There is nothing like the innocence of the beginning, I have been a part of 600 million dollar pitches have won tons of awards and had countless experiences through this business. But I will always remember that first award we won.

  It's been nearly four and a half years since we last interviewed you. Please update us on your bio and what you've been up to.

Todd Purgason is the Creative Director for Juxt Interactive, an interactive agency based in Southern California, specializing in Interactive strategy and interactive design.

Todd has led Juxt in creating innovative work for clients such as Fuse TV, VW, Target, Coke, Sam Adams, DirecTV, Boost Mobile, Xbox, Sony and many others.

Through his leadership JUXT Interactive¹s work has received honors from Cannes Cyber Lions the Clio Awards, One Show, New York Art Directors Club, London International Design Awards, Addy¹s, Communication Arts, How Magazine, Print Magazine, STEP magazine, SXSW, and the Flash Film Festival.

Todd is an international speaker and author on the subject of interactive design. His most notable writing project was the book FLASH deCONSTRUCTION published by New Riders Press.

Todd resides in Dana Point California with his wife Candice, daughters Logan and Chloe and son Stefan. He is a local southern Californian and between all night stints at the office he tries to get to the beach as much as he possibly can.

  How many hours do you work each week?

50-90 there are good weeks and bad weeks as creative director of a boutique agency there is often too much for one person to do. But when we are pitching there is often quite a bit to get done on top of the regular drill. Nature of the business

  How do you relax or unwind?

I swim everyday and I try to surf as much as I can, which is not enough but I get out a few times a month generally.

Also I spend lots of time with my kids either at the beach or involved in their sports activities. I also log in time on my 360 every week.

  Is there a particular moment in your career that stands out?

Well it has been a big rollercoaster there are ups and downs.

There is nothing like the innocence of the beginning, I have been a part of 600 million dollar pitches have won tons of awards and had countless experiences through this business. But I will always remember that first award we won.

We had do a site http://lundstromarch.com, actually it was just me and my business partner back then. It was when the medium was brand new and flash was a new idea and the site was just good.

I knew that but just winning that award and getting the exposure was a thrill. After the first one it is kind of downhill.

Another highlight was after having to shelf design to manage for years I got to jump back in this year designing http://bridge.thegluenetwork.com it was very satisfying.

  In terms of software, is there anything new you have been playing with lately or that has impressed you?

Gears of War on the 360

  How many projects does your company juggle at any one time?

Ha..ha.. Depends on what you call a project. We work with clients like Coke, Boost and DirecTV on an ongoing basis and there are several projects going on for each at different stages.

Sometimes it is fewer big projects sometimes it is a ton of tiny projects so 10-30 projects I would say

  Are there any websites that have shone through as being pioneering in the last 5 years or so?

Wow 5 years that is a hell of a long span of time

I would have to approach this from a culture and service standpoint

Google

MySpace (following friendster)

YouTube

Second Life

Digg

  Has winning FWA awards helped you in any way?

Drives a lot of traffic, the team likes the attention and praise for their work for sure.

  When dealing with major clients, how difficult is it to meet the needs of such wide target audiences?

Well we approach each project with a specific target in mind. There are lots of gears in the machine to make interactive marketing successful.

Thinking if we make a cool website that wins awards is going to make us a success is very naive. There is quite a bit to it and it costs a lot of time and money to do well and right from a marketing strategy stand point.

  Looking 10 years in to the future, how far can websites go?

10 years, wow. I would say that there will be tons of functional apps and tools from the likes of Google.

You will subscribe for all you applications and all your entertainment content. Dvds will be long gone. All content TV to gaming will be downloaded.

The big marketers will do fully immersive experience marketing with interactive akin to console gaming. And then there will be those that can not afford such lavish detail at that level it will be smarter and very finitely targeted marketing.

There will be reality gaming in which you play as a super version of yourself in games. It will be interesting to be sure.

  Of all the websites you/your company have produced, which one are you most proud of?

Ouch!

I think we did an amazing project for Target called up2d8, unfortunately due to some really poor decision making by the client it was dead before it even launched. It was live for a while but never supported.

We did what has to be one of the most complicated flash apps done. The user testing went great users loved it but there were factors at work that were beyond our control.

The team worked so hard did such an amazing job creatively and technically and now the site is down

Here is a link to the overview and just a small piece the desktop designer

http://www.juxtinteractive.com/up2d8/up2d8.html

http://www.juxtinteractive.com/up2d8/designer/

  In the UK, television programmes covering the web are way behind what is really happening in terms of web design and development. Is it the same in your location and why do you think this is?

Ha..ha.. I don't watch any TV

  How do you keep your finger on the pulse of the latest web trends?

Reading articles, magazines conversations with staff and friends in the industry. We have a few clients that are involved in the future of entertainment so we glean from that and from research data.

  What country excites you the most in terms of innovation?

Google, youtube, myspace, the big Mac common you're gonna ask an arrogant American a question like that and your gonna get an arrogant American answer ha..ha..

  There must be a project that you have always dreamed of doing, what is it?

I'm working on the pitch for it right now

Beyond that I think making a documentary film

  How difficult do you find employing the right people in a world where everyone calls themselves a web designer?

It is tough, we are all fighting to get the same people here in the states.

Actually the problem is not the guy on the street calling himself a web designer, the problem is that most of the talent has been lured into gaming and broadcast motion and there is just not a lot of people that are going into interactive design in comparison to the amount of work.

  How do you keep up with the latest capabilities of Flash or do you rely on other members of you team to do this?

Yeah I use flash as a glorified PowerPoint these days. The guys on the team keep up. I'm more about keeping up with trends and innovative uses.

  What would be your ultimate vehicle to travel in?

My 11' Becker board

  Do you have any links to photographs of your offices you could share with us?

Some shots here.

  What does the future hold for your company?

Growth, creativity, change, innovation

  Once again, it's been a privilege. Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you sorry it took so damn long!!!!!!!