Ste Johnson is a freelance graphic designer from Liverpool. Describing himself as a worrier, hopeful and smiley type person - Ste studied Multimedia at university and now spends most of his time designing websites. He's had a fascinating career so far. We caught up with Ste to see what he's currently up to...
Describe yourself in three words…
Worrier, Hopeful, Smiley
Tell us about your background…
I’ve always enjoyed drawing and so my early aspiration was to be a comic book illustrator but I never really pursued it and eventually turned to another subject which gave me immense enjoyment and pleasure - design – any kind of design but particularly design for the web.
I left university in 2003 having achieved a BA Honours degree in Multimedia – a course predominately ideas based so the rigours of the creative industry where not something I had any experience or knowledge of. Subsequently I found myself in a few different types of agencies trying to find my feet and direction but I feel I had to go through that learning experience in order to develop the knowledge I have gained to further educate myself and hone my skills to succeed in the industry. That said, I still have lots to learn and relish that learning journey – as Adrian Shaughnessy says “the true purpose of education is to learn how to learn”.
Tell us about what you do!
Graphic design is my love, specifically design for the web I love working on websites that (hopefully) mix good usability with eye catching effective design. I do have experience of coding which I believe important to any web designer but the design and ideas stage is the part I enjoy the most. I also think I’m at my best coming up with design ideas.
At the moment I’m working on front end design work for Bars, Boutiques and Campsites. I’m also starting to write a blog with a friend. We’re looking to find a voice we’re happy with before we promote the blog more but it’s really good putting our thoughts and ideas into subjects and topics we enjoy. I find it’s helping me with putting my point across and take in more than one point of view.
Who or what inspires you?
Good clean and witty design.
At the moment I’m really enjoying the work of Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy. I went to a talk by them recently in Manchester about their “uniteditions” project – I love the work done by Tonys’ company, Spin, it’s really quite inspirational and got a real crisp high quality feel. I also loved hearing about his passion for books and typography - it was really infectious.
Darren Firth from Made by Six used to be my favourite designer but, for me, he’s been knocked of his perch by Ken Leung, now of Modern Publicity (he was Art Director of Monocle) – he’s done some beautiful design work that I can just lose myself in, so clean and lovely. I have a friend also – he is a big inspiration to me – he helps to keep my focus when needed and does some top design.
I also have three sites that I must visit regularly Graphic Exchange September Industry Site Inspire. These sites are full of great stuff – especially Graphic Exchange which features work from many sources worldwide and whereas on some sites you see the same thing being re-profiled, Graphic Exchange will always have someone or something I haven’t seen before.
What has been your proudest moment so far?
There are two - being asked to do this profile interview and getting a site on Site Inspire.
And your greatest project?
Again two. This time between Clever-craft (an arts and craft site) - because the concept just came out right the clients loved it, and it earned little bit of fame (it got a mention in Site Inspire and Smashing magazine) and a site I did with a friend for a photographer called Mike Stocker – because we we’re friends with the client he gave us free reign with our design technique and the project is really good to work on.
What do you hope to be doing in five years time?
Hopefully still designing, I enjoy it so much, the buzz of working and talking about ideas is just brilliant to me and I love the idea of helping people develop something that will help them and their business be successful.
I’d love to be either a busy freelancer or set up in my own studio. I’d love to assemble a team of people who are good at what they do and do some exciting, creative work with them and enjoy doing it.
When you aren’t being creative, you are…?
I don’t think you ever stop being creative – I’m always thinking of things but if I am taking time away from the creative scene its usually enjoying quality time with my partner and two young children. Alternatively there’s nothing I love more than shouting at Liverpool (the football club not the city)
Anything exciting ongoing or in the pipeline?
As I already mentioned, myself and a friend have set a little blog that’s “a work in progress” - we’re hoping to find a voice and start something quite interesting there.
Work wise, I’ve got the Mike Stocker site to finish off and then its onto a site for a friend who’s a video editor.
Finally, any words of wisdom to other creative people?
Immerse yourself and become a sponge. Take everything in and enjoy the ride – this is such a rewarding industry to be in but it’s so over saturated that you need to take it all in so you can sieve through it all and find the path that’s right for you. Above all enjoy it and talk to everyone because that’s the best way to develop and produce good design.
