I personally always like to impress my peers with new ideas and things that they might value, since that's the type of stuff that I am looking for when I look at flash sites.

Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

I am a web / information designer born and raised in Ramat-Gun, Israel, 1976; I currently reside in Brooklyn, NYC.

I got involved at a very early age in the advertising industry working for agencies such as BBDO, McCann Ericson, developing corporate identities and advertising campaigns.

After 8 years in that arena I managed to learn a lot about the definition of style and concept, but at the same time became fascinated with approaching data in a more dynamic form and the new ways that web technology enabled the integration of design with interactivity.

Around 3 years ago I started experimenting with flash and managed to get involved with some really exciting projects.

Recently, I had a chance to work with the firstborn team on the new Microsoft site.

What do you do for inspiration?

I consider almost everything to be inspiration, from listening to music to taking the subway, I get inspiration from shapes, colors, compositions and almost anything on my way.

Being in NY gives you access to many different levels of culture, art, people from different places, which really effects the way that you relate to things.

Please list 3 of your favourite sites.

theFWA

google

osflash

What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

Having the ability to learn new things, get excited and challenged from work on a daily basis.

What software couldn't you live without?

During recent years the combination of soulseek and itune seems to be very useful on my computer. I also like flashdevelop a lot - it really changed the way that I write code.

What projects do you have in the pipeline?

Right now I am finishing a new site for Adidas, new photographer portfolio, and as usual a lot of experimentation with the new stuff out there [as3, flex, Apollo]

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

There are so many great studios, designers and developers out there, quite challenging to choose only 3.

group94 - they always have the best approach of how to glorify the content of each of their sites.

tha ltd - can't imagine what's harder, to come up with their ideas, or to communicate and sell them to their clients.

grupow - I wish that I had more of the vision that they put in their sites, such a different look at things.

What effect on traffic do your new designs have?

I would like to think of web design as more then just a way to promote a brand or a company but also a way to engage different cultural or even political awareness with the site audience, and this is a place where design - concept of a site can become a crucial part of the interface and the user experience.

In many ways design is creating a bridge for people to relate to the content on an abstract level and have them feel more comfortable with the different ideas around them. It is almost like an education system that is based on implementing different cultural ideas as a goal to establish understating between people.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone I guess. It has a lot to do with the client's needs and the type of site that I am designing.

I personally always like to impress my peers with new ideas and things that they might value, since that's the type of stuff that I am looking for when I look at flash sites.

What area of web design lacks the most?

I think that the understanding of the medium is quite subjective at this point and the "lacks" are much more industry related.

In the design - brand level I think that it would be interesting to see the choices of agencies to translate the cinematic / emotional visual needs that comes from the advertising world into an interactive - communal experience, that is able to grow and function under web standards.

In most cases that is an inner agency challenge.

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

I probably had between 3-5 different portfolio sites before I even understood what a website is at some point. I took all of them down.

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

Not yet, I am playing with a few ideas.

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

As a designer I like to limit the technical challenges as much as I can even on the story board phase.

While planning the architecture of the site I like to simplify everything into simple tasks, even the more complex stuff becomes much easier to figure out.

Deadlines can be quite challenging, I like to build sites out of a lot of experimentation in order to produce the best functionality and ideas out of it. Sometimes the time given can transform the process into problem solving race.

Do you think Flash is here to stay?

It would be here for a while, but probably in a different format. In the same way that our online experience would be very different most likely. it is very exciting to see the new possibilities that platform like Flex and Apollo has to offer.

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

Schools can be useful to introduce you to certain aspects of the industry.

I never had a chance to get any formal design education, and I can definitely see the advantage and disadvantages in it.

I think that design schools can give you much better awareness of concept/style as well as a strong way to communicate about it and create a strong network, though in the end there is no replacement for hard work, love and enthusiasm for the product and the medium in order to get any client or agency inspired from your work.

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

The uncompromising quality of the work combined with continuing marketing effort is an efficient tool, both for new and mature businesses.

The trick is to choose the right clients that would enable the growth in the desired way.

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

I believe that there are no shortcuts here. I used to spend many hours in forms, mailing lists, blogs, books, reading other people's code, and experimenting with stuff.

Whenever I see something new I would try to understand how it's done. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to work as a single designer – developer at a small company for a while.

I knew very little then and had to provide both front and back end answers for the clients needs, so there was no other way then just learning and getting it done.

Also it is quite amazing to see the way that the flash community is evolving the continuation of the medium, people are willing to help and share their knowledge, this aesthetic is more then just a way to learn new stuff or solve problems but also a great way to contribute.

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

A bottle of St Emilion Grand Cru 2001.

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

My socks collection is very developed and includes many big names from Hugo Boss to Prada.

Besides that I keep everything else quite simple and clean. In the same way that appies to a website I think, the more abstract you are, the more options that you would have.

Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

If you've got no umbrella don't stand in the rain.

It's been a privilege, thanks very much.

Thank you, I am honored.