He describes his interests of design and art from:

“Always loved anything to do with art and I was always seen drawing cartoons at a young age.”

Check him on Flickr Here

Check him on DeviantART Here

Check him on Behance Here

Find his Personal site on Tumblr Here

1.  You have a varied educational background, what was your first taste of art & design when growing up in education, what (and where) first lead you to study art & design?

Living in Jamaica I began drawing at a young age coming home from school drawing anime such as Dragonball-z I loved that show. I did a art in high school but it did not work out because of the teacher and the school I guess I wasn’t inspired by my surrounding. It wasn’t until I left school in 2007 that i found out about Photoshop and began to experiment with it trying out new stuff and teaching myself various techniques. During that time I also did cape art and design in which I got a grade one (1)  for some creative work in also 3d design and sculpting.

2.  You have many accounts on various design and social networking sites, which do you find most useful and why?

Well right now I would say Behance because a lot of creative directors and freelance designers are there, that give great feedback and sometimes tell others about your work

3.  Which communities (such as twitter) have you turned to when you need advice or feedback on designs, do you turn to particular people for this feedback? Are there any people you have built up a relationship which you would recommend?

Well I recently been chatting with Kevin Williams on DA where he is known as Methodologi.
He lives here in Jamaica and has given me some good advice, his work is amazing and some time in the future I hope to be as professional as he is in his work.

4.  What has been the worse experience since being a working designer?

I’d have to say working on my Myspace learning to read css and flash. Another experience is dealing with cheap clients I know everyone has one of them.

5.  If you had a closed client book and an indefinite amount of time for vacation or free time, what would you spend this time doing? Is there anything you have a great ambition to do in the future?

Well i would definitely go play football that’s all I did before I started to do graphic design probably tryout for Manchester United. But in the future I hope to have my own studio and be that go to guy that everyone wants to do there graphic and promotional work

Which is your favourite piece of Kareem’s work? Do you like his style? What other artists inspire you?

You may be interested in the following Interviews and related articles as well:

Inside the Mind of An Expert: Karen Mcdade – Freelance Online and Print Media Designer

Designers In Profile: Jared Nickerson

Please Leave Your Comments Below

Article written by Jared Thompson

Head writer of Design Something Blog, currently studying Product design at the University of Central Lancashire in his final year. He has interest in minimal, clean and simplistic design styles.

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

Visit Karen McDade’s Website Here

Find her DeviantART Profile Here

Follow Karen McDade On Twitter

You may be interested in the following Interviews and related articles as well:

Interview With Creator of Nymphont!

Interview With Creator of FudgeGraphics!

Recently i got the chance to exchange a few messages with Karen Mcdade and I hope you enjoy her responses, please don’t forget to comment at the bottom of this article.

1. What did you study at university/college and was there a specific reason you chose to study these areas?
I studied Communications Science and English as majors, as well as Philosophy and Psychology as minors at the University of South Africa. I was also fortunate enough to get a scholarship to study Communication Science and Philosophy at Charles University in Prague. My initial interest was in the advertising aspect of Communication Science and that slowly migrated to more of the design aspect of advertising. I now work exclusively in the graphic arts field. I had been learning to use Photoshop even before I started studying and for the most part, I’m an entirely self-taught graphic designer.

2. You have a great educational background and nine years of design experience behind you, has there been a situation in your learning (and working) which has made you step back and think this is something which I am going to remember for the rest of my life?
I remember being so excited the first time I saw one of my designs published in an established graphic arts magazine. That would be a moment I remember fondly.

3. Is there a particular piece of work or group of design works, which really made you, think id love to do what that person can do?
I occasionally see amazing art where I think to myself, “wow, I wish I had thought of that”. I try not to get too focused on any particular artist or style of art as I want to try focus on developing my own style. I think it’s important for artists to try hone their own artistic form so they can distinguish themselves from the masses of other designers out there.

4. You cite Deviantart as your favorite online community to showcase your work, what makes Deviantart stand out the most for you?
I like the ease of communicating with other artists in DeviantART and it’s a great platform for getting honest feedback about your work. The community is very engaging, much more so than some other portfolio sites out there.

5. What has been the worst experience in the design industry for you?
Not getting paid! lol, I’m a freelancer – it happens. I’ve also had my art ripped off and sold without my consent. Luckily neither of these two happens too often. I’ve also had my share of difficult clients and times where I’ve had creative blocks but that comes with the territory, so I can’t complain.

6. You have also had the privilege to work with big name companies such as National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. How did these great jobs come about? Did you have one, which you think has been the most beneficial for you?
I get a lot of work through my website and one day I got an email from my site asking if I was interested in doing this kind of work. Having well-known brands can go along way to establishing your credibility as a designer, and especially as a freelancer. It’s good work if you can get it

7. What software/hardware do you use the most as a designer and do you have a particular favorite, which can find you spend hours on end working with?
I use the standard Adobe packages, most notably Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. My hardware set up consists of an iMac connected to a MacBook Pro and a Cintiq. I can spend hours doodling around in Photoshop on the Cintiq – it’s such a natural and intuitive tool for creating designs.

8. Do you think you can ever truly switch off as a designer, or do you find yourself thinking of the next idea all the time?
Hmmm…. well I think it’s good if you can switch off as a designer and give your brain a break. Whether that actually happens or not is another story. I can be arbitrarily standing in a queue in a shopping centre, staring at magazine covers – not necessarily reading the text, but trying to suss out how well the retoucher managed to retain the textures on the models skin. I also carry a small cybershot camera around with me in case I spot a great texture somewhere, or see a clever design I want to remember. That said, I think it’s good if you have other interests and hobbies. Diversifying yourself can only make you a more original artist.

9. Which people in the social media community (such as twitter) do you find the most useful and great points of reference when in need of inspiration or to source an opinion from?
I have lots of great contacts on Twitter who are full of useful information. A few of my favorites are @robertoblake @Designely @DavidCousens @JThompsondesign @designblend @FeryKloucek @TipSquirrel @Minervity @An1ken and @designthatrocks… I can go on, but we’ll be here all day.

10. If you had no clients to please and no work in your to-do pile, what would you do with all that free time?
I would work anyway. I like working. I would do free designs for charities and small start-ups that need corporate ID’s but couldn’t really afford it. I would also create cool-looking graphics for my fiancé – he’s a programmer and creates awesome games in his spare time. His latest project is an open source online MMO-style pseudo-hacking game ([link]). That one is going to be fun to design.

It’s been brilliant to get a response from such a great artist as Karen McDade, I have been a fan of her work for a while now. No doubt I will continue to be so in the future and would like to thank her immensely for her time and input. Especially under such a large workload and other problems!

Thanks Karen, hope everyone has enjoyed this interview.

Don’t Forget To Leave Your comments below!

Article written by Jared Thompson

Head writer of Design Something Blog, currently studying Product design at the University of Central Lancashire in his final year. He has interest in minimal, clean and simplistic design styles.

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!

Check out his Design Portfolio here!

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Interview of Lauren Thompson, type designer and creator of the blog Nymphont, interview by Dan Kern. One of the world wide web’s up-and-coming design stars is paving her own path through the challenging landscape of type. Typography is one of the most sacred of the old media design disciplines.

Lauren Thompson runs a site called Nymphont, which she uses to educate, enlighten, and guide its readers through the world of type and related design. I interviewed Lauren Thompson through a series of emails during August and September, 2009.

Hi Lauren!
Hi, why thank you for they lovely introduction. I am so glad it is socially acceptable on the web to be a geek. Nymphont is a wonderful outlet for me to create and share, and has been more fulfilling and beneficial in ways than I had expected.

What, or who, got you started in design?
Well, since childhood I have always been an ‘artist’, I guess you could say. Passionate about the art within any project I was to work on, and about the various art forms I would try.

Art was always where I excelled and I enjoyed it, but I also accepted at a young age that this was a fine hobby, but not what I should pursuit as a career.

To this day, I am really at a loss as to what that might be. Although I’d love to see a future where I could work to prevent children from being preyed upon. I’d be able to put aside my passion for art for that. But that’s as realistic and as far I went with most of my attempts in seeking a future outside the arts.

My start in designing for the web, graphic or otherwise, might not have been had it not been for my polar opposite younger brother. The young computer enthusiast, kind enough to show me this Internet that I was all the rage. I had heard of it of course but as a ‘non-conformist’ I had an immediate disdain for anything ‘mainstream’.

To the ‘delight’ of my parents I began my non-conforming in about the sixth or seventh grade by dying my hair black and refusing to wear anything that wasn’t black. It was during this time when my brother was to show and explain to me the Internet, in his way, which I understood and was fascinated by.

I was proficient with the basic use of computers but it wasn’t until viewing the Internet with my computer enthusiast younger brother and his insights about it that I became passionate about designing for the ‘screen’.

Shortly after my introduction to the web it occurred to me that I had to have a website of my own.

There may have been geocities, but back then it was not at all like it is now. You really had to search for any information about creating websites. HTMLgoodies.com was the best “tutorial” site in existence, I have watched it change tremendously over time. Today I hear no one even mention the site.

I began making personal sites for myself and others, I made fan sites because I needed something to make a site about. I had a successful “Linkware Graphics” site when those were in fashion as well.

I made so many sites for myself in the first several years I know I cannot recall the majority of them. The Internet Archive has thankfully stored a few relics from my web design past.

I taught myself HTML and CSS, and have been able to grow up with it and watch much of it become written or “erased.” I do write code in Notepad, but I guess that’s because I am old-school. I am sure there is an excellent editor available today, but my past experience with them when they were a new concept, was that they couldn’t handle most code or would mess it up so you had to re-do a lot of the HTML by hand anyway. Using Notepad just saved me the trouble and time.

Another remnant from my old-school web roots; I still use Yahoo! for my email. I have grown to accept or maybe even like Google, but I still despise MSN.

I continue to do freelance design work, though have taken a few “hiatuses” from the world wide web. With my most recent design project in early 2008 I launched the blog, “Nymphont” and began ‘experimenting with digital type’, something I had always wanted to do.

Speaking of your site, nymphont.blogspot.com offers a lot of your work for download, for free, for people to use personally. Tell us what motivates you to share your work like that.

I think the main reason and motivation for me to create is that I like to make things to share with others. But I also like to think they might find them useful.

That is the fun part. I just enjoy being a part of the whole culture of the web and the design community.

Seeing something I have created being put to use by others is very gratifying, of course, as is receiving feedback or ‘recognition’ from my design “peers.”

I just enjoy it very much. At the present most of the resources I provide are utilized by fellow designers, and the like, who, in general, are very respectful of my terms. I am happy that my resource was chosen for their specific need.

Nice. Do you have a favourite colour pallet? Are there certain colours or shapes you’re drawn to when you design?
Oh I have many favorite color palettes! My current obsession seems to be the color scheme I use on my blog, which consists of light and dark shades of grey, and a shade of ‘deep pink’. I find myself drawn to other websites that share this color combination. I do try hard to avoid using pink, but to no avail!

Right now this is the main color scheme I have been using successfully in my own designs.

I am absolutely smitten with Herb Lubalin’s typography, particularly his typeface Avant Garde. I think it’s quite lovely and use it in practically anything!

I also love damask prints, and the popular styles of them; heavy contrasting colors like white and black, or chocolate and a pale green.

I try to avoid the whole ‘shiny web 2.0′ look even though it’s sometimes done nicely. Maybe since I just returned to the web last year I missed the excitement of trend.

I like using borders and backgrounds to create unique link effects, and I really like using dashed borders. I like squared edges as opposed to rounded also in web design.

I like ‘grunge’ designs and textures as well, when I design I really have to work hard on not trying to use too much.

Design-wise, what turns you on? Do you have a muse? Where do you look for inspiration?
The typographic art of Herb Lubalin inspires me like *nothing else. I don’t know what it is exactly about his work, but it still manages to inspire, to capture something, and remain so valid, unmatched and unchallenged even now thirty years or so after it’s creation.

It might sound silly, but looking at pieces of his art or *pieces that feature work by him, is really a pleasurable experience. It’s almost subconscious.

Typography and typographic art is quite a common interest at the present, and rightly so as *written language is entirely human, it is something that we all relate to. I myself have been fond of ‘letters’, and words, since a time when I thought such a thing was an odd characteristic for one to have. I wasn’t even aware of, nor did I consider the concept of, their being a name for this. I just knew that I enjoyed looking at and creating letters, words, or phrases. It is one thing that I am truly passionate about, and get excited about; typography.

So it was only natural that I begin to design fonts I suppose.

I am also moved creatively by pain, tragedy, and of course by love.

It’s always fun to learn what a designer you admire uses to create their work. A favourite pen. A favourite program. Designers, by nature, all seem to harbour an inner geek. So, with that in mind, describe for us your ‘kit’, digital and/or analog, what do you use to make things?
I have been focusing on strictly digital art for quite some time now, but my favorite design tools ever, would have to be,
-a mechanical pencil
-and some blank sheets of paper.

Mechanical pencils are highly underrated, whenever drawing by hand, they are my first choice. They are the aluminum baseball bat of writing utensils.

I enjoy creating illustrations (in the physical) more than I enjoy creating illustrations digitally, but I work almost exclusively in the digital realm right now.

On a daily basis I use Adobe PhotoShop, FontCreator, and Notepad,(which I use for writing code, start to finish).

I don’t mind using Notepad for all of my coding either. By separating style from content with a Cascading Style Sheet, and avoiding old mark-up, coding is simplified and streamlined. It doesn’t seem all that impractical any more, really.

Of those three design tools, I have the most sentiment for FontCreator. My results have always been positive with the ‘underdog’ program. I am certainly not especially well known or established as a designer, but the recognition I do have right now, begins with and still centers on, the fonts I have made. All of which, were made using FontCreator.

I really hate to admit this because it seems ungrateful, but right now I do lust for newer, better software. I do not have any design tool that in itself inspires me or that I find ‘particularly’ enjoyable.

Lauren, it’s been great talking with you about design. And thank you so much for sharing with us. One final question: What advice would you give anyone who’s just starting and is interested in a career in design?
My advice to those just starting a career in design, or interested in doing so, would be firstly, to only pursuit a career in design if they do have a passion for it. If they have the desire to design, a sincere interest in it and it is enjoyable to them, then they should have more success than those who do not.

And then, like a good doctor, stay informed about the field of design your in, and up to date. Regarding web design or digital design this is especially important, if you do not stay current in your methods the chances are you will not have much success in the industry. Within my own design projects, I never want some portion of what I make able to be improved upon by someone else, and I always try to provide more than I am required to and above what’s expected myself.

Thank you so much, I’ve enjoyed talking with you as well.

About Lauren:
Lauren Thompson creates digital typefaces and is a freelance web and graphic designer, blogger. Created the blog Nymphont in February of 2009 to share her original font designs and downloads, which has evolved into a digital playground of sorts, where she shares her blogging experiences and digital creations and inspiration as well.
Visit her blog Nymphont | Follow on Twitter @nymphont

About Dan Kern:
From his website: “Dan Kern is a Canadian born writer and media practitioner. His career spans clear across the twin worlds of media and entertainment and includes radio, television, film, theatre, web, live & studio production.”

Lauren says: “He is a truly gifted writer and with all things communicative, he’s one of a kind; the kind you are glad to have as friend. I cannot emphasize enough how truly talented he is at what he does. Chatting with him is always a pleasure.Thanks again Dan for the interview, it was quite an honor and a lot of fun.”
Visit His Website | Follow on Twitter @obsrvationalist

1. I was amazed to learn that the design blog is only 17 months old, what was the first mission statement to yourself when beginning your blog? Did you have a definite goal you wanted to achieve when setting the blog up?

I did not have a mission plan or goal when I started the blog. It was a personal experiment to see whether I could do it. I wanted a challenge and an outlet for my creativity. Creating the blog was a very impulsive decision, which I have never regretted.

2. What did you study at university/college and was there a specific reason you chose to study these areas?

I’ve just graduated with a Masters in Physics from University College London. I was always good at mathematics, but wanted to study a more practical subject. Physics seemed like the perfect choice. I always compare the relation between physics and mathematics to the relation between art and graphic design. Furthermore I knew that a physics degree would give me plenty of career options (even though design wasn’t one of them.)

3. Where did fudge graphics as a brand name come from? Or does it stem from your love of chocolate cereals?

I wanted to come up with a brand name starting with ‘F’ to tie in with my name. That was the only premise. It was essentially the saying “what the fudge?” which made me choose the name. A quick Google search later I discovered that Fudgegraphics was still up for grabs and so I simply registered the name. I would love to have a great story about how I love chocolate fudge (which I do) and that it is the reason behind the name, but it’s not. It was just a random name I came up with and loved instantly.

4. Having previously resided in Luxembourg was it a conscious decision to move to London for graphic design work? Or was the move more personally motivated?

I moved to London for university. At the time I had no idea that I would pursue a design career later on. I’ve just always loved the city and hence applied to London-based universities. Now that I’ve graduated I can say that I’ll stay in London due to design. The city inspires me and I got most of my clients based in the capital. I know that Luxembourg can’t offer me any of it.

5. Has the move to the UK been positive? Or are there some horror stories about living in the nation’s capital?

It’s been very positive. Although 2 years ago my flat got broken into and they stole my laptop I feel very safe here. The people are incredible and I particularly love the vibrant live music scene. I can only speak for myself, but I felt at home right away. The city is very open-minded.

6. You say you like Indie music how wide is your music taste and does this music inspire you when designing work for clients? Is there a particular band/style of music you love to listen to when designing?

Music plays a major role in my design process. As soon as I start up my computer I open iTunes. I often design for bands so it helps to listen to their music while working on their projects. It allows me to grasp the essence of the job. While working on other projects I like listening to folk and Indie rock. Lately I’ve been listening a lot to Jose Gonzalez, Iron & Wine and Damien Rice.

7. How much of a role does blogging take in your average working week, is there a specific time of day/week that you set aside to work online? Or do you just play it as it goes?

I don’t have a specific blogging schedule. Whenever I come up with a new idea for an article I’ll write it down in my moleskin immediately and work on it as soon as I find time. The time spent on the blog varies depending on my workload and inspiration.

8. You signal in your bio; Scott Hansen and James White as your two favorite artists of all time, was there a particular piece of work or group of works which really turned you onto design and decided to study and eventually make it your career?

I love every single piece of design by these two artists and discover so many outstanding designers while researching new featured artists for the blog that it is impossible to pick a specific piece as turning point. Everything just added up and gradually I fell in love with design.

9. With such a successful site, do you have other people, which help you in its day-to-day workings? Or do you undertake most of the work yourself?

No I don’t. Fudge graphics is entirely run and managed by myself. Except for Alec Schmidt who has written a couple of guest articles including the very first tutorial published on the blog. By taking control of everything, including the areas I had no experience in, I gained invaluable knowledge. Sure it took longer to get the WordPress theme up and running, but it helped broaden my design and development skills.

10. What software do you use the most as a designer and do you have a particular favorite, which can find you spend hours on end working with?

That would be Photoshop and Illustrator. Many of my designs start of in AI as simple geometric shapes. Once the main layout of the piece is done everything is imported into Photoshop where I tweak the colours and add textures to give it a more organic look. Apart from the Adobe Suite I am a big fan of Billings, which lets you track your time and send invoices. Last but not least I use iTunes every day. Music and design go hand in hand for me.

11. What would you do on your vacation time, if there was no list client to complete work for and a free calendar was all you could see?

In that case I would travel. I didn’t have a real holiday for some time, just lying on the beach and enjoying myself. Also many of my friends are spread all across Europe due to university so I would go visit them.

Fudgegraphics is Franz Jeitz, who is from Luxembourg and is currently located in London where he work’s as a freelance graphic designer. Fudgegraphics was born in April 2008 and can be described as a design inspirational blog. It is a source of freebies such as photoshop brushes, textures and vectors.

Visit FudgeGraphics Here

Follow FudgeGraphics On Twitter

Article written by Jared Thompson

Follow Jared (@Jthompsondesign) on twitter!