June 16, 2009, Blog, Interviews
Gardener of RGB Garden
Rambal, also known as Gardener, is from India and has been involved in graphic and web design for the last eight years. After starting his career as a graphic designer, Gardener is now the Creative Head of an advertising agency and the owner of an array of design sites.
He launched his first CSS and Flash inspiration gallery, RBG Garden, in July 2008. From there he went on to single-handedly launch sites like Vector Valley, a free vector art resource, and Kreative Garden, a creative design blog.
Throughout his career he has launched over fifty websites, designed hundreds of brochures, and developed his own custom website CMS. In the future he plans to continue to design and launch more sites that focus on web and graphic design and inspiration. Check out the Best of RGB Garden to get inspired.
- How long have you operated RGB Garden?
Since July 2008.
- What gave you the idea to start a CSS Gallery?
The evolution of Open Source. Nowadays, there are too many galleries available on the net but there is a big question mark for the quality, individuality, and identity of the showcase. It’s a bit difficult to find a good design and give it proper recognition. Recognition in terms of Webby Awards, The FWA awards and some more are available but these awards are all considering either flash or CSS only. They don’t have a mix of the two mediums. So, I had decided to start my own gallery with a different flavor.
April 24, 2009, Interviews
Doug of Divine CSS
Divine CSS is made up of 4 designers and 3 programmers all based in the UK. We have combined industry experience of 22years. We are aged between 23 – 42. Some of us work for leading web design agencies here in the UK and some own their own web design businesses. We all take part in maintaining Divine CSS and each website that goes through our submission process is assessed by the whole team. The process is not a quick one which is why we always seem to have a huge backlog of submissions!
We look at design, ease of use, innovation, build quality and technology/programming. Also, where applicable we look at the products/features the website offers. Sometimes the website doesn’t make it into our showcase gallery, but we will feature it in our ‘Awesome Finds’ section of the Divine CSS blog.
- How long have you operated Divine CSS?
We launched Divine CSS back in October 2008
- What gave you the idea to start a CSS Gallery?
Well it was by accident really, we were well aware that they existed and had used them on many occasions to promote our own work.
But it was a bit of a let down that in general, some CSS galleries seemed to be showcasing…. well pretty poor websites, seemingly slapping on anything that was submitted. There were only a few of the ‘old school’ showcase sites still keeping a high standard.
CSS Galleries seem to have taken a bit of a side step recently. Websites are being submitted in a hope to gain some traffic and ranking – instead of because of their beautiful designs. And the showcase sites themselves seemingly just trying to make a few bucks from advertising.
So we took it upon ourselves to pull together a team of Designers and Programmers and launched Divine CSS, with the aim to only showcase the best of the best.
PS – Yes we do now offer advertising by only because of demand! :)
- Your site is gaining a lot of popularity. What would you attribute your success to?
Good quality showcases, good quality showcases… oh and good quality showcases.
- What is your favorite part about running Divine CSS?
Quite simply – getting inspiration. Remember we are made up of web designers and programmers, so it’s great to see all these fantastic websites, beautifully designed and utilizing new technology. Everyone can learn something new.
- Do you have any special plans for Divine CSS in the future?
Who knows, for now we just want to keep showcasing great websites. That’s really all DivineCSS is about so we see no need to change that.
- How many hours a day do you work on Divine CSS, and your other projects?
Not as much as we would like to! We do work hard to get submissions seen quickly. I can tell you that on a normal day we have around 50-70 submissions to go through but realistically we tend to actually process around 30 a day, so there is often a small backlog. But all are reviewed and if you are lucky enough to be showcased, we send you an email confirming so.
We encourage our users to subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter, that way they can keep up to date on our submissions.
- Are you working on any other projects?
We are always working on new projects, but nothing to report just now :).
- Is there anyone that you look up to and try to model yourself after?
Anyone involved with the great websites we showcase on Divine CSS!
- If you didn’t know the internet existed, what would you be doing?
I’d be outdoors, getting fresh air!
- What advice would you give a new webmaster setting up their first site?
Oh man that’s a hard one, there are so many areas to cover. I think really it’s got to be research. Know your competition; know what others are doing both in business and design. Make your website easy to use, this is especially important if you are trying to sell something…. Just keep it simple. Also… design for people, not for search engines!
April 16, 2009, Interviews
Mike Archibald
Mike Archibald is the founder of 939 Design in East Yorkshire UK. 939 Design provides clients with a full array of quality web services including web design, graphic design, online marketing and more. Mike is involved in several other projects such as the well known CSS Gallery CSS Design Yorkshire and Web Design List.
- How long have you operated CSS Design Yorkshire?
Since October 2006, so that’s 2 and a half years or there abouts.
- What gave you the idea to start a CSS Gallery?
I just wanted to promote web standards design especially in Yorkshire. Believe it or not there are some very good css designers in Yorkshire. But CSS Yorkshire reviews websites form all over the world and to get in they have to be well designed, well built and validate.
- Your site is gaining a lot of popularity. What would you attribute your success to?
Regular updates, careful SEO, good submissions, Google listing CSS Yorkshire number one for the phrase “CSS Web Design” helps.
- What is your favorite part about running CSS Design Yorkshire?
I get to review hundreds and hundreds of websites, I guess it keeps my finger on the pulse of what’s going on and what’s new.
- Do you have any special plans for CSS Design Yorkshire in the future?
Lots, but it’s getting the time!
- How many hours a day do you work on CSS Design Yorkshire, and your other projects?
CSS Yorkshire, about 1 hour a day.
- Are you working on any other projects?
Lots – I’ve got to eat!
- Is there anyone that you look up to and try to model yourself after?
There are a lot of great web designers out there too many to mention here.
- If you didn’t know the internet existed, what would you be doing?
Snowboarding.
- What advice would you give a new webmaster setting up their first site?
Work hard and love what you do – even if people call you obsessive or nerdy.
