Design is relationships. The better you get at mastering those relationships, the stronger your design will be.

  Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

I grew up with an intense interest in drawing. Once I found out about graphic design in high school, I knew that was for me.

So I studied at BYU and started Struck shortly thereafter with a friend in my class. The rest is history.

  What do you do for inspiration?

I'm a firm believer in finding inspiration outside of the industry so that more unique connections can be discovered.

So I ride my bike. I read the Wall Street Journal. I go to the hardware store. And somehow, my best ideas come in my sleep. Maybe it's the only time that my mind is allowed to wander unfettered.

  Please list 3 of your favourite sites.

This is always a tough one. But here it goes, in terms of progressive flash sites:

Comcastic

Vodafone Futures

And the site I spend way too much time on:

Ebay

  What software couldn't you live without?

I absolutely love synergy classic, it actually does change everything.

I am also a fanatic about transparentDock. Why does Apple put that ugly bar behind the menu anyway?

  What projects do you have in the pipeline?

Unfortunately we have to keep this on the down-low...

  What effect on traffic do your new designs have?

We have had stellar results in that regard on a lot of our site launches here.

We have had several site launches attract over 1M visitors in their first month.

Many of our clients also enjoy increased sales revenues generated by the sites that we design for them.

It is so great to be able to provide that kind of an ROI for your clients. It proves that the best design relationships are truly more like partnerships than client/vendor relationships.

  Who is your target audience?

This changes for each of our clients, but we tend to get clients that are trying to market to generations X and Y.

  What area of web design lacks the most?

It seems that User Interfaces in general can be better thought out, especially among the most frequented sites on the web.

Sometimes sites get more concerned with functionality rather than usability.

  What did your very first site look like? Is it still online?

When I graduated with my degree, I needed a quicker way to show my print work than mailing my book.

I locked myself in a room for two weeks and taught myself flash. Unfortunately it has been pulled down for quite some time.

  What was the toughest thing you ever did with Flash? How long did you spend on it? Is it still online?

As a team, the shaveeverywhere.com site was quite an undertaking.

When mixing new rendering effects and video we got mixed results, so it took a lot of late nights and hair-pulling before we got it figured out. Now we have it down to a science.

  Do you think Flash is here to stay?

As long as they continue to innovate and progress, I don't see why not.

  What are your views on design/graphic school. Do you think someone can get into the field without educational experience in a school environment?

I think that an individual can break into the industry without an education, but a good education will propel someone faster than not.

Here at the studio, most of the team have degrees. And as far as design is concerned, learning how to properly apply the elements and principles

  When your company was just getting started, what did you find was most effective for getting new clients?

For us, the greatest thing we did to generate new business was to include a site credit link on our client's sites.

We are so stoked whenever our clients allow us to do so -- there is no quicker way to get the word out than to do innovative web work and have a site credit on there.

  How have you learned so many Flash/design skills and techniques and can you offer any advice for newbies?

When I was learning, I really relied heavily on resources like flashkit.

Even though a lot of the tutorials are bogus, there are unlimited amounts of source code and users that can help advance your knowledge. I also participated in a local Flash Club ran by a local Flash king, Pete Hawkes.

  What is the most expensive thing you've bought in the last week?

A Bullfrog Hot Tub -- the Rolls Royce of spas.

  What type of overcoat do you wear when Flashing, basically are you a labels man?

If G-Star designed an overcoat, I would rock it without question.

  Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

Design is relationships. The better you get at mastering those relationships, the stronger your design will be.

  It's been a privilege, thanks very much.

No, thank you. I am honored.