Interview: SpyreStudios
I cam across SpyreStudios the other day and was impressed with their Wordpress customisation and web design portfolio so caught up with Jon Phillips to find out more about the company and his experiences:
Jon, Tell us a little about yourself and how Spry Studios came to be:
I’m a web-designer from Montreal Canada. I launched SpyreStudios in 2007 after running a couple other blogs (freelancefolder.com for example – which I have now sold) I’ve been designing websites for many years now and needed a place to showcase my work so I started SpyreStudios.com as a simple portfolio site and later changed the focus of the site to add a blog and put more energy in writing articles and tutorials. The experience has been awesome so far.
How do you work? From a messy desk in your bedroom covered in post-it notes – or a zen rented office suite?
I work from home, I don’t rent a space or anything but I have a room with my desk and everything I need to work. My desk can become pretty messy if I’m in a creative process but I try to keep things clean and organized, I’m really big on minimalism and keeping things simple.
Mac or PC?
Mac definitely 
What one colour or font do you think are too heavily overused currently in the design industry and why?
Well, with so many designs out there I don’t think a color or typeface is really overused. Some may see Helvetica as the most overused typeface ever, but if it fits a project I don’t mind using it. I think some styles are becoming overused though (combinations of colors, effects, typefaces, etc…) like the ‘Web 2.0′ glossy trend that’s almost dead now. I’d tend to say that grungy designs are the current trend, which in my opinion is a good thing.
What is your favourite project you have worked on so far? And why?
I think I would have to say one of my favorite projects has been SpyreStudios, simply because it’s my own site and I can experiment and share with others. Another project I had tons of fun working on was FreelanceFolder. I’m currently working on a new design site with Mason Hipp (the current owner of FreelanceFolder) which I’m pretty sure will be an awesome experience.
Why Wordpress? What led you to believe this was the right ‘weapon of choice’ over other offerings such as Drupal or Joomla?
Why WordPress? Because it’s extremely flexible and easy to use. And also because there’s a huge community of designers and developers ready to help, support from the community is great! WordPress can be used not only to run a blog, even though WP is best known for its blogging capabilities, I use it to create static websites for clients and other types of sites (job boards, ecommerce, etc…)
Do you think social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are the advertising tool of the future? Will they replace traditional media?
I don’t think Facebook and Twitter will replace traditional media but rather complement it. Of course newspapers and the print media industry is slowly dying. We’ve seen a lot of print magazines go exclusively online in the last year but since everyone can open a Facebook or Twitter account, the information that is shared over these networks can’t always be considered reliable. I think there will be some kind of shift or merge between traditional media, online magazines and social networks, especially with the rise of life-streaming and blogging in recent years.
What one mistake have you made in your career that could have been avoided – and how would you advise designers new to the industry how to avoid it?
Always under-promise and over-deliver. If you know a project is going to take 4 weeks to complete, tell your client it’s going to take 5 weeks and try to deliver in 3. In the past I’ve made the mistake of setting really strict deadlines and sometimes had to ask for an extension, it’s not fun to do and you and your client usually lose money. It’s always better to budget, stick to your schedule and give yourself some room to breathe.
Finally – Where can we find you online?
You can find me on SpyreStudios (http://spyrestudios.com) or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/jophillips) mostly, or via Design-Newz (http://design-newz.com) which is my other design website.
Here are just a few examples of Jon’s work from his portfolio:
