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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.

Featured Designer Jon Phillips - Portfolio Image 2

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.

3 websites I couldn’t live without …

I would have started with Google, but that’s maybe a little too obvious. So, I would say SmashingMagazine, Delicious and Twitter

You can find me …

You can find me at SpyreStudios and also on Twitter, Facebook, Delicious and Flickr, and you can follow SpyreStudios on Twitter and Facebook.

Some of my designs …

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Written by CrazyLeaf Editorial

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