Featured Designer #16 - Jon Phillips of SpyreStudios

This article is part of our “Featured Designer” series. Each week we will bring you closer to a top designer. This week we have the pleasure of presenting you Jon Phillips of SpyreStudios.

If you would like to be featured here, visit our Featured Designer Center (link opens in new window) where you will find all the information you will need.

I am … and I do …

Hi, my name’s Jon, I’m a designer and musician from Montreal, Canada. I run a multi-authored design blog at SpyreStudios which also acts as my portfolio.

I got into designing …

I guess you could say I didn’t plan becoming a designer. I’ve always been interested in design and typography for as far back as I can remember. I started learning HTML, CSS, PHP and jQuery about 5-6 years ago and I now design websites for clients as my main business. I did start a couple blogs (FreelanceFolder and Design-Newz) which I have now sold to focus my efforts on SpyreStudios.

I get my inspiration from …

I get a lot of inspiration from online galleries, but also from photography, music and architecture. I think it’s very important to get out there and see the world so traveling is also another great source of inspiration (and essential to recharge the batteries).

In the beginning I promoted myself … . Now I am marketing myself …

Running blogs which had some success definitely helped in getting my name out there. And of course SpyreStudios helps a lot, especially for it being included in the Smashing Network. I also use Twitter quite a lot and having a strong presence on there has been key in putting myself out there and get clients and make friends in the industry.

I’ve never used design contest or crowd-sourcing websites or even advertised my services outside of SpyreStudios really. I think it’s all about networking with the right people and getting your name out there using social networking websites and publishing great and relevant content.

I think the future of design …

Well, more and more people (designers and clients) are realizing that minimalism and providing a great user experience is very important. That’s great! While it’s not a ‘trend’ per se, it’s nice to see more people trying to make user interfaces easier to use and provide good UX.

One thing we’re seeing a lot more these days is the rise of micro-blogging, tumblogging, and ‘mini-updates’. Sites like Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook are definitely great. What doesn’t fit in a tweet you can post on Tumblr, and what requires a full article you can post on your main blog. I think this changes the way we write, publish, share and consume content. And of course website designs have to (or will have to) accommodate for those changes.