We could do with a more balanced situation of form and functionality--it appears that most websites either look good but work bad or look bad but work good.

  Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

I appear to be an independent designer, exclusively producing cross-media information and entertainment projects for post-ideological non-partisan, forward thinking terrestrials.

I'm interested in environments that facilitate the sharing of knowledge and inspiration in the interactive space and the migration of global consciousness into the digital domain.

  What do you do for inspiration?

I'm inspired by other people--briefly experiencing the world through someone else's eyes.

Radically shifting perspective this way seems to be one of the most important drivers of my creative process (some people call this "vicariously defamiliarizing onself").

Other important inspirations are music and nature.

  Please list 3 of your favorite sites.

The nature of the Web seems to be so that no site can stay 'favorite' for longer than a couple of weeks, so this month's randomly picked favorites would include ubu.com, yugop.com, pingmag.jp.

  What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

Having maintained (most of the time) an attitude that is exclusively about adding value through design in digital media without being compromised or influenced by status-, style-, or financial considerations.

  What software couldn't you live without?

Mac OS

  What projects do you have in the pipeline?

Too many! In general I try to stay away from projects that are too blatantly related to advertising and I try to work exclusively on things that add value.

My current project--Space Collective--is a collaboration with Dutch filmmaker Rene Daalder. It is a project that attempts to use the Internet to improve the species by providing participants with a new way of looking at themselves.

The project aims to fuse the linear and the non-linear experiences within the interactive medium, and features among others a docu-sci-fi feature film and a collaborative online initiative.

  Who do you rate as being the top 3 design companies?

Difficult one for the same reasons as the Favorite Sites-question, so again--3 random favorites of the moment: 37signals, dbrain.co.jp, universaleverything.com.

  Who is your target audience?

Each project has a unique audience to be targeted, and I work with an audience in mind that is intelligent, aware and savvy.

  What area of web design lacks the most?

We could do with a more balanced situation of form and functionality--it appears that most websites either look good but work bad or look bad but work good.

A very small percentage of websites manages to bring the two together.

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

It's long gone unfortunately--a Shockwave-powered, frames-driven, non-dynamic mechanism that no browser today would even consider displaying properly I'm afraid.

  Have you written any books, if not do you plan to?

Although I'm interested in reading certain books, I'm not really interested in writing them, because they are so 'final'.

The great thing about the nature of the Internet is that (ideally) everything is a work in progress, continually updated to reflect the latest situation.

Books to me are a somewhat arrogant medium, pretending to have the final word on a subject--the be all and end all.

If I could write a book that was to be distributed chapter by chapter and people could subscribe to these using micro-payments I would be into it.

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

Definitely. I think that the main ingredient needed to be successful in any field is talent.

Combine that with ambition, persistence and excitement, and the rest will follow.

A good thing about the academic environment is the exposure to a broad range of minds and ideas, as well as a more theoretical approach to things before being forced into specifics, deadlines and budgets.

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

1 happy client brings back 2 new ones who, when happy too, bring you 4, and so on. Your work is your advertisement.

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

I know very little but can do a lot with the help of other people.

Basically everything I know comes from working on projects with developers and designers.

It's good to have a broad understanding of the capacities and capabilities of the medium and various software applications, while at the same time it's always better for your ideas to develop completely independently of the software that produces them.

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

A flight from LAX to AMS.

  Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

A great quote from Kevin Kelly I read last week: "There is only one time in the history of each planet when its inhabitants first wire up its innumerable parts to make one large Machine… You and I are alive at this moment."

  It's been a privilege, thanks very much.

No no. Thank you.