Imar Krige
http://www.abovethemedia.com Biography
I grew up surfing in a small coastal village in the Western Cape province of South Africa. I found I could draw pretty well, so after school I decided to study Graphic Design in Cape Town. I graduated in 2003 with a National Diploma from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and immediately started working as a designer at a marketing agency. It was a small company which offered me the opportunity to experience a wide range of disciplines, including print and website design. I found the challenges of web design inspired me most. After working for 3 years as a designer/art director, I quit my job and resumed my studies.
Where do you work? What do you do there?
2007 finds me freelancing while studying fulltime for my degree in Graphic Design. This has given me the opportunity to teach myself more about web design and improve my skills. As a freelancer I have been illustrating science textbooks, designing websites, corporate identities and corporate newsletters.
How long have you been in this field?
I started working as a professional designer in December 2003.
What role did (are) you play(ing) in the project?
I designed and developed Blogsolid as the first practical project for my 2007 studies. I also write articles for the site and administer it. I hope to increase the knowledge base of Blogsolid by getting more people involved in writing articles.
What was (is) your inspiration for this project?
Nature! My parents raised me to appreciate God’s amazing creation – if you think about it, He was the first designer. I used natural materials; rock, wood and water to represent the three levels of blogging experience in Blogsolid. Since you can’t touch a website, I tried to use earthy textures and colours that look “touchable” – almost as though the site has been well-used (like an old road map).
What is in your equipment/gear setup?
Most of my initial drawings were done in a small wire-back notebook using a calligraphy pen. I designed Blogsolid’s interface on a PC using Photoshop CS2, Dreamweaver 8 and Freehand MX (I still love using Freehand despite Illustrator taking over). I also rely heavily on my Kodak EasyShare Z760 digital camera and my Canon 4200F desktop scanner. The blog runs on Wordpress and I use Firefox for browsing the internet and reading RSS feeds.
What are some websites you visit daily?
A List Apart
Copyblogger
Fanboy.com
Hi My Name Is Mark
Modern Life
North x East
Styleboost
Google Analytics
Feedburner
Who's work do you most enjoy?
Scott Hansen
Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin & Hobbes)
Virb Inc.
Brian Carter
Matt Edwards
Jeral Tidwell
Darren Firth
WeFail
Jose Gomez and Andre Stringer
What advice can you share to people just getting into this field?
Cameron Moll says “Good designers redesign. Great designers realign.” (http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/001266.html)
I guess that’s cool for the great designers out there. As for the rest of us, we have to do a whole lot of designing, followed by even more redesigning, followed by some realigning before getting it right! All I can say is keep trying your best and put your trust in God, not in people.
Any other comments?
I would like to thank my parents, my sister, my girlfriend, my grandparents and the rest of my family and all my friends for their influence and support!
