’ve travelled all over Southeast Asia and consider Thailand a second home. I love the smiling faces, the simple existence and the exotic fruits! (especially since I turned vegetarian). My martial art is my main source of inspiration and I carry forth the lessons learnt in the arena into the digital playground as a graphic artist.

What are your expectations for the future?

1. Freelance Firestarter – Share and write more
2. Reddy2Go – Work less, play more
3. The Scalene Triangle – Reboot and restart
4. Travel to Austria :)
5. Work on more pro-bono projects (my duty towards my country)
6. Write a book (gonzo style autobiography)
7. Make a movie
8. Live and eat healthy
9. Love more – women ;)
10. Give more interviews? Huahauha

Thank you for the interview!

The 3% Paypal tax doesn’t seem like much but over time it can certainly add up. I don’t see any reason fees should be this high unless someone is charging a credit card. Even in the early days, Paypal had lower fees for payments made out of your account balance. After searching around for a better way to send money to friends, I ran across Revolution Money. With them, there is no fee for a person-to-person transfer. The company was recently purchased by American Express, so you shouldn’t have to worry that your money isn’t safe. If you have a regular client, try offering them a discount to pay through Revolution Money. After all, once it’s setup, it’s as easy to use as Paypal. Then you can start to pocket that 3% instead of helping Paypal fill its bank vault.

If you need to cash out in a hurry, then MoneyPak (also called Greendot) may be the solution. I think the MoneyPak system was designed for parents to send their kids cash at college. It’s nice because you will have access to your funds right away. There’s no charge backs to worry about as you might with Paypal. You’ll have to purchase a MoneyPak prepaid Visa card, and then have your client purchase a MoneyPak reload card. These can be picked up at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar stores. As soon as you enter the code from the reload card onto your prepaid Visa the funds are ready to use or even withdraw from an ATM. This is the closest thing to sending cash over the internet as I have found. Unfortunately, it is a little expensive at $5 for a reload card, but sometimes this may be the best option if you’re in a jam.

Personally, I think it would be great if the webmaster community made a move towards a system like Revolution Money with no fees. There is a lot of money trading hands between designers, developers, advertisers and publishers. If you want to give it a try go ahead and send me $2. Hah!

Wine In A Can

Salt & Pepper Cell

Six Feet Under

Society Tea (concept)

Miniroll Tissue

Pop-up Popcorn (concept)

BrooklynFare

Migros M Classic

Evian 2005 Limited Bottle

Vodka Samurai

TY KU

Milli Shoe Box (concept)

Pause DVD Box

Gelati Sky

Quick Fruit

Black Magic

Sushi To Go Box

Missile Energy Drink

Malibu

Odelia Rapsolje

Heinz Farmers’ Market

Pete Roe CD Album Package

The Last Cigarette

Period

Wild

Paraje de los Bancales

Haircare Xpressions (concept)

Froosh

Help Remedies

Waitrose High Fruit Jams

Double Cross Vodka

Holli Mølle

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Grand Canal

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Business Team

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Red hot chili pepper with smoke

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Young Couple Piggybacking

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The boy observes cultivation

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House

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Happy young woman

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Customer service

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Here are more than 30 great pictures of NYC – apart from common tourist photography.

New York Violet Sunset

Wet New York

Times Square New York Black White and Yellow Taxi Cab

The Golden Hall of Grand Central Terminal

Candlelight III Bar

New York, New York

New York – Manhattan Bridge

Top of the Empire State II

The Empire

New York – West Side Story

Statue of Liberty

Blue York

Broadway

Central Park, NYC

New York, New York

Alone

Builders at the Empire State Building

A Bouquet For You

Bike & Bus

The World Trade Center Site

Sunrise Over New York

42nd Street Canyon

City @ Sunset

New York City at Night

Late Afternoon over the Financial District

Sunset over the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan

Is It The End Of Days?

Rent

Night Fall

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vector colorful abstract illustration

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funny monsters background

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background vector – concert poster

natural vector – summer background

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leaf vector colorful floral illustration with geisha

man vector illustration – warrior emblem

From that one element alone, so many misinterpretations can already be made, because despite the universal meaning of colors, it is still inevitable for different cultures to have different color perception. Further misinterpretations can still happen with other elements such as lines, lay-out, and font, among others. This is something that most designers neglect. Most web designs these days are put up according to trend, and according to the aesthetic sense of the designer, alone. This is usually the start of the downfall of the design, or worse, of the web page itself.  Designing is communicating, and communication is culturally-bound. With this, we have listed these basic steps on how to make culturally appropriate and sell-able designs.

Coordinate with the Client

- Web design and development is the sort of task that truly requires more constant and open communication between the designer and the client. More than the tasks requirements, more important thing that should be communicated well is the design concept and ideals of the client, so not much time is wasted on designing something that is only inappropriate in the end.

Familiarize the Target Audience

-  some designers don’t necessarily have a client to cater to. However, they would have to deal with the public’s perception. Aside from the basic rules in designing, it is also important to know the aesthetic sensibility of the prospected audience. This can be done by researching about the visual communication culture of the particular group who will ideally be the major visitors of the web pages.

Brief Visual Communication Study

– it is not enough for designer to have all the technical skills and creativity. A true creative person is flexible and sensitive enough with the visual needs for various target audience. Visual communication will allow a designer to know the various meanings each design element, when they are put in a certain context or culture.  This is what most advertisers do, and since a website is already considered an essential advertising tool, then it should also be guided by same visual communication concepts.

Visit Competitor’s Site

– this does not imply that we are encouraging you to imitate. In contrast, this should give the designer a clear idea on what has been done, so he or she can avoid redundant design concepts. This is even a good start in coming up with a better design (than that of the competitor’s).

Consult Other’s Opinions – there are so many things that we can’t see with our own perceptions, alone. This is why, in a field of web designing which happens to be a highly visual task, it would be safer if one reliable person’s opinion will be consulted first before the rest of the cyberspace community judges it.

Morocco

Istanbul

Copenhagen

Stockholm

Stonehenge, UK

Moscow

Vienna

Warsaw

About Piotr

Piotr Kulczycki lives in Poznan (west part of Poland), where he work as a web designer. Occasionally he’s also a wedding photographer. Aside from the new technologies he’s interested in photography and travel. He’s trying to merge his passions (photography and webdesign) and as a result you can view his website.

How to enter the contest:

Post a comment: ” Enter me into the Custom Website Design by Capsis Media ” and anything else you wish to add!

The $2500 Value prize:

Capsis Media will construct a custom website design including all inner pages required for the script you want constructed. You will receive all the design files, fully coded with master PSD file (apx $500 value) and will custom code any type of php script you require for your website up to $2,000 value in programming. The application/script will be coded from scratch (no open sources) and you will have complete ownership of the new application/script. With Capsis Media, $2,000 in programming goes a very long way!

Entries will be accepted up until August 2, 2010, a winner will be announced the August 4, 2010.

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